"Taki pejzaż" by Ewa Demarczyk.

"Dead Bodies" by Air.

"Fernand" by Jacques Brel.

Today marks the 138th anniversary of Maurice Ravel's birth. Here, Vlado Perlemuter plays "Gaspard de la Nuit"...whilst chewing gum! Thanks to The Piano Files with Mark Ainley for bringing this performance to my attention.

"Bumble Bee" by JJ72.

"Unseen Harbor" by Mono.

"Waking Up Dead" by Eyes On Film.

"Little Man" by Atmosphere.

"Hunting Song" by Pentangle.

"Slow Show" by The National.

Van Cliburn has died. A hero in both the USA and Soviet Union following his triumph in the first International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition, many of his recordings remain highly coveted. Here he plays Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12.

Richard Street of The Temptations has also died, after a short illness. The Temptations' legacy hardly needs restating - this is "Masterpiece".

"Everything Is Everything" by Lauryn Hill.

"Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything)" by Donny Hathaway.

"A Funky Thide of Sings" by Billy Cobham.

The great Sister Rosetta Tharpe performs "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?"

 

Richard Dyer-Bennet performs his version of Lord Byron's "So We'll Go No More A-Roving".

"Shadow Of A Doubt" by Sonic Youth.

 

"Care of Cell 44" by The Zombies, from Odessey & Oracle.

 

"Two Sisters" by The Kinks.

 

"Flowers in May" by Simone White.

 

"Martha" by Tom Waits.

 

"The Rules" by Ben Kweller.

 

"Rat" by Unsane.

"Ces gens-là" by Jacques Brel.

"Fondu au noir" by Cœur de pirate.

"Paper" by Explode Into Colors.

Dohnányi performs his own "Variations on a Nursery Tune", accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Sir Adrian Boult.

 

Nina Simone's version of "The House of the Rising Sun".

"Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday.

 

"Devil's Waitin'" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

 

"Pioneer to the Falls" by Interpol.

 

"Terminus" by Unwound.

 

"Ali Maula Ali Maula Ali Dam Dam" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

 

Radu Lupu plays Schubert's Piano Sonata No. 18 in G Major, D.894.

"The Unravelling" by Aereogramme.

"Asinine" by The Transpersonals.

 

"Tannhauser/Derivè" by Refused.

The legendary Josef Hofmann plays Liszt's solo piano transcription of Schubert's "Erlkönig".

Elvis Presley performs "Suspicious Minds" live. Sensational bass playing by Jerry Scheff.

"Wickerman" by Pulp.

"Neil Jung" by Teenage Fanclub.

"Trailer 3" by Mono & World's End Girlfriend.

 

"Tom the Model" by Beth Gibbons & Rustin Man.

 

"Baby Please Come Back Home" by J.J. Barnes.

 

"Two Dope Boyz (In A Cadillac)" by Outkast.

"Next Exit" by Interpol, worthy of a dance according to Ivy!

Alas, The Mars Volta are no more. Thanks for the wonderfully crazy drumming/guitar work and lyrics. This is "Drunkenship of Lanterns" from De-Loused in the Comatorium.

 

ABM plays "Chiariana" in a live performance of Schumann's Carnaval. Ivy was humming along to this (sort of) earlier.

"A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days" by The Chameleons.

Arthur Rubinstein plays Chopin's Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major.

 

"Blue" by Joni Mitchell.

"I Can Sing A Rainbow/Love Is Blue" by The Dells. A Chess/Cadet Records classic.

"My World Is..." by Blu & Exile.

"Something Sweet, Something Tender" by Eric Dolphy.

 

"The Beekeeper" by Dessa. The intro made Ivy gasp!

 

Miles Davis' version of "Nature Boy", from 1955's Blue Moods.

"Poltergeist" by Deftones.

 

"A Child Is Born" by Kenny Burrell.

 

Dinu Lipatti plays Chopin's Mazurka No. 32 in C Sharp Minor.

 

"Habitat" by Mos Def.

 

"The Gardener" by The Tallest Man on Earth.

 

"Blind Willie McTell" by Bob Dylan.

 

"Mercury" by Bloc Party.

"Hollow Mountain" by Efterklang.

"Naval" by Yann Tiersen.

"Heaven or Las Vegas" by Cocteau Twins.

"No Church in the Wild" by Kanye West and Jay-Z, featuring Frank Ocean.

"Fiend Discovered/Main Titles" from Marc Wilkinson's soundtrack to Blood On Satan's Claw.

"Yebo" by Mtume.

Claudio Arrau plays Chopin's Fantastie-Impromptu.

"Oats in the Water" by Ben Howard.

Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains The Same live performance of "No Quarter".

"Faster Than The Setting Sun" by Fyfe Dangerfield.

 

Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time", as performed by Tashi (Peter Serkin, Ida Kavafian, Fred Sherry and Richard Stoltzman).

"Solitude" by Ryuichi Sakamoto, from the Tony Takitani OST.

"A Song for Starlit Beaches" by Yndi Halda.

"Nightmare" by Artie Shaw.

 

"Screamin' Eagle" from The Desert Sessions.

 

"She Needs Me" by Fyfe Dangerfield.

"Drinking Song" by Rob Dougan.

"Paru River" by Uakti and Philip Glass.

 

"Babe, I'm On Fire" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

A live performance of "Better Things" by Massive Attack, featuring Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, otherwise known as Everything But The Girl.

 

"Apocalypse Please" by Muse.

"The Dead Flag Blues" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

 

"John Barleycorn (Must Die)" by Traffic.

 

More nostalgia...

"The Chemicals Between Us" by Bush.

"Toxicity" by System Of A Down.

 

"Esmerelda" by Ben Howard.

 

Pete Roe's "The Devil's Dancefloor" performed live.

"Seeing Abi" by Stephen McKeon, from the soundtrack to Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror.

"Seven Hundred Birds" by Quickbeam.

 

"God From The Machine" by Santigold.

 

The death of the great Ravi Shankar was announced today. This is Mishra Piloo in Thumbri Style, and the extraordinary tabla performance is courtesy of Chatur Lal.

"Katy Song" by Red House Painters.

 

"Sprawl I (Flatland) by Arcade Fire.

In a Zombies mood today...


"The Way I Feel Inside".

"Time Of The Season".

"Harvest Time" by Herbie Hancock.

"Tangled Up In Plaid" by Queens Of The Stone Age.

"Truly Madly Deeply" by Day One.

 

The death of Dave Brubeck was announced today. Here is his quartet performing "Take The 'A' Train". The late, great Joe Morello features on drums...

...and here's Morello's brilliant live solo from Brubeck's most famous composition, "Take Five":

"Blowing Down" by Digable Planets.

"Jasper Country Man" by Bobbi Humphrey.

"Sitting on Top of the World" by Cream. A live version taken from their Goodbye album.

"The Weight" by The Band.

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli's studio recording of Ferruccio Busoni's piano transcription of Bach's Chaconne. One of the more incredible piano recordings I've ever heard.