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Category: instrumental music

Revelatory Covers (14th in series): Brian, Fred, Thelonious,Ruby

Thelonious Monk (1917-1982) is one of my favourite composers.

Ruby, My Dear has always been one of my favourite Monk ballads.

Among living pianists, Fred Hersch has, I think, proved the most consistently rewarding interpreter of Monk.

Until a few weeks ago, I had never heard Brian Landrus; I have heard literally thousands of Monk “covers”, but none lovelier than the one which concludes Brian’s new album.

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Happiness, joy, contentment…(#73 In “a shining moment series”)

 

It is a great pleasure to encounter a non-gloating, happy person – one who appears comfortable in their own skin, who requires “no particular reason” to be happy, who radiates contentment, is fully alive, and not “on guard”.

Such encounters do not require a common language, nor any words to be spoken.

Typically, no commercial transaction is involved, no contest, no “big event”…

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Ocean beach on a benign day (#68 in “a shining moment” series)

 

Near the northern tip of New Zealand’s North Island is the so-called Ninety Mile Beach”.

It is no less magnificent for its actual length –  “only” 88 kilometres.

Musically, today offers a sublime, spacious, shore-inspired instrumental solo, plus an also-spare song which depicts a lovely state of mind:

lost in a seagull’s flight

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Mélodie au crépuscule (#67 in “a shining moment” series)

 

The pictured twilight is in a beautiful part of Australia’s southwest – a so-called “valley” which many people repeatedly drive past without ever seeing, as they rush further “down south”…to “Marg’s”.

Mélodie au crépuscule is a beautiful composition which was NOT composed by Django Reinhardt.

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Quiet now: “snake bird” in repose (#66 in “a shining moment” series)

 

An attentive observer, watching a non-sleeping bird, will very rarely see a serene creature.

For most of their waking moments, most birds are obviously keenly aware of their vulnerability to predators, their opportunities as predators, and/or of how best to defend or advance their “place” within an ever-competitive hierarchy.

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