Fascinating!  That is one word I can think of to describe Pat Metheny’s latest recording, Orchestrion.  Musically, long-time fans of Metheny’s work will immediately notice how much this solo project resembles some of his past projects with the Pat Metheny Group.  But for this particular project, quite unique in the world of music (and especially, jazz), the fascinating part is not how the music sounds, but how it was made.  Metheny’s idea stems from a fascination with an instrument in his grandfather’s basement, and was finally able to fulfill his desire to take the same concept and apply it to his music.

At long last, Joao Gilberto’s groundbreaking landmark bossa nova album, Chega de Saudade, has been reissued by the folks over at Cherry Red Records in the UK.  Originally released in 1959, this album teamed Gilberto with songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim and lyricist/poet Vinicius de Moraes. Earlier recordings by other artists in Brazil hinted slightly at bossa nova, but Gilberto’s newly developed guitar stylings and hushed, understated vocals became the template for the bossa nova explosion that would soon follow.  This is where it all began.

We’re proud to announce the newest addition to our family of sites: The Audio Speakeasy.  This new forum features audio hardware, audiophile and music discussions.  Feel free to sign up and join the community!

Hey all, thanks for hanging in here! We’re working on a handful of new album reviews for Rudy’s Corner. To whet your appetite, we have releases by, The Parade, Joao Gilberto, and a trio of Elenco reissues by Edu Lobo that were released within the past few years. We’ll also feature Pat Metheny’s fascinating Orchestrion project in the next few days, and post part two of our Jazz Mancini overview.  Finally, we’ve launched the Audio Speakeasy, which has also kept us busy on the tech side of things for a couple of weeks.