EJN Music Sampler

There is a story about Miles Davis – probably apocryphal, as many Miles stories are – that he once fired a sideman in the middle of a set, rasping into his ear, "Man, you played that same solo two weeks ago!" Jazz demands newness and continual rebirth, and one place to hear new jazz sounds is EJN Music Sampler ( http://ejnsampler.com ), About once a month they post new tracks by artists you may not have heard before. I'm always hearing something new and interesting there.

JazzRadio

For those who think jazz is just that Kenny G tune you hear while you're on hold with your insurance agent, I recommend you spend some time sampling the offerings at JazzRadio ( http://www.jazzradio.com ). There you will find 28 streaming channels, each devoted to a different sub-genre of jazz. You'll find channels for Bebop and Hard Bop; Latin Jazz and Bossa Nova, Big-Band, Avant-Garde, and Fusion. Like many free streaming services, they play commercials, which you can get rid of by subscribing.

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BONUS: Debora Iyall and Romeo Void - 1981 (live video)

Once again, Wolfgang's Vault hauls out a terrific archival live video, this time of Debora Iyall and Romeo Void. Although the band broke up in the mid-80s, Debora has continued to live life on her own terms, and has remained active and highly creative with her music, art and poetry. More about Debora at http://www.deboraiyall.com.

BONUS: Björk - Thunderbolt (music video)

Over at BoingBoing, they have an exclusive (for now) of a new Björk video, and it totally lives up to Björk's standards for musical creativity and pure strangeness. Check out her bigger-than-big hair and the tunable Tesla coils that are part of the song:

http://boingboing.net/2011/11/02/thunderbolt.html

Found at BoingBoing

BONUS: Instant Encore

Not quite in time for inclusion in my print column is Instant Encore http://www.instantencore.com, which features recordings and videos of classical music artists. Based on my initial listenings, the recordings and performances are generally of good quality, as are the videos (even though most are hosted through YouTube). One of the first performers I found there was Portland's own So Percussion ensemble, performing Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood.

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St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra http://www.thespco.org/ has one of the richest online archives of any American orchestra. They have now put 150 of their recent concert recordings – going back to 2007 – online. Moving a step ahead of many American orchestras, SPCO's archive is searchable by artist, conductor, or composer. On the SPCO website, select "Listening Library." According to an article in this month's Listen magazine http://www.listenmusicmag.com/, SPCO has also received a grant to preserve and restore their concert recordings going back to 1969. I look forward with great anticipation to hearing some of the older concerts which feature artists who are no longer with us.

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Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra http://cso.org tends to leave their shows online for up to six weeks, and they've also posted a number of terrific retrospective programs from previous seasons. For the audio streams, find their "Listen & Watch" menu and select "CSO Radio."

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BONUS: Bernstein having a ball

I love this clip of Lenny conducting his own Candide Overture. He is clearly having the time of his life.

New York Philharmonic Orchestra

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra http://nyphil.org puts many concerts from the current and past seasons online, in their "Watch & Listen" section. Their shows tend to be available online for only a week or so, so check in frequently. NY Phil also sells each season's complete concert recordings on iTunes.

Another fascinating project of the NY Phil is their Digital Archives http://archives.nyphil.org/. Apparently they never threw anything away, and now they're putting a lot of their archival material online. This includes hi-res photos of more than a thousand scores (marked with hand-written notes by Leonard Bernstein and other great conductors), thousands of printed programs, and countless business documents relating to the business of running one of the world's great orchestras. Warning: this site can consume many hours of your life, particularly if you decide to listen to a recording of Bernstein conducting Mahler's Ninth, while following the score online with his own notes in the margins.

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Los Angeles Philharmonic

The Los Angeles Philharmonic http://www.laphil.com/ led by wunderkind Gustavo Dudamel, have - at times - outsourced their online concert delivery to radio station KUSC http://www.kusc.org/. Look under their "Programs" menu for "LA Phil." All this summer, they streamed the LA Phil's Hollywood Bowl concerts (mostly without Dudamel, but featuring terrific soloists and guest conductors). Currently, weekly concerts by the excellent Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra are filling that program slot on KUSC. Concerts by the LA Phil are popping up on NPR and elsewhere. If they settle on a regular spot on the web for streaming, I'll announce it here in the blog

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