Rob Weinert-Kendt

One under-appreciated period detail that BLUE MOON gets right: The pianist playing standards throughout renders them very straightforwardly, with some embellishments certainly, but not with the kind of jazz substitutions you would hear from even the most hackish cocktail pianist post-Bill Evans.

Hard to imagine a project more tailored to my tastes than Rufus Wainwright singing Kurt Weill. The new record does not disappoint: Though its vibe is more supper club than smoky cabaret, RW digs into a wide range of material with both sweep and nuance. #dailyalbum open.spotify.com/album/5vLjeC...

YouTube video by Spike Jones - Topic Laura

What makes Spike Jones’s shtick stick is that his band could really play. The lush first half of this rendition of David Raksin’s iconic movie theme is among my favorite versions of it by anyone. And then, of course, all hell breaks delightfully loose. #dailysong youtu.be/iw3DXcSC-gg?...

Oops, Spotify has a photo of the wrong bespectacled German Jewish refugee here (it's Lion Feuchtwanger)

YouTube video by Carabao - Topic Made in Thailand

Among the better byproducts of the last season of WHITE LOTUS was the Thai pop it introduced me to, including this catchy, clattery jam by Carabao and Center Stage. The flute break sends me. #dailysong youtu.be/BhFshe3ImDo

Brecht wasn’t the only German playwright Weill did great work with. There was also Georg Kaiser, with whom he wrote this gorgeous opera. The only drawback to this 2-disc listen are the long dialogue scenes, but it’s worth it for the moving music. #dailyalbum open.spotify.com/album/1DXDdK...

Which reminds me of one of my favorite New Yorker corrections

The new Foxwarren disc is one of those records that is both immediately pleasing and reveals layers upon layers after repeated listens. The artful braiding of dialogue into the band’s expertly woven folk-pop sound is just one of its many charms. #dailyalbum foxwarren.bandcamp.com/album/2

Дъмбата

This is the only track I see on Spotify of the New Bulgarian Voices, a descendant of Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares, which made some essential records in 1980s. The new group has the same head-spinning precision and piercing beauty; I look forward to more. #dailysong open.spotify.com/album/2j6b7O...

Is there more to the appeal of this Stravinsky suite than mere historical cosplay? Is it the equivalent of a baroque cover album? We can admit that's part of the draw without slighting his contribution: the astringent frame he puts around this old music. #dailyalbum open.spotify.com/album/2D1LKw...

YouTube video by TRISTEN Tristen - "Let Go" (Official Music Video)

After several spins of Tristen's crafty, jangly new record, this twangy bop remains the standout track for me. To me, her music is the sound of a frown turned upside down—a smile haunted by its original shape. #dailysong www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx3_...

Lesley Manville & Mark Strong - two of the least pretentious people in the theatre - going on Morning Joe to sell Oedipus is wild. They do a great job, of course. But I might imagine their thought processes...

Imagine making a record this good when you were 18. Still an utterly absorbing listen after nearly three decades. #dailyalbum open.spotify.com/album/5gVBXH...

YouTube video by Merle Haggard - Topic One Sweet Hello

Just noticed another fine example of Merle Haggard’s songcraft: the sweet bVII chord he slips under the words “did fly” on this 1971 weeper. It’s the musical equivalent of a rueful grin, and it gives this love-gone-wrong song a gratifying dash of warmth. #dailysong youtu.be/Ev7y82kmA2w

every one knows that in most people's estimation, to do anything coolly is to do it genteelly

So this is happening

Music Diary, Vol. 97

From Stephen Schwartz to Caroline Shaw, Foxwarren to Midlake, last week's Music Diary is up

I’m demoniac, I am madness maddened!

YouTube video by pwong702 Schubert: Quintet In C Major, Op163, D956 (Heifetz, Baker, Primrose, Piatigorsky, Rejto)

I love all of Heifetz/Piatigorsky/Baker/Primrose's iconic recording of Schubert's string quintet in C, but it's the vigorous third movement, the Scherzo, with its alternating astringency and sweetness and its headlong tempo, that I always look forward to. Always puts a spring in my step. #dailysong

Even before he played with Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye earned a place in rock history for this groundbreaking 2-LP compilation of 1960s psych and garage rock (reconstituted here as a YouTube playlist), which he labeled "punk rock" all the way back in 1972. #dailyalbum music.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Good news: If you would like to watch Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants on YouTube I have done a painstaking 4k upscale of this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0gW...

The literary establishment: "Hey, what's your new book prize called?"

Me, having not thought about it until now: "The Book... er?"

Love the way Caroline Shaw is able to weave Sacred Harp lyrics into an equal parts enchanting/unsettling mix of plainsong, fragmented rhythms, and sneakily complicated harmony on this piece, recorded with Dawn Upshaw, Sō Percussion, and Gilbert Kalish. #dailyalbum open.spotify.com/album/5beMIp...

YouTube video by Paul Robeson - Topic Every Time I Feel the Spirit

Opened the service at Greenpoint Reformed Church this morning with a slightly reharmonized version of this spiritual, here memorably rendered by Paul Robeson. Like many such tunes, it recreates the very feeling it describes. #dailysong youtu.be/8i4Xyx901qc

Thread of the year

YouTube video by Alberto Garey Lhasa de Sela - Floricanto

Grooving on this beguiling 5/4 gypsy-folk tune by the late, great Lhasa de Sala. #dailysong youtu.be/_tJAqIllrGM

“Snide” was literally in his name, but it’s not fair to remember the ornery troubadour Todd Snider (taken too soon, RIP) only for his snark and bite; I also cherish the true feeling he baked into all his work. This record is the one I turn to most. #dailyalbum
open.spotify.com/album/6KEpPO...

Staying Afloat: Two new productions navigate chaotic times Two new productions navigate chaotic times

My preview of THE LAST SHIP is here www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/t... and here’s my review www.americamagazine.org/theater/2014...

The news that Sting’s shipbuilding musical is coming to the Met Opera next June gave me an excuse to revisit its pretty glorious score, which shows solid storytelling craft and has flashes of true inspiration. He really should try his hand at another.
#dailyalbum open.spotify.com/album/1bL0cQ...