Month in review: the musical highlights of August 2024

Claus Dick 3. September 2024

Summery August is usually a dry month for music editors: Only a few really interesting new releases come onto the market in the height of summer because labels prefer to target the high-selling fall months for their releases.
And yet the musical highlights of August 2024 are quite something.
David Gilmour elicits magical moments from his guitar on his new solo album “Luck And Strange”, just like Pink Floyd.
Included: daughter Romany with vocals and harp (!).
Enrico Pieranunzi, Marc Johnson & Joey Baron shine on “Hindsight: Live At La Seine Musicale” as a formidable trio in the field of tension between jazz, classical music and folk – a feast!
British acid jazz pioneersGalliano revive their independent sound with sparkling vibes after 27 years.
With their debut album “Leaving Me”,Denver Cuss skillfully follows in the footsteps of Sarah Vaughan or Aretha Franklin – a soulful, nostalgic R&B happening.

The musical highlights of August 2024 in detail:

Let’s start with David Gilmour and his new solo album “Luck And Strange”.
Included: daughter Romany with vocals and harp, who at least gives her dad the song finale on “Between Two Points” with his electric guitar.
She intones the delicately strung piece by dream-poppers Montgolfier Brothers in a convincingly touching way (see video link below).
Let’s stay with the softer pieces of Gilmour’s new work for a moment – “Yes I Have Ghosts” is based on his wife Polly’s book “A Theatre For Dreamers”, which is set on the Greek island of Hydra.
Incidentally, this is the very island where Leonard Cohen, whom David Gilmour greatly admired, once fell in love with the Norwegian Marianne Ihlen.
That was in 1960.
And Gilmour is taking his time.
In 2024, the 78-year-old unpacks his first solo album since 2015’s “Rattle That Lock”.
Partner Polly wrote most of the lyrics for “Luck And Strange”: “It’s about mortality, about how you look at the world when you get older…”.
The Brit himself has been regarded as the “Best Fender Guitar Player Ever” (according to “Guitarist Magazine”) since his Pink Floyd days.
With the psychedelic rockers from the island and solo, he has always proven his craft brilliantly.
His debut from 1978 and the stronger follow-up “About Face” (1984) prove this just as impressively.
Other studio albums seem, shall we say, somewhat less inspired.
In contrast,2017’s “Live In Pompeii” is a fabulously gripping addition to Gilmour history.
And now we hear a rousing liaison of old-school blues rock (“Dark And Velvet Nights”), psychedelic-infused folk rock (“The Piper’s Call”) and acoustic folk such as the aforementioned “Yes, I have Ghosts”.
Charlie Andrew (Alt-J, Marika Hackman) was on hand as co-producer, a dream candidate.
“We invited Charlie and he listened to a few demos, which he then commented on like this: ‘Do you really need a guitar solo there? How about a proper ending?’. It’s wonderful that he hardly knows anything about my past and has no respect for it. He’s very direct and doesn’t freeze in awe – I like that incredibly well. What you need least of all is people who talk down to you,” says David.

Guy Pratt plucks the bass – that’s the son-in-law of the late Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright – who can be heard posthumously in the title track with a session take from 2007 from David’s barn … There seem to be no limits to David Gilmour’s drive and propulsion – the guitarist of the century is said to be working seamlessly on his next solo album.

Video for “Between Two Points” (simply click on the image to play)

A feast for open senses:

Enrico Pieranunzi, Marc Johnson & Joey Baron have known and appreciated each other for a long time.
A good 40 years, to be precise.
A considerable amount of time and joy of playing in which the pianist Erico Pieranunzi, double bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron have been able to perform many profound pieces.
The Italian, 74-year-old keyboard specialist is appreciated by music lovers and critics for his classically influenced playing technique – elegantly and harmoniously embedded in the universe of jazz.
Bill Evans is on the list of role models.
Pieranunzi himself has played the keys for Chet Baker, Lee Konitz and Phil Woods.
He also teaches as a professor at the “Conservatorio di Musica” in Frosinone, south-east of Rome, which makes him even more of one of the great Italian jazz musicians.
Awards such as the “Echo Jazz” or “Best European Jazz Musician” also honor the Roman-born musician.
The 70-year-old American Marc Johnson is known for his supergroup bass playing with John Scofield and Bill Frisell, among others.
Joey Baron, on the other hand, swung the sticks for Marianne Faithfull, Stan Getz and John Zorn.
In the Pieranunzi-Johnson-Baron trio flow, his soulful drumming blossoms in a wonderfully multi-faceted way.
The live recording in Paris generates a soft springiness, a captivating flow, a fused interplay and interplay of the protagonists, who can confidently set off and on swinging accents in appropriate passages.
A cheerfully poignant togetherness, exciting and entertaining.
The driving “Everything I Love” inspires with its vehement use of drums and energetic grand piano runs.
Or the delicately stringed “Je Ne Sais Quoi” with rather dabbed piano keys and dancing rhythms – almost like the glitter of sunbeams on the Seine.
Enchantingly captivating: “Castle Of Solitude” with rolling drums and physical piano runs.

