Hot Sardines and Pink Martini
For a while I heard these two names on Jazz FM here on Toronto radio. I decided to check them out. I've got the current Hot Sardines album: French Fries + Champagne and I began with Pink Martini's, "A Retrospective". I've since purchased more of each of these groups.
Both groups experiment with different styles of musical arrangement. They are not traditional jazz bands really. Both are more like versatile salon-sized orchestras. There are things that are very important from the heritage of jazz, like putting stock in high quality and very musical playing and interactions among the musicians. At least in my limited collection of music, I can really only think of this high quality of orchestral playing accompanied with the sensitive and intelligent delivery of lyric in music from the likes of Sinatra. I really enjoy listening to even some of the mediocre recordings he made, because the music on each of his recordings is so good.
The other important observation for me is that I continue to want to explore well made music that is creative and is even allowed to be happy. For that to happen I need to have opportunities to hear new things, hence the relevance of radio and I say also of CD's. The physical disc at least gives physical stores a chance. Believe it or not the store displays and bins show me much more than I can see on my 27" screen with the curated pages provided by online suppliers. Particularly since I have a taste for things that are not selling in the millions, getting past the things that occupy my screen first is a challenge. It is also a challenge to "search" for new music when I don't know what to put in the search box. Online purchasing is convenient but incapable of introducing me very well to new music I'd really like to hear. On the other hand, grazing through a physical shop gives me the chance to see what things potentially are related to what and venture out with a few clues established that I am taking a good gamble.
And these two groups were a great gamble. I haven't stopped enjoying the music and it has been a joy to share the infectious and happy creativity that both of these groups exhibit.
Pink Martini is the more eclectic of the two. They have material in many different languages also delving into different musical traditions in an intelligent way. I have looked in vain to see if either of these groups is planning to go north of the great republic to do any concerts here in Canada. I'm looking forward to it. I think they would have appreciative audiences in many parts of the country.
Both groups experiment with different styles of musical arrangement. They are not traditional jazz bands really. Both are more like versatile salon-sized orchestras. There are things that are very important from the heritage of jazz, like putting stock in high quality and very musical playing and interactions among the musicians. At least in my limited collection of music, I can really only think of this high quality of orchestral playing accompanied with the sensitive and intelligent delivery of lyric in music from the likes of Sinatra. I really enjoy listening to even some of the mediocre recordings he made, because the music on each of his recordings is so good.
The other important observation for me is that I continue to want to explore well made music that is creative and is even allowed to be happy. For that to happen I need to have opportunities to hear new things, hence the relevance of radio and I say also of CD's. The physical disc at least gives physical stores a chance. Believe it or not the store displays and bins show me much more than I can see on my 27" screen with the curated pages provided by online suppliers. Particularly since I have a taste for things that are not selling in the millions, getting past the things that occupy my screen first is a challenge. It is also a challenge to "search" for new music when I don't know what to put in the search box. Online purchasing is convenient but incapable of introducing me very well to new music I'd really like to hear. On the other hand, grazing through a physical shop gives me the chance to see what things potentially are related to what and venture out with a few clues established that I am taking a good gamble.
And these two groups were a great gamble. I haven't stopped enjoying the music and it has been a joy to share the infectious and happy creativity that both of these groups exhibit.Pink Martini is the more eclectic of the two. They have material in many different languages also delving into different musical traditions in an intelligent way. I have looked in vain to see if either of these groups is planning to go north of the great republic to do any concerts here in Canada. I'm looking forward to it. I think they would have appreciative audiences in many parts of the country.
