Favorite Winter & Winter albums

Squaredancecalling Steve · May-15th-2006, 12:10 PM

You wince when you finger them in the store, knowing that you're handling what is almost certainly the worst designed CD packaging ever. The Winter & Winter "smartpac" will guarantee that your disc falls out every time you handle the package, will take up even more space on the shelf than a "jewel case" (another absurdly grand name for a poorly designed package!), and -- if it's a reissue -- any great cover art will now be buried on the inside and replaced on the front cover by bureaucratic-looking big block letters and numbers.

And yet we continue to buy them because the music inside is often great.

List your favorites from this odd label here. I'll start with my current record of the year, and a few others:

Georg Graewe/ Ernst Reijseger/ Gerry Hemingway -- Continuum

Dave Douglas/ Guy Klucevsek/ Mark Feldman/ Greg Cohen -- Charms of the Night Sky

Ernst Reijseger/ Franco D'Andrea -- I Love You So Much It Hurts

Tim Berne/ Marc Ducret/ Tom Rainey [Big Satan] -- I Think They Liked It Honey

Tim Berne -- Fractured Fairy Tales

Paul Motian/ Joe Lovano/ Bill Frisell/ Charlie Haden -- On Broadway (3 volumes)

Mark Dresser/ Mark Feldman/ Hank Roberts -- Arcado String Trio

Uri Caine -- The Sidewalks of New York

Uri Caine -- Primal Light

Uri Caine -- Goldberg Variations

Surfer · May-15th-2006, 12:45 PM

Diabelli Variations is excellent too (Caine with Concerto Koln)

And, for the record, I dont mind the packaging.

larrycohen · May-15th-2006, 02:31 PM

For a minute there I thought Johnny and Edgar put out a jazz album together.

Chris D · May-15th-2006, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by larrycohen

For a minute there I thought Johnny and Edgar put out a jazz album together.

"Kind of White."

Sergio Zamora · May-15th-2006, 02:53 PM

Actually, I think the packaging is aesthetically very pleasing. It's functionally horrible, though.

Top 'o my head, the Big Satan is probably my favorite. Not jazz/improv, but I like a Mauricio Kagel cd, but can't remember the name.

They've also reissued the JMT catalogue, but I haven't picked up much from those yet

hermann · May-15th-2006, 03:02 PM

Joey Baron --> tongue in groove

Vince Kargatis · May-15th-2006, 03:20 PM

Seems inappropriate to call out the JMT reissues (if you're looking at the label's output), but whatever. My pick:

Jim Black's Alasnoaxis (the first one, which I noted here)

Vince Kargatis · May-15th-2006, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sergio Zamora

Actually, I think the packaging is aesthetically very pleasing.

Hm, I'd think, for the reissues, that the design decision to push the original artwork inside earns it a special place in aesthetic hell. The original issues look pretty nice though, agreed. The two formats aren't quite the same, the reissue style much worse. But something like Alasnoaxis's Splay is pretty gorgeous.

MRS · May-15th-2006, 03:26 PM

My top three:

Dan G · May-15th-2006, 03:51 PM

I don't own many W&W releases (uncommon and expensive here), but Colla Parte is superb. And there's a Big Satan disc that's pretty good too.

Luckily, I have a huge chunk of the JMT catalogue already, because, yeah, the reissues are ugly.

Sergio Zamora · May-15th-2006, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

Jim Black's Alasnoaxis (the first one, which I noted here)

The first one yes; a couple subsequent ones I heard are pretty blah.

Oh yeah, Colla Parte is great.

MRS · May-15th-2006, 04:05 PM

I listen to Colla Parte far and away more than any other W&W. . .put simplistically, it's just variations on a theme but my word what a fantastic recording. The contexts have scared me away from Colla Voche and Janna. Any thoughts on those?

gnhrtg · May-15th-2006, 04:22 PM

I think my top three would be the same MRS's, though there are many that I have yet to hear.

I did not like I Love You So Much It Hurts that much (mainly because it was quite different from what I was expecting to hear and I could never quite adjust my mindset to appreciate what I was hearing rather than comparing it disfavorably to what I would've liked to hear) and the one Alasnoaxis disc I heard, Splay, was in a style I'm not much into.

