Two Words, One Answer.
Inner Voice
 Bjork - Inner Part of an Animal or Plant Structure (Jewel Case) $12.98 Wow. Where do I begin? I was never a Bj«Órk fan until a few years ago when she released her album, Medulla. I didn't like it at first, but it soon began to grow on me and a few weeks later I loved it! Soon after, I bought this wonderful DVD. How lucky we are to go behind the scenes of this amazing, intimate and innovative album composed solely of human voices! We follow Bj«Órk and other talents as they travel around the world recording and composing the album. It is raw and spontaneous and it's quite fascinating to see Bj«Órk in the process of making music. I especially enjoyed the parts with the choir and Rahzel. But really, the whole documentary is great. It runs at a brief, but perfect 50 minutes. I love it and continue to watch it. I highly recommend it, and not only to a Bj«Órk fan; even if you're not huge on her, I'm sure it will probably still be interesting for you.  Inner Voices $15.98 I wanted a Native American flute cd so I went on line at Amazon as the book store in my city didn't have anything. I was able to listen to parts of all of Native American Carlos Nakai's music. I particularly enjoy Inner Voices Amazing Grace. It is simply beautiful & great music to quiet the soul. I will be buying more of Carlos Nakai's cd's in the near future.  Inner Voices $11.98 Don't let the name of album scare you off. This is fantastic stuff! I first bought Inner Voices about 25 years ago when McCoy Tyner was The piano player to me. It've been re-introduced to the album through the internet and pulled out my old copy for details. This has everything a Tyner fan is looking for. Think of the voices as a section of a big band and you've got the idea. Actually, Uptown, Opus and Festival In Bahia have a "small" big band and the seven voices appear on all tunes except Uptown. The arrangements are great. McCoy's solos are smokin'! He is in fine form here, displaying his awesome power and use of fourths, pentatonics, diminished scales, you name it. The solists all do a great job of keeping up, except for a lame trombone solo on Opus. Tenor solos by Alex Foster, a trumpet solo by Jon Faddis, and guitar solos by Earl Klugh are all super. Support on the bass by Ron Carter is superb, as are Eric Gravatt and Jack DeJohnette on drums.  Christmas Harmony $9.99 I was given this album a few years ago -- as an audio cassette. I was floored by the tightness of the harmony. These ladies, not only have wonderful voices, but are a well disciplined vocal group. I have not heard such tight harmony since the Chordettes of the 50's and the Hi-Los of the 60's. But alas! I was disappointed by their arrangements, especially of Christmas songs. They are simply TOO OVER DONE. One loses sight of the melody on songs we know so well. The arrangements are, to me, Jazz. And I believe that if these ladies sang Jazz they would, hands down, be the finest female Jazz vocal group ever, and that's not an exaggeration. They are just that good. A bright spot on this album is "the Cherry Tree Carol." The solo voice on this is absolutely lovely. I played it over and over. I no longer have the audio cassette but, in spite of my criticism, I'm still going to buy this CD, mainly because I appreciate the musicality of this vocal group. And I will buy other of their productions. And as I listen to them I will live in the hope that one day they will confine their Jazz arrangements to Jazz. And if they do I will say, "Move over Hi-Los. The ladies are here." |
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