Music and Recording Reviews

The Violent Femmes: Hallowed Ground, 40th Anniversary Reissue; Christopher Owens: I Want To Run Barefoot Through Your Hair; Iron Maiden: Powerslave (40th Anniversary Edition); Lucinda Williams: Lucinda Williams Sings the Beatles from Abbey Road.

Donald Vega: All Is Merry and Bright; Kris Davis Trio: Run the Gauntlet; Sarah Hanahan: Among Giants.

Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos.19 & 23, Kristian Bezuidenhout, fortepiano; Freiburger Barockorchester; Dvořák: Legends; Slavonic Rhapsodies, Czech Philharmonic/TomᚠNetopil; Evening Songs: Songs by Dvořák, Smetana, Fibich, and Suk, Adam Plachetka, tenor; David Švec, piano.

Ives Denk: The Violin Sonatas; The Piano Sonatas; Mendelssohn: Piano Trios 1–2; Schoenberg: Pelleas und Melisande; Verklärte Nacht; Sibelius: Violin Concerto•Serenades•Humoresques•Earnest Melodies•Suite; Brian Baumbusch: Polytempo Music.

Weird Of Mouth: Weird of Mouth; Andrew Hill Sextet Plus Ten: A Beautiful Day, Revisited; Ross McHenry: Waves.

On Thursday, December 5, 2024, Miles Davis came back to New York City. Miles was escorted by Acoustic Sounds' Chad Kassem. This "from beyond the grave" appearance was one of the most memorable listening sessions I have ever experienced. Kassem previewed for us his Analogue Productions' issue Miles Davis—Birth of the Blue (Sony/Columbia APJ 172, 2024). The release date is set for December 13th. on 180-gram vinyl and SACD.

I have a day job at a museum. One of my favorite things about working there is taking the elevator from my office down to one of the floors open to the public; I walk into the galleries through a discreet panel in the wall. This makes me feel like I'm in one of those horror-movie manors with a tunnel concealed behind a bookshelf. Sometimes I startle people, which I kind of enjoy.

Mostly I like spending time looking at art, especially in the early mornings when the galleries are empty. Lately, I've been watching art handlers hanging a roughly 100'-long tapestry depicting some manner of planetary jetsam—or maybe they are aquatic plants—by Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga. And I make regular trips to a small theater to watch mesmerizing footage of Orchard Street in working-class lower Manhattan, shot in 1955 by veteran filmmaker Ken Jacobs. Captured on warm, saturated 16mm film, the long-gone people on the screen appear as vividly alive as the museumgoers around me.

My favorite-ever thing at the museum, though, is a life-sized kitchen. Austrian architect Grete Lihotzky designed it for a Frankfurt housing complex in 1927.