aworks ordered list :: top five for the day /couples music/

1. Summertime. Jim Hall and Pat Metheny
2. My Little Brown Book. Duke Ellington and John Coltrane
3. The Blessing. John Coltrane and Don Cherry
4. You Never Know. Jeff Beck
5. A Hudson Cycle (Rival Consoles RMX). Nico Muhly

Hall/Metheny: I didn't intend to listen to couples music but it seems appropriate for today. Metheny in particular seems to need a good foil to move beyond his usual aesthetic e.g. Jim Hall here as well as withOrnette Coleman on Song X. (Not available on lala; speaking of which, I wonder if lala will re-enable the ability to upload MP3s to the cloud).

Ellington/Coltrane/Cherry: I like how Ellington's piano is subdued and of course tasteful. It's hard to say if Coltrane plays less exuberantly because of this. The Blessing is an Ornette Coleman tune.

Beck: I"m listening to the version with conductor Kenneth Woods on guitar when he was 19, playing in an Indiana University percussion recital. Great photo of him in a tree at the time as well.

Muhly: A Hudson Cycle is a favorite of mine and I like the idea of variations via electronic instrumentation but this one reminds me of most Philip Glass or Steve Reich remixes - novel and unenlightening.

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