In This issue #2 we highlight 4 artists and some significant works
DAVID BOWIE
with ‘Scary Monsters‘ we see Bowie seeking to create a more commercial record. Released after the so called Berlin trilogy proved successful artistically but less so commercially. Scary Monsters garnered critical and commercial acclaim. it topped the UK Albums Chart and restored Bowie’s commercial standing in the US. Scary Monsters would eventually be hailed as a successful marriage between Bowie’s experimental impulses and his Intelligent songwriting. It’s infectious art-rock situated it perfectly at the dawn of new wave — a genre obviously heavily indebted to Bowie.
JOSHUA REDMAN
Beyond is a modern jazz album by Joshua Redman. Recorded with his quartet, featuring Aaron Goldberg on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Gregory Hutchinson on drums. features a mix of styles, from funk to balladry. a particular standout moment being a tenor sax duel with guest Mark Turner on “Neverend”. industry hype has surrounded Redman for a long time and sometimes it’s hard to focus on Redman the jazz musician. Beyond, doesn’t depart sonically from his previous works. However, There are very different grooves here, and the appeal of this album is its variety.
DEAD CAN DANCE
Spiritchaser is A tribal African themed album. Less than half of the album’s songs have lyrics as such. Chanting, both individually and in harmony, seems to be the rule. the Dominating percussion and Chanting singing achieves a mix which creates very atmospheric yet still melodic songs. appreciated by Fans as Dead Can Dance’s venture into more overtly “world music”
EDVARD GRIEG
the Peer Gynt Suite No.1 is one of the composer’s most popular works. The best-known movements include “Morning Mood,” in which a serene melody for Flute and oboe depicts a calm dawn. “Anitra’s Dance,” a nimble and seductive dance for strings. “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” in which a short, mysterious theme gains speed and volume as it is repeated, building toward a frenetic climax.
Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor is a youthful, powerful work. The concerto has a dramatic opening. The second movement opens with a lamenting melody before the entry of the piano. this second movement pulls us into a deeply introspective, yet passionate, drama. and a spirited finale inspired by Norwegian folk dances. The concerto is a constant dialogue between the piano and the orchestra, not just a piano with orchestral accompaniment..
Classical Album
Edvard grieg
Peer Gynt Suite No.1, Op.46 – 1. Morning moodPeer Gynt Suite No.1, Op.46 – 2. Aase’s deathPeer Gynt Suite No.1, Op.46 – 3. Anitra’s dancePeer Gynt Suite No.1, Op.46 – 4. In The Hall Of The Mountain KingPeer Gynt Suite No.2, Op.55 – 1. The Abduction (Ingrid’s lament)Peer Gynt Suite No.2, Op.55 – 2. Arabian dancePeer Gynt Suite No.2, Op.55 – 3. Peer Gynt’s returnPeer Gynt Suite No.2, Op.55 – 4. Solveig’s songPiano Concerto In A Minor, Op.16 – 1. Allegro molto moderatoPiano Concerto In A Minor, Op.16 – 2. AdagioPiano Concerto In A Minor, Op.16 – 3. Allegro moderato molto e marcato – Quasi presto –
Jazz Album
joshua Redman
Courage (Asymmetric Aria)Belonging (Lopsided Lullaby)NeverendLeap Of FaithBalanceTwilight….And BeyondStoic RevolutionsSuspended EmanationsLast Rites Of Rock ‘N’ RollA Life
ambient Album
dead can Dance
NierikaSong Of The StarsIndusSong Of The DispossessedDedicacé OutòThe Snake And The MoonSong Of The NileDevorzhum
Rock Album
David Bowie
It’s No GameUp the Hill BackwardsScary Monsters (And Super Creeps)Ashes to AshesFashionTeenage WildlifeScream Like a BabyKingdom ComeBecause You’re YoungIt’s No Game (Part 2)
in further issues we will continue to Bring you the music of Popular genres to listen, review and evaluate. issue #3 (coming soon) features The Jam, Aphex Twin, Jan Garbarek and Max Richter
NOTES
Sound quality is important and some streaming services will offer superior sound quality. We do encourage you to purchase albums from good online record stores. alternatively, stream the music of favoured artists from those better online streaming services.
