-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Boi Akih (Monica Akihary, vocals; Niels Brouwer, guitar) with guest Wolter Wierbos (trombone), live, Netherlands, 2008
Instruments, too, are often stereotyped. Take the trombone. Loud? Blustery? Bull in a china shop? Not here.
Shabazz Palaces, live (studio performance, KEXP-FM), 2011
These guys—their mix of drums, mbira, electronics—call to mind the AACM’s* tagline: ancient to the future.
*Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton, Fred Anderson, Leroy Jenkins, et al.).
Aretha testifies
Aretha Franklin, “Surely God Is Able,” live, Detroit, 1990
More? Here. And here. And here. And here.
**********
lagniappe
random thoughts: Marcel Proust (or is it Samuel Beckett?) on Opening Day
You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.
Actually, it’s Joe DiMaggio. But for Joltin’ Joe, like Marvelous Marcel and Slammin’ Sammy, life consists largely of “look[ing] forward” to things, “wonderful” things—things that seldom, if ever, actually “happen.” Just ask the Cubs: going into the eighth inning of Thursday’s opener, they were winning 1-0; they lost 2-1.
The tree of country music has lots of eccentric branches.
The Handsome Family, “My Friend” (2009)
**********
lagniappe
reading table
The Everyday Enchantment of Music
by Mark Strand
(Almost Invisible [2012])
A rough sound was polished until it became a smoother sound, which was polished until it became music. Then the music was polished until it became the memory of a night in Venice when tears of the sea fell from the Bridge of Sighs, which in turn was polished until it ceased to be and in its place stood the empty home of a heart in trouble. Then suddenly there was sun and the music came back and traffic was moving and off in the distance, at the edge of the city, a long line of clouds appeared, and there was thunder, which, however menacing, would become music, and the memory of what happened after Venice would begin, and what happened after the home of the troubled heart broke in two would also begin.
*****
Happy Birthday, Billie!
Happy (75th) Birthday, Merle!
Merle Haggard, live
“Lonesome Fugitive,” Buck Owens Ranch Show, 1966
***
“Working Man Blues,” Austin City Limits, 1978
***
“Today I Started Loving You Again,” with Tammy Wynette, England (Wemberly), 1988
passings
Earl Scruggs, banjo player, January 6, 1924-March 28, 2012
With Doc Watson (vocals, guitar) and their sons (Merle Watson, Randy & Steve Scruggs), live, 1971, Deep Gap, North Carolina (Doc’s home)
Welcome to the maelstrom.
Miles Davis Group,* live, Berlin, 1973
Part 1: Turnaroundphrase
***
Part 2: Turnaroundphrase, cont.; Tune in 5
*MD, trumpet; David Liebman, saxophone; Pete Cosey, guitar, percussion; Reggie Lucas, guitar; Michael Henderson, bass; Al Foster, drums; Mtume, percussion.
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.Last night as I slept,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.—Antonio Mochado (1875-1939), “Last Night As I Was Sleeping” (translated from Spanish by Robert Bly)
One singer’s garbage is another’s gold.
Nina Simone, “Ain’t Got No/I Got Life” (adapted from Hair)
Live, New York (Harlem Cultural Festival), 1969
**********
lagniappe
yesterday
Listening to the radio, where they were talking about post-war modernist architecture, I learned a new term for people my age: “mid-century.”
When we last saw Miles, playing in Germany in 1967, he was wearing a suit and tie. Here, two years later, his wardrobe is headed in a new direction. So is his music.
Miles Davis Quintet,* live, France (Antibes), 1969
“Milestones,” “Footprints,” “’Round Midnight”
*MD, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor and soprano saxophones; Chick Corea, electric piano; Dave Holland, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums.
music clip of the day 