Listen to solo piano music by Michele McLaughlin on Sketches. There is a nice review by Kathy Parsons at mainlypiano.com. I also included my playlist of her songs.
Sketches is a fully improvised solo piano album. Several of the songs were completely improvised during the recording process for this album and several were inspired by my Monday Morning Improvisations series on YouTube. I hope you enjoy the music on this album as it comes from my inner well of creativity and straight from the heart.
Michele McLaughlin – album description on her web site
Album
Sketches (2020) – 13 songs, 44 min
Playlist
Michele McLaughlin (Playlist) – 51 songs, 2 hr 59 min
Listen to more of her music at Michele McLaughlin with other albums, videos, and links.
Listen to a Conspirare virtual concert of Conspirare Christmas 2020 presented on December 7, 2020 at 7:30 pm Central. This streaming, in-home concert has free admission and no RSVP is needed.
Begin the holidays with songs that go deep with love, courage, and hope. Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson curates this beloved concert bridging everyday songs with seasonal favorites that speak to our hearts. This year’s Conspirare Christmas will feature surprise cameos and is a unique virtual choir offering created in the spirit of this beloved annual concert.
Live Concert on Dec 7, 2020 (Mon) @ 7:30 pm Central
Craig Hella johnson and Conspirare are excited to welcome the following special guests:
Please consider a contribution to help engage the power of music to change lives, as well as heal, transform, and elevate the human spirit. Your investment provides the gift of Conspirare’s music to everyone and keeps their nationwide roster of artists employed. There is also a link to go directly to the concert without any donation. Thank you.
Videos
These video recordings from previous concerts at The Tobin Center in San Antonio are also available for you to watch.
Conspirare Christmas 2019 – 2 hr
Conspirare Christmas 2018 – 1 hr 57 min
Conspirare Christmas 2017 – 1 hr 53 min
Listen to more of their music at my Conspirare post with additional albums, videos, and links.
Listen to Christmas solo piano music by Isaac Shepard. I originally posted his first Christmas Piano album back in 2015, but he has released two more since then so I included them all here, along with my playlist of his music.
Albums
Christmas Piano, Vol. 3 (2018) – 11 songs, 25 min
Christmas Piano, Vol. 2 (2017) – 10 songs, 21 min
Christmas Piano (2015) – 12 songs, 37 min
Playlist
Isaac Shepard (Playlist) – 33 songs, 2 hr 6 min
Listen to more of his music at Isaac Shepard for albums, videos, and links.
Listen to solo piano music by Louis Landon on his new album Feel Good Piano. I have also included three other albums released this year, as well as my playlist of his songs.
I hope this makes you feel good too, like it does for me. We can all use that now. He keeps making great solo piano music.
Albums
Feel Good Piano (2020) – 13 songs, 52 min
Thanksgiving Piano (2020) – 14 songs, 52 min
Southwest Solo Piano (2020) – 14 songs, 55 min
Panama Piano (2020) – 13 songs, 50 min
Playlist
Louis Landon (Playlist) – 70 songs, 5 hr 18 min
Listen to more of his music at Louis Landon for more of his albums, videos, and links.
Listen to solo piano music by Joe Bongiorno on his new (11th) album When All Is Quiet. I love all his music, and this is wonderful too. Wow!
This is vintage Joe Bongiorno doing his solo piano… radiating melodies and emotions from start to finish. It’s been almost 4 years since Joe’s last release, and this album doesn’t disappoint! Inspired largely by the quiet times during the pandemic and the loss of his father to COVID-19. Enjoy the glorious sound from his handcrafted Shigeru Kawai grand. Sit back and relax!
Album
When All Is Quiet (2020) – 10 songs, 45 min
Videos
Imagine This – 4 min 13 sec
Facebook Live Concerts
Joe Bongioro & Ryan Marvel – Nov 22 & Dec 6
Click on the following link on Nov 22 and Dec 6 to watch Joe perform live with Ryan Marvel from his Piano Haven Studio in Sedona, Arizona.
There were recorded live previously on Facebook (Oct 17-18), and are still available to watch.
Live on the Red Rocks – Sedona, AZ – 1 hr 53 min
This starts about 5 minutes into the recording so you can advance the play bar to skip the beginning.
Piano Haven Studio – Sedona, AZ – 1 hr 51 min
Click the following link to watch the previous recording of a Facebook Live concert by Joe Bongiorno & Michael Martinez from Piano Haven Concert on Oct 18. The video will start in another tab where you must watch it on Facebook (it wasn’t able to be embedded within this post directly). It actually starts about 7 minutes into the recording with an intoduction and music starts about 4 minutes later.
Listen to the a Conspirare virtual concert of Unity: Songs of Invitation presented over the weekend as a streaming event via YouTube.
Unity invites viewers into a reverie that breaks new ground and elevates the virtual concert space from the familiar grid of squares. Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson will ground the concert in two selections of Bach, connecting with the organization’s musical roots and including Conspirare favorites “Requiem,” “1000 Beautiful Things,” and Samuel Barber’s iconic “Agnus Dei.” The timely poetry of Joy Harjo, Erika Fine, N. Scott Momaday, and Herman Hesse complete the program. South African Director Andrew Timm and his team have masterfully combined the elements of the artists’ audio and video recordings and will stage them in a virtual 3-D amphitheater design. Timm and his team were influenced by Kintsugi, the Japanese art of using gold to repair cracks in a piece of broken pottery.
The program is available as a PDF document for viewing and/or printing here. If you prefer to watch this video directly on YouTube in another window (or even full-screen), click on this link or “YouTube” on the bottom right in the embedded player below. If you don’t have time for the entire program, you might just watch them perform God Bless America.
Videos
Unity: Songs of Invitation (Nov 2, 2020) – 1 hr
God Bless America (from Unity) – 3 mins
Listen to more of his music at my Conspirare post with additional albums, videos, and links.
Listen to indie folk music by Darlingside on their new album Fish Pond Fish. I also included another instrumentals album, as well as a full live concert video.
Listen to solo piano music by David Hicken on his new album Sagas. Watch videos of him playing all the songs from this album; maybe you can learn something to try.
Listen to instrumental electro-acoustic harp music by Andreas Vollenweider on his new album Quiet Places. I remember seeing his live performances in Dallas during the 80’s at both the Granada Theatre and Majestic Theatre.
QUIET PLACES is a musical treat for precious, quiet moments, for the more subtle feelings, a source of strength for the wild ride out there in the crazy world…
10 thematic improvisations, calm, moving, intimate, personal, close. Of course Andreas plays his harp and here and there the piano, the young cello player Isabel Gehweiler slips “under our skin” with her haunting, soulful and vibrant playing and now and then Walter Keiser joins in with filigree grooving drums.
New Album
Quiet Places (2020) – 10 songs, 41 min
Videos
I have also included 9 live mini-concert videos (over 2 hours) that he performed from his home studio in Zurich, Switzerland during the COVID-19 pandemic. His next super mini-concert #10 has been postponed until Oct 21 while he celebrates the release of his new album. Also he is publishing an audio-book of his first novel Im Spiegel der Venus (Reflections of Venus) with music, which is currently being translated into English.
