I'm just going to tell you right off the bat: 5/5. If I could give it anything higher and still have it make sense, I would. Bill Evans was arguably the greatest jazz pianist to ever live. He played with legends such as Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Scott LaFaro, and Charles Mingus. It's easy to listen to his work and recognize there are not even few who are as innovative and masterful as he; he's in a league of his own. Jim Hall is also a master of his six-stringed instrument. He plays fluidly as if his hands were bathed in butter. Both are gurus at constructing melodies and both are incredible chord arrangers when playing rhythm. And here's the kicker, the guitar and piano are both C-instruments; they compete for space in any band. But on Intermodulation, we hear them working together and feeding off each other. This is a six-song album. Every track contains only the two instruments. One artfully dances around in the background while maintaining distance from the lead. They trade multiple times throughout each song. The mood is one of reflection: listening is like taking a half-hour walk by yourself along a river's edge while looking at peaceful city lights and having the stars above. I can't say enough good things about this album. It's a must have for any jazz lover and a must have for anyone new to the genre. Favorite tracks: My Man's Gone Now, Turn Out The Stars, and All Across The City.
I pulled out an old classical favorite last night as I fell asleep: The Planets by Gustav Holst. I don't know much about classical music in comparison to my knowledge of most other genres. I did take a class called The History of Western Music that taught me way more than I had anticipated about classical music (we began in the baroque area with the likes of Guillaume Dufay, Hildegard Von Bingen, and Perotin, and traversed history to the modern classical greats like Reich) and the violin is the only other instrument besides the guitar that I have played seriously, but that hardly makes me knowledgeable. Regardless, I've always enjoyed Holst's journey through the cosmos. My favorite piece is the opener, Mars - The Bringer of War. It begins with the strings section playing a march, but not a Pomp and Circumstance march, a heavy march - one that clearly depicts two armies approaching the clay-colored and dusty battle ground. When the timpani come in, the song explodes with incredible power. The song builds in a frenzy as the brass section loudly joins and the strings swirl. It culminates in a blaring crash and then immediately destructs as if both armies had just completely annihilated each other. The dust then settles and the strings begin to build a swirl and the trumpets lead the powerful brass into a fierce and determined march. The instruments are all guided by a piercing snare. The orchestra pounds its way through with unstoppable force until it's enveloped by another frenzy of string activity in fortondoando (dynamic marks of more than three fs (forte - "loud") - this song is one of the very few in classical music that has ffffs twice). It culminates in the most powerful few seconds of music I have ever heard and then shatters as every instrument hastily descends atonally, ending on a unified note. Aaannnddd that's how the record begins. When I had first heard this classical masterpiece, I was exhausted after the first composition. It's so incredibly intricate and heavy that it actually exhausts your listening capabilities. Not to fear though, the next piece, Venus - The Bringer of Peace, is feather-light. Holst is great at exploiting this kind of auditory exercise so that, by the end of the record, it would be interesting if you found it boring. Easily a 5/5, but that's like saying Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor is easily a 5/5. No shit.
Best, Jonathan
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