I remember enjoying the one Arcado String Trio disc I listened to but haven't been able to ascertain which one it was and so I still have no discs by them (which one is that, likewise, help me out - it's the one you have). Since I haven't heard that many W&W's, my top, say, seven would also include the Goldberg and Diabelli Variations. I am not a great fan of how most fortepianos sound and whenever I listen to Caine's Diabelli's I can't help thinking how I'd have dug it more had he used a modern piano. Oh and I'd certainly have to reserve a slot for the Tiny Bell Trio disc, Songs for Wandering Souls, which, even if my favorite will remain Constellations, is a very good disc.

Surfer · May-15th-2006, 04:43 PM

Another great one:

Surfer · May-15th-2006, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnhrtg

I am not a great fan of how most fortepianos sound and whenever I listen to Caine's Diabelli's I can't help thinking how I'd have dug it more had he used a modern piano. .

It does sound a little thin, but I quickly got over it. I think some of the variations are really ingenius.

walto · May-15th-2006, 04:49 PM

I guess I'd go with all the Bloodcount discs....If they count as "Winter & Winter." I like Big Satan as well.

Dan G · May-15th-2006, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRS

I listen to Colla Parte far and away more than any other W&W. . .put simplistically, it's just variations on a theme but my word what a fantastic recording. The contexts have scared me away from Colla Voche and Janna. Any thoughts on those?

Listened to Colla Voche a few weeks ago, first time in a long time. It's OK, but it will probably be another long while before I bother with it again. What inspired this listen was the "making of the music" documentary that is on the Grizzly Man dvd. Herzog mentions having done a project with Reijseger and this Sardinian choir. Colla Voche isn't that music though - does anyone know what that was?

What's Janna?

Surfer · May-15th-2006, 05:10 PM

Doesnt get a lot of listens, but the drones are really relaxing. Sounds almost tuvan.

MRS · May-15th-2006, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan G

What's Janna?

http://www.winterandwinter.com/index.php?id=187

Again, the setting scares my dollar away, but would love to hear anyone's thoughts.

And I only recently read that Herzog hired Ernst for soundtrack stuff, don't know much more than that.

Sergio Zamora · May-15th-2006, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRS

I've always wanted to pick that one up just for the cover.

Squaredancecalling Steve · May-15th-2006, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sergio Zamora

Actually, I think the packaging is aesthetically very pleasing. It's functionally horrible, though.

Form follows function.

chaamba · May-15th-2006, 09:25 PM

Dave Douglas -Charms of The Night Sky
Ernst Reijseger -Janna
Jim Black -Splay (one of the ugliest cd covers I have ever seen*. And there's a whole gallery inside ; what a mess)

* in an "ugliest cover ever" contest, the two top labels I can think of are Winter & Winter and, in the photograph section, Steeplechase (Winter again !)

Monte Smith · May-15th-2006, 10:04 PM

I have to say that in my experience, eventually the music becomes more annoying than the packaging (which I don't find all that bad).

I have the Uri Caine Goldberg Variations and Mahler; also The Sidewalks of New York and a set of Satie on the accordion. All of these are perfectly attractive records in theory that I can never listen to for long without getting offended.

The Mahler is currently my favorite.

Vince Kargatis · May-15th-2006, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaamba

Jim Black -Splay (one of the ugliest cd covers I have ever seen*. And there's a whole gallery inside ; what a mess)

Heh, see post #8 for a dissenting opinion... :)

jaka · May-15th-2006, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walto

I guess I'd go with all the Bloodcount discs....If they count as "Winter & Winter."

Nope. They're definitely JMTs!!...

jaka · May-15th-2006, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

Heh, see post #8 for a dissenting opinion...

I agree with Vince.
Splay is a must, artworkwise (not exclusively).
As is Fantomas' Suspended Animation, for that matter.

lazarus · May-16th-2006, 12:41 AM

I like these three Fred Frith releases very much:

lazarus · May-16th-2006, 12:48 AM

Also this by Mauricio Kagel

and all by Tim Berne

gonzo · May-16th-2006, 04:44 AM

gary thomas "found on sordid streets".

Gary Sisco · May-16th-2006, 07:41 AM

Georg Graewe/ Ernst Reijseger/ Gerry Hemingway -- Continuum
is my favorite one right now.

But I don't have but four or five others. I like the packaging and haven't had any problems with CDs falling out. They lock in there a lot better than they do in jewel boxes, esp if you deal with a lot of mail orders, as I do. About seven times out of ten jewel boxes arrive here with the little teeth around the center thing already broken, which doesn't help. About four times in ten, the jewel box itself is cracked already.