Studio Ghibli in Jazz

The Path Of The Wind (From My Neighbor Totoro)

❄️ Still, Gyeongbok Palace (Carols in Snowy Silence)

The 'Still, Gyeongbok Palace' album began with a single question: "What would a Christmas carol sound like echoing through Gyeongbok Palace during the first snow?" This album is a unique collection of 'Gugak Jazz Carols,' blending warm Western Christmas melodies with the quiet, elegant winter sentiment of Korea. It offers a mystical experience, as if familiar carols are resonating from beneath the snow-covered eaves of an ancient palace.

This album boldly omits drums and bass. Instead, it weaves the clear resonance of the Gayageum (zither), the breathy notes of the Daegeum (flute), and the soulful melody of the Haegeum (two-string fiddle) over a foundation of warm jazz piano chords. The minimal and lyrical arrangements maximize the sacred and peaceful atmosphere of original carols like 'Silent Night' and 'In the Bleak Midwinter.' You will experience a quiet, clear soundscape where you can almost hear the soft piling of the snow.

This album is a gift for those seeking calm, deep relaxation instead of loud party music this holiday season. It is the perfect BGM for the emotional moment of the first snow, quiet contemplation on a winter night, or a time of peaceful meditation. Discover the most Korean, yet uniquely exotic, healing music that the 'Still,' series has to offer.

#GugakJazz #Carol #JazzCarol #GyeongbokPalace #FirstSnow #Zither #HealingMusic #Instrumental #FusionJazz #Still


Back the Music!

06. The First Noel (Gugak Jazz Ver.)

World’s Fair. Julian Lage’s first solo guitar album, is so spontaneous and intimate in feel it’s as if this prodigious guitarist had just arrived in your living room, picked up his vintage Martin, and simply started to play.

“I always had a fantasy about doing a solo guitar project, “ Lage explains, “especially one that highlighted various orchestrational aspects of guitar playing and guitar techniques, drawing from the structure of the three to four minute song, pieces that did not depend as much on improvisation but on moods, or musical attitudes. When I started recording, I discovered what a rare opportunity this was for me to recalibrate my senses to one instrument and within that recalibration learn to savor the vast world of intimacy and nuance, both qualities so inherent to the guitar.”

While conceiving of and recording World’s Fair, Lage was inspired by the orchestral approach to the guitar of the great Andres Segovia and by the music of the early 20th Century, of “jazz before be-bop. He found a similarly unbound spirit in the early seventies work of singer-songwriters like Randy Newman, who managed to incorporate a sophisticated range of ideas into the concise pop-song format. He was drawn, in other words, to sounds that were both challenging and pleasing -- work, much like his own, that defies easy categorization.

As the New York Times has put it, the 26 year-old Lage is a an artist whose roots are “tangled in jazz, folk, classical and country music.” A child guitar prodigy, he was the subject of the 1997 Oscar-nominated documentary short, Jules at 8.; he made his first recording, with David Grisman, at the age of 11. His first recording as a leader, 2009’s Sounding Point, garnered a Grammy nomination as Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Up to now, collaboration has been essential to Lage’s process; he has toured and/or recorded with such artists as Gary Burton, Nels Cline, Fred Hersch, and Jim Hall, who was a major influence on the young Lage. His most recent project is Room, a live-in-the-studio exchange with experimental guitarist Cline. Earlier this year, he released Avalon, a duo recording with fellow guitarist Chris “Critter” Eldridge (of Punch Brothers) that surveyed the American Songbook with an easygoing virtuosity.

World’s Fair, co-produced by Matt Munisteri and engineered by Armand Hirsch, sets up a new sort of relationship between Lage and his audience, as about as one-on-one as a musician can get without physically being there. Says Lage, “Here are twelve songs that represent this opening into my world, a musical and personal aesthetic I haven’t yet had the opportunity to express in full on record. This music, these explorations, this overarching narrative -- taken together, they represent one of my long times dreams, to create music for one guitar, played by one person, for you.”

- Michael Hill
credits
released February 3, 2015

Produced by Matt Munisteri and Julian Lage
Engineered and Mixed by Armand Hirsch
Assistant Engineered by Teddy Tuthill
Mastered by Dan Millice at The Engine Room
Design: Matt Pfahlert for www.thesilentp.com

Recorded June 16-17, 2014 at Sear Sound in New York City, with the exception of "Double Stops" and "Where or When" which were recorded March 19, 2014 at Echo Mountain in Asheville, NC with Assistant Engineer, Jon Ashley. Mixed at Sterling Studios in NYC. 

Where Or When

It Might as Well Be Spring

I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)

Soul Eyes

Alfie

I Have Dreamed

Going North

Song for Paris (feat. David Ehrlin, Rasmus H Thomsen, Antti Ojala & Martin Sundström)

The Path Of The Wind (From My Neighbor Totoro)

Whispering Winds