CDOTD 06/18/2026

 James Crabb & Geir Daruagvoll: Duos for Classical Accordions (EMI Classics)

This was a promo copy I claimed when I worked at Borders

"Welcome to Heaven! Here's your harp! Welcome to Hell! Here's your accordion!"

Stupid old joke. Truth is both instruments are beautiful in each its own way. If anything I find the accordion more confounding. How does anyone play the damned thing, especially the non-twelve tone keyboard right hand, button box concert accordion?

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice practice practice. Another old joke. 

Furthermore, the accordion can be highly expressive, something that's not built into the harp. Oh, it's expressive in an ensemble when you need that run of plucked notes. But the harp has hardly any dynamic range, unlike the accordion which can be gentle or aggressive. 

When I worked at Borders in the mid-90s, interest in CDs was at its height, or just cresting. DVDs were just being introduced. The store was not allowed to sell the promotional copies of CDs we received, so as a worker you could claim discs for yourself when they had outlived their purpose. There are a few amazing discs I got this way: Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting an all-Bernard Herrmann recording, historic recordings of Dock Boggs, this, others I'm forgetting. We'd claim discs by putting a Post-It note with our name on the cover. Most of us were respectful; I didn't try to claim a Boyz II Men disc just because I knew I could sell it (a not-so-open secret among workers). 

And who besides me was going to claim a CD of classical duets of accordion music? Only someone who intended to sell it later, if they could. And, the program! Duo accordions Stravinsky's Petrushka, Tango, and top it off with Pictures at an Exhibition. Hella yeah! 

I chose this disc without resorting to my randomizer, because yesterday was Stravinsky's birthday. 

As Petrushka plays, I find myself missing Stravinsky's orchestral colors. He was a solid and interesting orchestrator. Inversely, the accordion does have a way of bringing out the clownishness. Some of the work sounds perfectly suited for this format. What it's not missing is content. Two accordions, four hands, that covers a lot of ground. And it's probably more engaging than a two piano arrangement of the same piece, which I think exists. 

In my mind, I'm imagining Stravinsky hearing this and writing something specifically for duo accordions. I'm sure he would have challenged them, and more likely than not it would have been great.

Tango in this orchestration is great too. Makes me wish I could see this, in a concert hall, in the front row. Feel those accordion bellows physically. 

My understanding of Pictures at an Exhibition is that Mussorgsky himself intended to orchestrate the work, but didn't live to see it through. Ravel's orchestration is the famous one but not the only; I once heard a radio performance of a Stokowski orchestration. It seemed like a pale version compared Ravel; if anything, a lesser response to Maurice's work. 

I miss the colors of Ravel's orchestration, this is still amazing in some parts. While I appreciate Ravel's use of alto saxophone on "The Old Castle", it sounds great on two accordions. Respect.

I'm hopeless as a keyboardist in any respect. Ten thumbs. I love the piano, and there's so much incredible music written for it. But I would give serious consideration to being an accordionist given the chance. 

VOTD 06/13/2025

 Frank Zappa: Jazz From Hell (Barking Pumpkin)

Purchased from Leechpit Records, Colorado Springs

I remember when this record arrived at WRCT, 1986. There's a listing for the musicians on the back cover. I don't think I understood then how sequenced this album sounds now. 

It's so tight, like a noose around a neck. (Hyperbole?) Frank always wanted absolute perfection in his musicians' performances. But what does that mean? What is perfection? And does the pursuit of perfection impede the possibility of expression?

In some ways, this album sounds dated to me. By sounding clean and "modern", he dates the LP to a certain time period. Early digital, transferred to analog playback.

I have really tried to appreciate and listen to Frank's Synclavier albums. Really. Are they a true reflection of Frank's vision? Or, just maybe, they're mechanized simulacrum of really good bands he's led? 

Jesus Christ. The second and third cuts on side one are...boring. And track four isn't much better. But I recognize that I'm hearing this after years of teaching MIDI sequencing techniques.

So what stands out? "Night School" and "G-Spot Tornado", the opening cuts on sides one and two, at least aren't boring. The latter sounds hyper-sequenced, but at least it's at the service of a lively composition. An arrangement played live appears on The Yellow Shark. I'd recommend that album over this one. 

I'm listening to side two of this album, and for crying out loud it can be annoying. There's some sonic and mental relief on side two, track three: "St. Etienne". Frank solos over a one-two chord as he often did. This is probably where the back cover credits enter into the picture.

I must say...for all of Frank's seeking of musical perfection at a micro-level, he probably understood the beauty of a flexible, in-tune, lean band. At least I hope. Personalities! Or was perfection too important to him? I guess we won't know. 

When I bought this at Leech Pit Records in Colorado Springs, I also bought the two-CD Civilzation Phase III. I generally don't like Frank's Synclavier-based albums, but...who knows?

CDOTD 06/01/2025

Sons of Ra: Standard Deviation (The Laser's Edge)

Purchased new from the band

I have to say, it takes some balls to call yourself Sons of Ra. Evokes you-know-who. 

I opened for them at Bantha Tea Bar in the Garfield neighborhood last week. It's a tiny space, never meant to contain a band that sounds this big. I did an opening duet set with Patrick Breiner. Patrick told Manny Theiner to give his fee to that headliner. I took my $15 and bought their current CD with it. Patrick's a mensch beyond mensch, does that make me a jerk?

Manny described them as being like Last Exit, the heavy hitting supergroup of Peter Brotzmann, Sonny Sharrock, Bill Laswell, and Ronald Shannon Jackson. I'd say...maybe not so much, but I'm interested in revisiting that group. I'd say closer to Sonny Sharrock's Ask the Ages, but that album's such a classic, that's not fair either. 

It's not exactly jazz, SOR are mostly a power trio with the bassist doubling on saxophone. I hope I don't sound cynical when I say, they get a lot of mileage out of their reverb effects, on a similar way to Killing Joke. But far more jazzy.

Opening the disc and the concert: a take on Coltrane's "Alabama". I say, be careful. That's a powerful work. 

They performed well, but the pieces come off more effectively in studio versions. Less muddy, partly due to the space. My own experience recording is the opposite: it's very difficult to capture the live essence in the studio. When they need power chords, it comes through clearly on record. There's also a lot more saxophone here than I remember in concert. 

I can't help but turn this inwards. Is this better than the second CD by my old band Water Shed 5tet? In general, probably yes, but I think my album was more original. Give the kids a break though, they're working hard and more dedicated to touring and promotion than I'm capable. 

And I'll probably sound like a jerk but, listening to them, I felt like I could do something similar but better. Sons of Ra, should you read this, prove me wrong! I'm a battered-down old man clinging to relevancy. Nonetheless, you do have room to grow.