The Palladian-A step beyond

As for me, as much as I love both of my audio systems, nothing does it quite like live music.  So last night I went down to Blues Alley in Georgetown (DC) to catch the late show of the Cyrus Chestnut Trio.  For those who don't know, Cyrus is a jazz pianist of note.  I like that he still plays standards, and his improvisations are very imaginative.  As a surprise, he brought up onto the stage a young female singer imported from NYC.  Her name is Brianna Thomas.  I had never heard of her, let alone heard her.  She was utterly brilliant, a new major talent, in my opinion.  Sarah Vaughn and others, re-visited.  (Almost no one ever in history had the chops of Sarah, including opera singers. Well, maybe Aretha. Maybe Tebaldi.) Her work with Cyrus made my day and my night.  I had a conversation with her after the show, and I intend to hear more of her during future visits to New York.  She's on CD only, sadly.

I know he has a big following, but I cannot make myself love Leonard Cohen.  However, any man's death diminishes me, as John Donne said.
More than Leonard Cohen, I will miss my best friend, who was killed in a freak accident last April, 2016.

So sorry for your loss my friend.

From the time (I was 13 years old) that I’ve found Van Der Graaf, I’ve left behind my careless youth with Bowie,  Uriah Heep, J. Airplane, Joni Mitchell, CSN&Y and start digging into progressive. There is no turning back once you’ve taste the bitterness of being.
BTW I rate my avatar moniker as one of my most cheerful records.

Lewm - sorry for your loss.

I know he has a big following, but I cannot make myself love Leonard Cohen.

Lewm/Thuchan/Henry

he is an institution in Canada. if I say anything else, I probably risk Canada Grade A eggs being launched at my house, and the irony being, I am not even supposed to be eating them.

@Thuchan

I do not own this album and I have only a couple of his cd’s somewhere in the house. If the music (and more so the music message with Cohen) doesn’t capture me simply through internet means (like youtube); I won’t pursue buying the lp. Besides I have too many existing lp’s to get through right now.

Geoch (Giorgos)/Thuchan

Regarding Dark Music in general.

If I was still wearing my Monkey Suit every day, travelling, and working for others; by 6 pm, I always needed something to take the edge off - to bring me down a bit. Maybe a little dark music would be just the ticket if I was in that frame of mind. But I am in the light right now, and have been for quite some time. Right now, any stresses are brought on mostly as a result of my own decisions, and not those of others. (ones family excluded)

If you want to really get into dark music then you need to listen to nothing but traditional folk songs from the British isles -- it’s not a real song unless you have at least one murder, a suicide and a haunting!

Anyway back to the topic of this thread -- with 15 hours on the Palladian know I continue to be having loads of fun. One of the really great things is how well it separates out multiple lines of instruments from one another -- A1 Track 1 from "La Tarentule" Atrium Musicae de Madrid (Speakers Corner HM 379) is a torture track of wheezing and squeaking wooden flutes, vihuelas etc -- actually 32 different instruments on one cut (not all at the same time luckily) -- with the Palladian you can tell them all apart which is quite astonishing

Dynamics are also astounding -- the Maskaela "Coal Train cut was a great example this morning, now matter how it drives the Palladian keeps pace

Anyway really encourages a great variety -- my listening this morning included

• Hugh Masakela "Hope" - Coal Train
• John Martyn "Live at Leeds" - Solid Air
• Pentangle "Cruel Sister" -- Franklin
• Atrium Musicae de Madrid - "La Tarentule" -- Auditorium Tarantua;e/Chorea
• Cooder/Bhatt "Meeting by the River" -- Usa Lei
• Loussier "The Best of Play Bach" (FIM) -- Gavotte in D Major/Jesu Joy
• DiMeola/McLaughlin/DeLucia "Friday" -- Mediterranean Sundance
• Mary Chapin Carpenter "State of the Heart" -- This Shirt/Quittin Time

So from audiophile classics to heavily produced digital early 80s country the Palladian pulls out the best in every recording. It also makes each recording sound completely different, seems very honest to the records and imposes none of its own character. With the PC1 instruments such as Loussier’s piano were often blown out of scale, which sounds pleasant, but is actually an artifact and masks other things going on

Anyway great fun, and isn’t that one of the reasons we like to change things now and again, to rediscover our collections?

All bridges burning behind me,
All safety beyond reach,
The monkey feels his chains out blindly,
Only to find himself released.

Van Der Graaf Generator - La Rossa

I connect our lives with a deeper meaning as we’ve borrowed a body for a while.
The soul is searching for something...

Happy New Year