Blind Willie Johnson recorded this song in 1929. Tonight it’s up for a Grammy. Ashley Cleveland, “God Don’t Never Change” (God Don’t Never Change, nominee, Best Traditional Gospel Album) ***** Blind Willie Johnson, “God Don’t Never Change” (1929, New Orleans) (previously featured on 11/15/09)
Archive for January 2010
Sunday, 1/31/10
01/31/2010Saturday, 1/30/10
01/30/2010It seems hard to believe, sometimes, that anyone escapes childhood with a shred of sanity. I still remember, for instance, my mother dragging me to this movie. I was eight years old. Popcorn in hand, the lights dimming, I sat there in the gathering darkness, waiting. And waiting. Until, suddenly, I was transported to a [...]
Friday, 1/29/10
01/29/2010William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well: Short words are better than long words. Little Richard: I’m gonna rip it up . . . Little Richard, “Rip It Up,” live (TV broadcast), c. 1956
Thursday, 1/28/10
01/28/2010This guy—one of my all-time musical heroes (someone I’ve been listening to for over 30 years)—makes you move. He makes you feel. He makes you think. What more could you ask for? Henry Threadgill, alto saxophone With His Very Very Circus, live, New York, 1995 ***** With his Society Situation Dance Band (featuring Craig Harris, [...]
Wednesday, 1/27/10
01/27/2010Let’s head back to Kingston for more ska. The Maytals (before becoming “Toots & . . .”), “Treat Me Bad,” “She Will Never Let You Down,” live, Jamaica (Kingston [Sombrero Club]), 1962
Tuesday, 1/26/10
01/26/2010No matter what musical language he’s speaking, you’d swear it was his first. Marc Ribot, guitar With Los Cubanos Postizos, “Aurora en Pekin,” live, France, 2002 ***** With Ceramic Dog, “Caravan,” live, Berlin, 2008 ***** Solo, “Bouncing Around” (Django Reinhardt, c. 1937), live, New York, 2009
Monday, 1/25/10
01/25/2010Sax player in a ska band—easiest job in music? The Blues Busters, “I Don’t Know,” live, Jamaica (Kingston [Sombrero Club]), 1962
Sunday, 1/24/10
01/24/2010Singing gospel, Al Green has sometimes sounded a little constrained (unlike, say, Sam Cooke, who never sounded freer). Not here. Al Green, “Jesus Will Fix It,” live, New York (Apollo Theater), 1990
Saturday, 1/23/10
01/23/2010Who else sounds like Kate & Anna McGarrigle? Who else makes such wonderfully eccentric career moves—like, for instance, putting out an album all in French? Who else has not one but two children following in their musical footsteps (Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright)? Kate McGarrigle (February 6, 1946-January 18, 2010) Kate & Anna McGarrigle “Ce Matin,” [...]
Friday, 1/22/10
01/22/2010Watching late night TV, you drift in and out of sleep. In the morning, you recall a commercial you saw—or dreamed. And you say to yourself, “Buddhist Country Classics?” Jimmie Dale Gilmore (with Bill Frisell, guitar; Jerry Douglas, Dobro; Viktor Krauss, bass), “Just a Wave, Not the Water,” live (TV broadcast), 1997
