Ten Recordings You Should Listen To - #3

PMAC drum instructor Jose Duque is well known in the seacoast for his original latin jazz. When he sent this list to me, he began by saying "boy this is going to be very hard." His impressive list includes two artists I considered for mine - though I'll let you check out his list before I tell you which two.

1) David Sylvian - Secrets of the Beehive

Released in 1987, Secrets of the Beehive is an album unlike any before or since. The album features string arrangements and piano by Ryuichi Sakamoto, guitar work by David Torn, and flugelhorn and trumpet played by Mark Isham. Sylvian assembled his band in the same tradition of Miles Davis, allowing his collaborators to color and shape his work without allowing his own voice to be overwhelmed. The lyrics are nothing less than breathtaking—a combination of dark, brooding, and redemptive, all sung in a whisper, deep and resonating a quality unlike anything in Western music. The stand out single from the album, "Orpheus," may be the most powerful thing to come from the British Isles since Nick Drake's "Northern Sky."

2) Pat Metheny - Letter from Home

The first album I ever listened to by superb guitarist Pat Metheny, comprised of a super talented international band: Lyle Mays on piano, Paul Wertico on Drums, Steve Rodby on bass and my fav, Armando Marcal from brazil on percussion, and voices...and probably the best singer around, Pedro Aznar, from Argentina on percussion, keyboards, marimba, voices, guitars, bass, steel drums - you name it...saw this band in 1992, and they blew my mind!

3) Bill Bruford - One of a Kind

My fav drummer, my inspiration for being a drummer who composes his/her own music...this British drummer, has inspired me thru all my drumming years and continues to do so....he started as a founding member of YES. His signature snare sound is legendary.

4) Pink Floyd - The Wall

.....do I really need to say more about this??

5) Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel Plays Live

Released in the ealry 80's, the first live album by Gabriel, where still you can hear the British-punk sound and techno inffluences on his music a superb and transporting album...one of my big time favorite albums.

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6) Eloy - Planets/Time to Turn

A German band unknown to American audiences as they never made it big in the US, unlike their fellow coutrymen Scorpions, but their etheral sounds, and great concept albums Had a huge inffluence on my early musical steps. Epic long songs, with ellaborate and lush instrumental sections mesmerized me as a teenager....

7) Rush - Exit Stage Left

Being an aspiring drummer, hearing this album, I couldn't understand anything that was going on in regards to the drumset, I couldn't believe it was just ONE drummer, ....great music before the band turned their sound into a more commercial type of rock...this is one of their best albums ever.

8) Winton Kelly & Wes Montgomery - Live at the Halfnote

Perhaps one of the best live jazz albums in history, and a master class in piano comping and drums concept for the aspiring jazz player, late 90's my drum teacher at Berklee told me to "play along , just the ride cymbal with this album EVERY DAY...!! I wish I had the time to do it or the discipline still nowadays, but everytime I play it I still feel the urge to sit on the set and just play the ride cymbal....it's a fantastic learning album to start approaching comping, "lock in " with the bass, and to learn about form...and come on, Wes Montgomery???

9) John Maclauglin Trio - Live at the Royal Festival Hall

In my quest to learn more about jazz I came upon this live performance from the guitar master - it is simply breathtaking ....one of the most amazing performances from a trio ..Trilok Gurtu from India on drums, and Kai Eckhardt from Germany on bass....amazing music..

10) Arvo Part, Te Deum

An amazing 'academic' composer with one of his most breathtaking pieces..recorded in a small church in the middle of nowhere in Stonia, right in heavy winter...the re use of compositional styles from the middle ages by this Norwegian composer, proves that there is still a lot to learn from those old fashioned compositional techniques, a beautiful album...

Jose Roman Duque
http://www.zumbaotrio.com/
http://www.myspace.com/romanusmusic

http://www.virb.com/romanus

http://josero68.blogspot.com/

From Russ: And the two artists I considered for my list: Pink Floyd and Peter Gabriel.