All hail the great soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone! Not familiar? I'll bet a few bars of the themes from The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly or Once Upon a Time in the West are all you'll need to connect to his hypnotic genius, and you're in good company. Next Tuesday Sony Music's classical division will release a new tribute album, We All Love Ennio Morricone, featuring artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Celine Dion,and Yo-Yo Ma alongside pop stars covering some of his most memorable tunes. Five years in the making to clear through all the multi-label paperwork, highlights include Quincy Jones & Herbie Hancock putting a new face on "The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly," Roger Waters' take on "Lost Boys Calling," Bruce Springsteen's run through "Once Upon a Time in the West," and Metallica putting "The Ecstasy of Gold" from The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly through its crucible.

Bella HristovaImagine if you will: You're six years old. You've been playing the violin for six months. And you're about to make your professional debut on live television.

For most youths, this would be the recipe for a panic attack. But not for acclaimed violinist Bella Hristova, here as Quad City Arts' latest Visiting Artist. After all, the Bulgarian native had her cat to comfort her.

Sort of.

Minus Six, The third record from the Quad Cities' Minus Six, Hidden Deep in the Green, has the vibe of a musical-theatre soundtrack. If the idea of a pop record that invokes Broadway makes you recoil in horror, then you're wise to avoid this. If you're intrigued, you're likely to be carried away by singer/songwriter Kevin Carton and his band.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, filmmaker John Waters follows up his wonderfully weird Christmas-music collection from 2004 with a new CD for lovers, featuring 14 personally selected "come hither" wolf-whistles from his own twisted-kitsch record collection. New Line Records invites you on A Date with John Waters this week, a wild ride of oddball nuggets that kicks off with "Tonight You Belong to Me," a 45-RPM ditty from 1956 by 11- and 14-year-old sisters Patience & Prudence - the first record the five-finger-discounting Waters admits he ever shoplifted. Alongside tracks from Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Jet Boy Jet Girl, Dean Martin, Mildred Bailey, and Ike & Tina Turner, a few of Waters' cohorts in shock cinema made the cut, with Edith "Egg Lady" Massey's "Big Girls Don't Cry" and Mink Stole's cover of "Sometimes I Wish I Had a Gun."

 

Debbie Bond Nancy Schricker, the music teacher at Wilson Elementary in Davenport, arrived to greet us with six students in tow. Debbie Bond - the guitar player and bandleader for the the Alabama Blues Project, the group that the Mississippi Valley Blues Society (MVBS) brought in for a "Blues in the Schools" residency last November - told them, "Some of the equipment will be heavy."

"Sweet," exclaimed one little boy, already won over for this prestigious "work," as they followed Debbie to the van to unload what was needed for the afternoon's performance. Soon, the Alabama Blues Project had its school-kid "roadies" participate in setup by hauling plastic tubs that would be used by classmates as drums.

This weekend the Quad City Symphony Orchestra is celebrating composers who stood apart, in some way, from the conventions of their time. Although the program does include Beethoven and Strauss, the emphasis is on modern American composers, three of whom are living.

As Music Director and Conductor Donald Schleicher explained, these are (or were) composers "on the cutting edge" who "invented and created and didn't just follow the patterns of their predecessors.

"So often we play music by dead composers," Schleicher said. "Dead composers were once living, so I think it's interesting to investigate and perform music by living composers. Like an artist, composers sometimes become more famous after they die."

Rough Trade Records My biggest complaint about the new digital-music culture is the loss of tactile product. Songs today are simply files to be acquired, stored, and moved about, removed from the album or political era they originated in. Gone, for the most part, is the secret and connective language of an album or a single and all its once-possible elements - the gatefold jacket, inner sleeve, liner notes, and other delightful paper ephemera - that in the hands of a talented designer spoke deeply to the consumer and made the experience something to covet.

Glenn Hughes - Off the radar in the States since its European issue on Frontiers Records last summer, a new heavy masterpiece from hard-rock royalty is released domestically next week. The former voice of Deep Purple and Trapeze, Glenn Hughes may have turned 55 last year, but let the legend show what a frontman is really all about. With his classic, soulful, golden tone refreshingly grand in response to so many whiny emo broken hearts and edgy malcontents, the new album - Music for the Divine - is also one heck of a players' album, ready to feed a nation of hungry, head-banging guitarists and drummers. Fueled by the beat of Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and the expressive guitar work of J.J. Marsh, the album also features Chili Pepper guitarist John Frusciante on two tracks, including the lone cover on the album, The Moody Blues' "Knights in White Satin." Recorded in Smith's Hollywood Hills home - the former residence of Gary Grant - the magic is bristling and alive.

There have been only a few bass players who have led jazz bands. Among the first was Oscar Pettiford. The best known was Charlie Mingus, who was also one of the great jazz composers. Ray Brown fronted mostly jazz trios. Christian McBride is one of the latest bassists leading a jazz band.

It's even more rare for a female bass player to lead a jazz band, but Chicago's Marlene Rosenberg has been doing just that. She will bring her quartet of highly talented jazz musicians to the River Music Experience's Redstone Room on January 21 to open up the 2007 Third Sunday Jazz Matinée & Workshop Series. The day's events include a workshop and a public performance.

Sub Pop Records is following in the footsteps of the Merge and Saddle Creek imprints by rewarding the purchaser (remember them?) with free, official mp3 downloads directly from the label, via a coupon found inside all forthcoming vinyl LPs. Yes! Give the vinyl purchaser something special, or at least hold hands on the path down to the iPod or 10-cent blank CD. I'm all for this common sense approach in a world where music is becoming exchangeable files instead of (geezer alert!) collectible physical artifacts, linked together by a discernible, evolutionary timeline. The first LP to contain a unique coded coupon is Tuesday's release of The Shins' Wincing the Night Away.

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