David Bowie – Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) – Label : RCA
Joshua Redman – Beyond – Label : Warner Brothers
Dead Can Dance – Spiritchaser – Label : 4AD
Edvard Grieg – Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 & 2 & Sibelius: Karelia Suite – Label: Deutsche Grammophon edvard Grieg – Schumann – Grieg Piano Concertos – Label: Deutsche Grammophon
It is helpful to research the artist, using sources like Wikipedia , Music Magazine Reviews (Pitchfork, Rolling stone, NME etc.,) Artist Websites, etc…
A synopsis of the life and music of this Issue’s featured artists appears below.
This Week’s Artists
dAVID BOWIE
David Robert Jones was born in Brixton on January 8, 1947.
Bowie showed an interest in music from an early age and began playing the saxophone at age 13. Early bands he played with provided him with an introduction into the showy worlds of pop and mod. By 1966 he was David Bowie, with aspirations of stardom. his career began with a handful of mostly forgotten singles and a head full of ideas. It was not until 1969 that His Debut into the charts would begin, with the Single the legendary Space Oddity. The Man Who Sold The World was The beginning of Bowie’s artistic growth. many considering it the first album where he began to find his sound. Mick Ronson’s guitars are often referred to as the birth point of heavy metal. certainly, the auspicious beginnings of glam rock can be traced here.
1972 would be the year that Bowie ascended to international superstardom. The album Rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars.In the summer of 1974, he undertook his most ambitious US tour yet, with an enormous set and choreographed tableaux. Bowie’s interest in the music U.S. soul And R&B he had heard in America, led to Release of the Album Young Americans. in 1975 Not long after Young Americans’ release, Bowie moved to Los Angeles. After an excessive phase in Los Angeles, Bowie was physically exhausted and artistically burned out. In 1976, he moved into an apartment in Schöneberg, Berlin and stayed until 1978,. During that time he produced three albums: Heroes, Low and Lodger. The Albums went down in music history as the ‘Berlin Trilogy’.The Albums provided an atmospheric counterpoint to the emerging punk scene in London.in April 1983. Bowie’s first release for EMI, Let’s Dance would become the most commercially successful album of his career.
In 1988, Bowie placed his solo career on hold and formed the hard rock quartet Tin Machine. Later, Bowie became increasingly disaffected with his role as just one member of a band. The Album Black Tie White Noise in 1993 brought the long-awaited return of David Bowie, solo artist. The Album confirmed to fans that Bowie’s creative curiosity was insatiable as ever.An accomplished actor Bowie starred in The Man Who Fell To Earth in 1976 and Labyrinth in 1986. Bowie starred on Broadway in The Elephant Man. Over the next decade, Bowie alternated between acting and music.
In 2004 he suffered a heart attack while on stage in Germany but made a full recovery.
In 2006 he was a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Award. For several years he kept a low profile until the release of his 2013 album The Next Day. In 2016 he released his final album Blackstar. The New York Times critic Jon Pareles found the Album to be ‘strange, daring and ultimately rewarding….. with a mood darkened by bitter awareness of mortality’
On January 10, 2016, David Bowie died peacefully surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer. His body of work, multi-generational influence and legacy of fearless innovation and endless reinvention will live on forever.
EDVARD GRIEG
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers. his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions brought the music of Norway to fame
Edvard Grieg was raised in a musical family. His mother was his first piano teacher and taught him to play when he was age six.
In the summer of 1858, Grieg met the eminent Norwegian violinist Ole Bull who recognized the boy’s talent and persuaded his parents to send him to the Leipzig Conservatory, where he developed quickly, both personally and musically
In 1863 he moved from Leipzig to Copenhagen where he studied Nordic music for two years.
In 1867, Grieg married his first cousin, Nina Hagerup, a lyric soprano. After living for a few years in Oslo, Grieg and his wife moved back to Bergen. There they built their famous villa Troidhaugen at Hop, outside Bergen.