The cultural center (located in the south-west of Paris on an island in the Seine) has been synonymous with first-class events for seven years now – inaugurated on 21 April 2017 by none other than Bob Dylan.
The visual highlight of the opulently designed area: the spherical façade clad in glass and a photovoltaic sail that aligns itself with the path of the sun.
Renault used to build cars there, such as the legendary Renault 4. The large hall “La Grande Seine” offers space for up to 6,000 guests – and is also acoustically impressive: the sound lends plasticity to the trio’s jazz souflee, embedded in a beautiful spatial ambience, with great fine dynamics and beautiful resolution – a great live recording.

Video/animation with photos (“Hindsight”)

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Galliano…

…British acid jazz pioneers are reviving their independent sound with sparkling vibes after 27 years.
Anyone with a few years under their belt, or rather a few white hairs on their head, who actively listened to the music trends in the 1990s will probably remember the band fondly – especially thanks to their fantastic track “Prince Of Peace” from their 92 album “A Joyful Noise Unto The Creator”.
Back then, bands such as The Brand New Heavies, Massive Attack and the Fugees also enchanted us alongside Galliano.

During this exciting time, Galliano were the first to sign to the legendary acid jazz label “Talkin’ Loud” and rocked London’s underground clubs as pioneers of the genre.
After the studio album “:4” and the live album “… At The Liquid Rooms” (1997), virtually nothing more was heard of them.
Until now.
Founder Rob Gallagher and the fantastic singer Valerie Etienne plus members of the original band stage a graceful style liaison – of acid and soul jazz, trip hop and reggae.
It’s a confidently arranged affair: funk chases soulful grooves, psychedelic passages and graceful vocal phrases are reminiscent of Massive Attack here and there, field recordings and spoken words loosen things up between the songs. Video clip: “In The Breaks“

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However – no veto against polyphony – it’s a shame that frontman Rob Gallagher didn’t give his partner Valerie Etienne more vocal prominence – because she beguiles with a much more charming voice.On the other hand, the sound engineering scores with rich pressure and fine resolution.

Welcome to the Sixties:

Whether a trend is brewing remains to be seen.
In any case, some young musicians in the USA and the UK are bowing down to the genre icons of R&B and soul of the last century, including 38-year-old Californian Nick Waterhouse and PM Warson in the UK.
And Denver Cuss was able to gain stage and vocal experience with them, including as a backing singer.
It’s only natural that the R&B newcomer also collaborated on the songwriting, for example on “I Can’t Dance” with its stumbling beats, “I’ve Come Home” with its organ shimmer and gripping rhythm and on the title track, which features horns enchanted by electric guitars.
Guitarist Kit Warren also wrote the sheet music for the nine-part album in collaboration with Denver Cuss.
In terms of recording technology, Denver Cuss and guitarist/co-writer Kit Warren had a clever idea: to use different London studios for the instruments in order to get the best, tailor-made sound.
The “Hackney Road Studios” were used for the lead vocals, while others were responsible for the percussion or Hammond, Wurlitzer and background vocals.
Of course, there is also a buzzing bass, tenor and baritone saxophone, trumpet and electric guitar.

Denver Cuss “Leaving Me” is released by Broken Silence as a CD, LP and as a stream or download, e.g. on qobuz.de

The twelve musicians have created a touching album, sweetened with doo-wop and Chicago/Detroit soul cream.
Incidentally, the band also tries to revive the good old days in terms of sound: The polyphonic background vocals are partly mixed in left-right mode, the sweet spot of the band’s output is sometimes deliberately focused in the middle.
Very nice, especially as the overall sound is homogeneous and coherent. Video clip “Leaving Me”

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