Inspiration ~ May22
New music ~ Ludovico Einaudi ~ the pandemic was more bearable for puzzle enthusiasts, gardeners and piano owners. It was essentially the perfect compost for cosy, close-miced piano recordings (shameful plug but my own foray ~ Piano Lullabies ~ was spawned during rambling lockdown improv: recordings and scores). Ludovico Einaudi was also stuck at home in Turin and wrote the beautiful pieces on Underwater. I’ve always been interested in the link between colour and music and so the tracks Indian Yellow and Temple White jump out to me as well as Rolling Like a Ball which the composer performs on YouTube.
Performance ~ Bernard Purdie and Cory Henry ~ This is like when someone first wondered what would happen if they put salt in with the caramel and if I could add the little ‘mind-blowing’ emoji I would. Bernard Purdie (who recorded with EVERYone: Nina Simone, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin etc etc and memorably once said “if you want a Purdie sound, you pay a Purdie price”) gives a drumming masterclass in 2006 over which has been dubbed Cory Henry improvising ten years later unknowingly in a precise tempo lock (and inexplicably the same key as Purdie’s occasional vocal ad libs). It’s very very much worth a few spins on the tube.
Music geek stuff ~ Choosing a piano ~ Annique Gottler is a German pianist with a great instagram channel and here takes us through the process of choosing a new piano. It’s interesting to hear each instrument through her ears and the side benefit is she plays one of the most beautiful Chopin etudes (E major) a fair bit while trying them.
This month’s playlist:
“It’s not what you look like when you’re doing what you’re doing, it’s what you’re doing when you’re doing what you look like you’re doing”. Quite.