Birthday Treats

I’m out of the studio today for my birthday! So instead of an update or article, here are a few of my favorite pieces of music:



Mike Patton, one of my all-time musical heroes, released Mondo Cane last year - a great album of Italian pop songs with a 30-piece orchestra. He did a few live performances, too- above is one (music starts at about 1:00).



A track from my very favorite Charles Mingus album, Let My Children Hear Music.



Jazz pianist/composer Uri Caine has several albums of beautiful/adventurous/genre-bending interpretations of Mahler music. This particular disc won the German Mahler Society award as the best new Mahler CD of 1997… to the outrage of some society members (Full story here.) A fascinating and fun listen.



One more… a track from Soul on Top, which features a young James Brown backed by the smokin’ Louis Bellson big band… I really enjoy him in this context, wow!