In the summer of 1868, Grieg wrote his Piano Concerto in A minor while on holiday in Denmark. In the 1870s, Grieg composed the incidental music for Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt. Some of Grieg’s early works include a symphony (which he later suppressed) and a piano sonata. He wrote three violin sonatas and a cello sonata.Grieg’s Holberg Suite was originally written for the piano, and later arranged by the composer for string orchestra. Grieg wrote songs in which he set lyrics by poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Henrik Ibsen, Rudyard Kipling and others.Grieg was impressed by Tchaikovsky, who thought very highly of Grieg’s music, praising its beauty, originality and warmth.Throughout his life, Grieg’s health was impaired by a destroyed left lung and considerable deformity of his thoracic spine. In spite of poor health, Grieg made several tours in Scandinavia, on the Continent, and in England. he played his piano concerto in London in 1888.
In the summer of 1906 Grieg penned his final composition – the Four Psalms. later, seriously weakened, he left for the comparative warmth of a hotel in Christiana. He was on the verge of a trip to Britain when he suffered a massive heart attack. in the autumn of 1907 He died in hospital shortly after arrival.
DEAD CAN DANCE
The Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance’s style as “constructed soundscapes of mesmerising grandeur and solemn beauty; African polyrhythms, Gaelic folk, Gregorian chant, Middle Eastern music, mantras, and art rock”
The group’s debut album, Dead Can Dance, was released in February 1984. The album featured “drum-driven, ambient guitar music with chanting, singing and howling”
in November 1985 For their second album, Spleen and Ideal, Gerrard and Perry added Session for cello, trombone and tympani. ned Raggett wrote in his Allmusic review of the album that “the overall feeling is of an ancient religious service suddenly brought to life in a truly modern way, with stunning results.” In 1989, Gerrard and Perry separated domestically. Gerrard moved to Barcelona before returning to Australia. Perry moved to Ireland – but still wrote, recorded and performed as Dead Can Dance.
In 1998, Dead Can Dance began recording a follow-up album to Spiritchaser and planned a world tour. However, they separated before it was completed and cancelled the tour. Dead Can Dance reunited in 2005. In March 2022, Perry anticipated plans for a new album influenced by Indian music. But, In September 2022 the band announced the cancellation of both allum and tour. citing unspecified health reasons. in May 2023, Lisa told Igloo magazine that she thought that Dead Can Dance was “really finished now”. citing artistic differences.In 2025, Brendan confirmed that he was working on an album. He confirmed it would be a new Dead Can Dance album, but as a solo work.The alternative music record label 4AD publicise the duo on their website. “Their music began as collages made from musical lineages, lost tribes and cultures long since forgotten – and by giving new life to so much from the past, they created a genuinely timeless body of work.“
jOSHUA REDMAN
He is the son of the legendary jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman. He was exposed to many kinds of music at the Center for World Music in Berkeley. After graduating from Harvard University Redman moved to New York City.
Redman won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991, and began focusing on his musical career. He was signed by Warner Bros. Records and issued his first self-titled album in the spring of 1993, which subsequently earned Redman his first Grammy nomination.
His own groups developed in parallel, and from 1992 much of his time has been spent fronting his own quartet. occasionally As a trio and at other times enlarged to a quintet.
On his second album as a leader, ‘Wish‘, he was joined by a notable Line-up consisting of guitarist, Pat Methany. bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins. this group Later toured as The Joshua Redman Quartet, featuring Christian McBride in place of Charlie Haden.
He has also developed his skills as a composer, experimenting with time and large-scale compositions. His 2001 suite Passage of Time is his most ambitious composition to date. The Work draws together many elements of his earlier work both as player and performer.
His role as mentor and educator is emerging as one of his defining contributions to the music world.
Redman’s creative reach extends beyond the stage and studio. His music has been featured in film and television, broadening his impact on the cultural landscape.
With a career spanning over three decades, Joshua Redman remains a vital force in contemporary jazz. A bridge between tradition and innovation, performance and mentorship, intellect and emotion. His music continues to invite listeners into a world where every note tells a story. every performance becomes a shared moment of human connection.
