10 Seconds: Nora Stanley
1. Andrew Hill - Dusk (3'54" - 4'04")
from Andrew Hill - Dusk (1999)
“Up until this point in the song Andrew Hill’s touch has appeared as small bubblings under the surface as he comps. But here we finally witness his voice rise out of the melody and take off in a motivic spiral from the horn line into the solo. The most generous voice taking up such minimal, yet deeply powerful space."
2. Robert Wyatt - Maryan (1’05” - 1’15”)
from Robert Wyatt - Shleep (1997)
"The patient and meandering intro sets us in a state of anticipation that releases with such satisfaction when that first bass note drops and ushers in the melody. The way Robert Wyatt phrases is so strange and winding and seems to almost mimic the very salmon swimming through the delta that he sings about. I also love that the rhythm in this song drives from above rather than from below and creates this webbing for the different interlocking parts to sit within so freely. It feels very ancient and organic, like a bedtime story."
3. Juana Molina - Al Oeste (1'48" - 1'58")
from Juana Molina - Halo (2017)
“Juana Molina is so good at taking a really simple musical element and developing it with very little change to great effect. This track has essentially three elements - the voice, the guitar, and the single woodblock beat. The quality of all of the sounds feels so close, so directly in my ear and whenever those slight harmonic or rhythmic changes happen it feels like a little joke is being whispered to me."
4. Karen Dalton - Reason to Believe (1'00" - 1'10")
from Karen Dalton - 1966 (rec 1966, released 2012)
“The way Karen Dalton sings “cried” shatters my heart each time I hear it. That inflection is surrender, weariness, and love all at once. Its incredible how raw and heavy her voice sounds here while that particular moment in the melody reveals a lightness, a sweetness almost that just sends chills down my spine."
5. Johan Graden & Ellen Arkbro - Close (2'00" - 2'10")
from Johan Graden & Ellen Arkbro - I get along without you very well (2022)
“The bass, low brass, and drums enter here like a drop of water in slow motion. There’s this new openness that the dark of those sparse sounds provides, contrasted with the density of the orchestration to follow. Ellen Arkbro is a wizard when it comes to creating space and defining atmosphere with such specificity and intentionality."
6. Lucky Thompson - You Don't Know What Love Is (2'55" - 3'05")
from Lucky Thompson - Plays Happy Days Are Here Again (1965)
“I first heard this recording on the radio driving in the car with my dad when I was around 8 or 9 years old. It immediately caught my ear and we drove straight to the record store and bought the album. I can point to this as the first moment I said to myself “I want to play saxophone”. Lucky Thompson’s playing is so lyrical, so free, it feels like it floats over the loose grid of time with the most sensitive elasticity."
7. Youssou N'Dour - Shukran Bamba (2'35" - 2'45")
from Youssou N'Dour - Egypt (rec 1999 released 2004)
"Suddenly the dense and intricate orchestration drops out and Youssou N’Dour’s voice soars above the drone. The exultation in his tone is heart wrenching to me, seemingly answered by the skittering strings. The unison melody returns and the drop back into driving rhythm feels like being picked up from the depths of feeling, the depths of despair. Is this what faith feels like?"
8. Igor Stravinsky (Simone Libralon recording) - Elegy for Solo Viola, K 072 (4’55” – 5’05”)
from - Simone Libralon - Stravinsky: Elegy for Solo Viola (2024)
“Incredible to me that this is one instrument and not two playing this piece. The viola sounds like breathing - so wide and rich and tactile. This final phrase holds the peak of dissonance and then leaves us with this falling, unanswered sadness that, even though the interval we’re left with is a consonant one, feels so deeply unresolved."
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