maria schneider is amazing

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i'm listning to hang gliding from Allegresse, and wow. i saw her live a few years ago and was just blown away, even though i had been awake for close to 20 hours at a jazz festival and was dying. in my high school jazz band we are playing danca illusoria from the three romances, and playing her music makes me appriciate how complex her songwriting is and how these musicans are who perform her compositions.

anyone else around here listen to her, or have any suggestions on where to go from here? i want to get a lot more...

― jonathan - stl (jonathan - stl), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 03:23 (nineteen years ago)

I meant to go see her many times when she played every Monday, but she moved back home - to Argentina?- before I got round to it.

― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 03:29 (nineteen years ago)

twelve years pass...

Where to start?

― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Thursday, 27 September 2018 02:36 (seven years ago)

I don't think you can go wrong with any of her albums, though I haven't heard the most recent one yet. Coming About is the one that first caught my attention; that and her debut are probably where the Gil Evans influences are strongest.

She's not a fan of streaming services but there are a few good things on YouTube, including this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GijvVT8E44

― Brad C., Thursday, 27 September 2018 13:51 (seven years ago)

I want to check her stuff out but the no-streaming thing is a big obstacle. Also, her CDs are not cheap. She wants $15 for just a download, and $20 for a CD.

― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, 27 September 2018 15:11 (seven years ago)

She's very down on Spotify etc., to an extent than seems anomalous in 2018, but I respect her desire to keep control of her recordings ... she started selling CDs through ArtistShare back in the dawn-of-the-Internet days and I guess that and commissions and sales of her scores are working for her.

She's won six Grammy awards, which makes it even stranger that her work is so difficult to hear.

― Brad C., Thursday, 27 September 2018 15:47 (seven years ago)

The streaming thing is very rock and hard place for musicians -- I respect musicians who don't want to do it and I trust that everyone makes the best judgment they can make about it. But it definitely limits your audience. Maybe for someone like her, who's probably somewhat niche anyway, it's better to have a small but loyal paying following.

― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Thursday, 27 September 2018 15:52 (seven years ago)

She's definitely a niche artist and doesn't slot easily into either jazz or classical business models.

Some cogent shouting at the cloud here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVNEtZZJVU4

Her point about production budgets seems especially relevant for someone who composes for orchestras.

― Brad C., Thursday, 27 September 2018 16:33 (seven years ago)

I totally respect her business model; it's working for her. Unfortunately, it not only makes it difficult for me to decide whether to give her my money or not - it also makes it impossible to write about her music for online outlets. If a performer doesn't have a track on Soundcloud, YouTube, or Bandcamp, I can't write about them in my Stereogum column. Sometimes I'll be lucky enough to come up with a workaround, like the new Wayne Shorter thing, which is physical-only - I found a live performance of one of the new pieces on YouTube, and shared that.

― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, 27 September 2018 16:53 (seven years ago)

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