Various Artists - Paris Musette - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Album Tracks 1. Flambee Montalbanaise 2. Douce Joie 3. Coeur Vagabond 4. Jeannette 5. Swing Valse 6. La Valse Des Niglots 7. Gracieusette 8. Reproche 9. Mado 10. Caravane Rabouine 11. Volubilis 12. Brise Napolitaine 13. Germaine 14. Melancolie 15. Nostalgia Gitana 16. La Guigne 17. Indifference 18. Passion

Stan Getz was one of the greatest stylists in jazz, and also among the best saxophonists in the history of the music. When he was recorded during his European exile, Getz was at one of the lowest points in his personal life, yet still at the summit of his art as a player he was even referred to by his nickname, InchThe SoundInch, given to him when he became the most eminent figure in West Coast jazz. His partners here are some of Europe's best French jazzmen Pierre Michelot and Martial Solal, and two great Francophiles, the Americans Jimmy Gourley and Kenny Clarke. The Live in Paris collection by Michel Brillie allows listeners to hear previously-unreleased recordings (made at concerts and private- or radio-sessions) by the great 20th stars in jazz, rock & roll and song. These InchliveInch takes, and the artists' rapport with their audiences, gives these performances an additional soul and sensibility in counterpoint to the rigorous demands of studio recordings. Particular care was taken when restoring the sound of these tapes in order to meet modern standards while preserving the original colors of the period.

Not only does this celebrate the female voice, but also some largely forgotten female composers. Luzzaschi's Madrigali a uno, due e tre soprano of 1601 represents the sole surviving publication of a unique and highly important repertoire; that of the much famed singing ladies (concerto delle donne) of Ferrara. By the 1580s the Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso II, had become so obsessed with the sound of soprano voices, that he was procuring the finest singers of the time and establishing them in his court for his musica secreta, or secret music. It is among the most vocally challenging music surviving, and attests to high quality of vocal training in the sixteenth century. It is something of a miracle that even one copy of the original publication survived. In an age when singer/composers were relatively common, no single woman had as much of her music published as Barbara Strozzi. She led a remarkable life and one most unusual for a woman in Venice in 1619. Her father, poet Giulio Strozzi, was at the centre of the cultural and intellectual life in Venice and through him she was able to partake of that life. Between 1644 and 1664 Barbara Strozzi published 8 books of vocal music. By far the majority of this output is for solo soprano, but just how successful she was is unknown. After her final publication in 1664 nothing more is known of her. As she wrote herself in the dedication to her opus 5 InchSince I am no more held back by feminine weakness than by any allowance made for my S*x, I fly on lightest leaves in devotion to make my bow.Inch