A Reader staffer shares three musical obsessions, then asks someone (who asks someone else) to take a turn.
International Contemporary Ensemble, On the Nature of Thingness: Music by Phyllis Chen and Nathan Davis Keyboardist Phyllis Chen and percussionist Nathan Davis are terrific composers and key members of New York’s International Contemporary Ensemble. This 2016 release collects ICE commissions from both, including toy-piano works by Chen (such as “Chimers”) and Davis’s four-movement title piece, a tour de force for soprano Tony Arnold and a large ensemble.
Big Youth, “Hotter Fire” This 1976 tune uses classic everything-and-the–kitchen-sink dub reggae production: In addition to the usual echo and a few totally saturated thunder samples, a siren keeps cycling through to suck all the air out of the mix. It’s a jarring effect, reminiscent of the inept stereo panning at end of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive.” Only he keeps doing it, and it’s a goddamn siren.
Billy Strayhorn, Piano Passion Part of what made Duke Ellington’s 25-year collaboration with composer and arranger Billy Strayhorn so great was hearing Strayhorn’s introverted, lyrical tunes projected through Ellington’s large ensemble and persona. This rare collection of Strayhorn playing his own songs on piano (mostly solo, with occasional strings and wordless vocal harmonies) lets you hear Strayhorn’s inventive voice leadings and tense harmonies closer to their origin.
