matthew labarge - recommendations

I like learning what folks are listening to, so, in case you do too, here's a bit of what I listen to. These are some of the albums that were rattling around in my noggin while I was writing and making *october*.
[sic] - swap Swap is a collaboration of top notch Swedish and UK trad musicians. The playing is amazing, and most of these tunes are earworms - very, very pleasant ones. Some of the finest fiddle, accordion, and guitar music ever recorded.
A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing - Vince Guaraldi Trio I go back and forth on what is my favorite Vince Guaraldi album. This is one of the several that wins regularly. This is a quiet and lovely straight jazz album.
Through The Airlock - Chris Bocast Eno's Apollo and On Land albums spent many years as my ideal of what an ambient album could achieve. I couldn't believe my ears when Chris Bocast's Airlock came along. It's a completely original soundspace that is simply arresting. While it's mostly abstract, it has long buildups to majestic stately peaks that soar amidst the floating backdrop. This is the soundtrack for the creation of everything.
Works For Piano - Bartok/Zoltan Kocsis I recently read an interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez in which he said that he listened to Bartok's 3rd Piano Concerto the entire time he was writing Love In The Time Of Cholera. How perfect, I thought. I've never heard another version- this one is great.
Out Of The Frame - Philip Aaberg Phil has been my favorite pianist since the day I brought High Plains home. I consulted this album several times while I was recording october to try to absorb the mindfulness of his playing. These are some of Phil's finest compositions. Here is his most extensive use of long, wide pauses to create an openness that is unlike any other piano performance.
Spanish Dances - Granados/Alicia De Larrocha These pieces glisten with character and playfulness. Granados wanted to do for Spanish piano what Debussy did for French, and this is his masterwork. Alicia De Larrocha, on this as on all her recordings, shines.
Moonstruck (Soundtrack) - Dick Hyman, et al Much of Dick Hyman's soundtrack work is primarily arranging, which he does consistently brilliantly (see Everyone Says I Love You and Bullets Over Broadway), but on Moonstruck, we get some original tunes in the classic folk Italian style, a la Verdi. We also have bits and pieces of Puccini's La Boheme, both in the original and as arranged by the maestro Dick Hyman for jazz trio, and, of course a bit of Dino to top it off. I love listening to this album, and I'm learning all the accordion tunes.
Raz-de-Marée - Tidal Wave Fantastic Quebecois music. If the sun doesn't come out for a couple of weeks, put this in to get your smile back.
The Big Squeeze - Various (Green Linnet) More accordion- the celtic masters doing it right. I listen to this over and over. Maybe one day I'll be a better accordion player for it? Every track is classic, then, of course, Phil Cunningham throws it over the top.
Pale Young Gentlemen - Pale Young Gentlemen German cabaret meets punk. Great songwriting, great raw, energetic playing. I discovered this shortly after my wife and I visited Salzburg for the first time, where we'd discovered a beautiful hole-in-the-wall wine bar built in 1820. I picture it every time we listen to this CD.
Working Man's Cafe - Ray Davies Ray is still writing great songs and still spouting wit and warmth. I took this out of my car CD changer for about a week and realized what a mistake it was, and promptly put it back in. It's been a year or something?
Footpath - Crowfoot My favorite band of all time, back for a third go. Another haunting journey.
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - Genesis (with Peter Gabriel) This became a favorite thirty years ago, and has been ever since. I can say that of lots of my favorite stuff, but what differentiates early Genesis, and this album in particular, from most of that category is that I'm still discovering new aspects of it to this day. I listened to it recently and marveled at how brand new it sounded, yet this has already happened at least a dozen times.