Peter Giger - A Drum Is A Woman - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Transparent Cream Vinyl. Referencing the easy, sleazy sounds of the 90s, London-based, Austrian-Brazilian artist Viji - real name Vanilla Jenner - has been cementing herself as one of the most exciting alternative artists to watch in the UK. Having previously released music on Dirty Hit, she recently signed to Speedy Wunderground and has rapidly built a loyal fanbase whilst receiving widespread plaudits from the likes of BBC Radio 1's Jack Saunders, BBC Radio 6 Music's Steve Lamacq, CLASH, Dork, DIY, Wonderland, So Young, and many more. Her debut album, So Vanilla, was recorded predominantly in London, in partnership with four-time Mercury Prize nominated producer and Speedy Wunderground tag head, Dan Carey (Fontaines D.C., Kae Tempest, Wet Leg). Completed in November 2022, Viji shares that every song had a different writing process - some saw her and Carey playing guitar chords together for hours, until the sounds fused into one, and others came from late night ramblings at home.

The Tony Award-winning play, written by Warren Leight, is set in New York City between the years of 1953 and 1985, and it chronicles the life and lifestyle of a jazz trumpeter, exploring the creative forces which drive a musician and binds him ever closer to his fellow jazzmen while tearing his own family apart. It's a wonderful play, and the cast and crew for this productions are all brilliant. The interesting thing about this production is the use of a newly-recorded score (as opposed to the Inchneedle dropInch scoring solution used in previous productions of the show in New York and elsewhere), and I was very lucky to get the call from director Andy Robinson to write the music. Be-bop lives! Peter Erskine scored the production with a jazz quintet. The WDR Big Band also makes a guest appearance.

The musical that Orson Welles suggested to Duke Ellington, InchA Drum Is a WomanInch has become a parable in the history of jazz. Created for American television in 1956, Duke Ellington entrusted his disciple and friend Claude Bolling with the European adaptation. Features A Drum Is a Woman * Rhythm Pum the Dum * What Else Can You Do with a Drum * New Orleans * Hey, Buddy Bolden * Carribee Joe * Congo square * a Drum Is a Woman Part 2 * You Better Know It * Madam Zajj * Ballet of the Flyin' Saucers * Zajj's Dream * Rhumbop * Carribee Joe Part 2 * Final.