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15 “Like Someone in Love"(1976). Sam Jones/Leroy Williams. Bud's arrangement. Super relaxed, super expressive. Barry's varied articulation & placement of the beat—laying back, pushing ahead, riding right on it—excites the emotions. Triplets rule the world!
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12-08-2021 04:18 PM
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I love all of the above, but this album is especially dear to me:
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16 “Oblivion” (1985). Hal Dodson/Leroy Williams. Look out! Bud's flag-waver taken WAY upstairs. It’s not just the speed, but the melodic, rhythmic & harmonic integrity of Barry’s lines. God is in the details. Barry looks as relaxed as if playing a ballad.
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17 “All God’s Children Got Rhythm” (1990.) Another upstairs tempo but with a twist: Barry opens at a moderate speed with a nutty arrangement — dig the descending quasi-boogie figure in the left-hand — that he copped from a tape he had of Monk practicing.
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18 “Nascimento" (1996). Mraz/Williams. Barry’s set closer, one of his most alluring originals. His regulars always lead the audience participation — rhythmic handclaps during the interludes & wordless singing of the splendorous melody. Magic.
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19 "The Bird of Red & Gold" (1979). Dial BH for beauty. From my fave of Barry's four solo piano records, a celestial original ballad as radiant as a Shelley ode. Barry sings — literally — his own poetic lyric. Brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.
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David, this is a damn treasure trove. I can't believe how many of these are new to me.
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Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
My fav Barry is all the stuff he recorded with Stitt. The comping and feel is just so good as well as the soloing.
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His passing prompted me to discover his music and some of his concepts - the first thing that immediately stood out is how well he plays Monk - other than a few standards like Round Midnight or Blue Monk, I tend to not like other versions which either over or underplay the cool idiosyncrasies in the music, but BH seems to nail it while being more fluid than Monk
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Originally Posted by BWV
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Originally Posted by Christian Miller
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Barry has often been celebrated as a Monk interpreter but always said that his greatest influence was Bud Powell.
Cissy Strut (The Meters)
Today, 06:27 AM in The Songs