The other night I was at dinner with a former colleague and was asked the question…”What are you listening to these days?”
Instantly my eyes lit up! I love it when folks ask me this, although I often feel like it would be easier/quicker to share what I’m I NOT listening to. I welcome the opportunity to share recent musical finds be it my favorite, well-known artist(s) or an up-and-comin’ indie. I enjoy sharing a new song I’ve stumbled across or older ones that I’ve dug up and dusted off.
So after 6 minutes of swapping stories and creating “audio” liner notes of who and what’s been dominating our ear canals lately, I realized that for the last few weeks I’ve been gleaning inspiration from all sorts of stuff. As of late, my playlist has included a mixed bag of gospel, jazz and non-commercial, neo-soulish R&B (a.k.a. the stuff that gets no airplay. The b-side stuff if you will.)
But among this medley, there are some things I’ve found particularly noteworthy:
New single on repeat…
Anthony David’s “Let Me In”:
Okay, let me first say that I’m a huge fan of songs that actually speak to me. Leave me with a message. Give me something to think about. Something to relate to. And in a world where meaningful lyrics sometimes feel like they are nearing extinction, I’ve gotta give AD a thunderous round of applause. “Let Me In” does just that.
Exploratory Artist of the moment…
During one of the hottest nights of the summer, I woke up in the middle… thirsty. So, I stumbled to the kitchen for a glass of water. And as I gathered my faculties, I began hearing the sounds of someone who clearly knew what they were doing on the piano. (In case you’re wondering, yes, there’s generally some type of music playing at times in my home. Gotta love TV Radio.) So, I made a pit-stop in the living room where I turned on the tv to see who could it be that was playing so masterfully. To my surprise, it was Orrin Evans’ Love Remains. The next day I began researching more about Orrin and exploring his repertoire. And as they say, the rest was history. If you’re like me, and a lover of the piano…do yourself a favor and check Orrin out.
Diggin From Start to Finish…
Zo!’s Sunstorm and 4hero’s Extensions.
Really, I could spend time here explaining, but why? Just do yourself a favor and spend some quality time with both of these cds. You won’t be sorry!
Alright, now that I’ve given you a chance to “Hear What I Hear” musically, off you go…to explore! I would love to hear your thoughts, so be sure to leave me comments to this post or any of the others.
Until next time…
-T
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