sounds of the Congo
Kasai Allstars, “Kabuangoyi,” Congotronics 2: Buzz ’n’ Rumble in the Urb ’n’ Jungle, filmed in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 2000
keep on dancing
Sometimes I don’t want to listen.
What I want are sounds washing over me.
Theo Parrish, “Summertime Is Here” (originally released 1999; reissued 2006)
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
[W]hat we find in our mind and our thought is the same as what we find in our ear and in sound: an ocean in constant flux. Just as our ear turns out to be nothing but a construct, and likewise sound, neither can we isolate anything we might call our mind or thought, much less our self.
—The Heart Sutra, translation (from Sanskrit) and commentary (from which this is drawn) by Red Pine, AKA Bill Porter (2004)
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reading table
the whining mosquito
also thinks I’m old . . .
edge of my ear—Kobayashi Issa, 1819 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
two takes
“Dirt” (D. Alexander, S. Asheton, I. Pop, R. Asheton)
The Stooges
Live, Detroit, 2003
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Neneh Cherry & The Thing
Recording (The Cherry Thing), 2012
back to church
“What I Am,” Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, Chester, S.C.
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lagniappe
found words
Sometimes particles are essentially their own anti-particle.
—Sean Carroll, Science Friday (NPR), 7/7/12
basement jukebox
The Valentinos (feat. Bobby Womack), “Lookin’ For A Love,” 1962
*****
Billy Stewart, “Sitting In The Park,” 1965
mesmerizing, pres. part. Spellbinding, enthralling. E.g., Sonny Boy Williamson II.
Sonny Boy Williamson II (AKA Aleck [or Alex] “Rice” Miller)
Live, Europe, 1960s
“I’m A Lonely Man”
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“Bye Bye Bird”
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If they would create a time machine, I’d use it just to listen this guy.
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lagniappe
reading table
evening
is such a downer . . .
meadow butterfly—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
Post-holiday blues?
Not for long.
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (saxophones), with McCoy Tyner (piano), Stanley Clark (bass) and Lenny White “drums,” “Pedal Up,” TV show (introduced by Quincy Jones), 1975
(Later note: When I posted this clip, I didn’t know there’d be all these commercials. You can skip the junk here.)
rock ’n’ roll
country
gospel
blues
jazz
A world without American music: what would it sound like?
The Blasters, “American Music,” Champaign, Ill., 1985
(Originally posted 7/5/10.)
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Merle Haggard, “Lonesome Fugitive,” Buck Owens Ranch Show, 1966
(Originally posted 4/6/12.)
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Slim and the Victory Aires, “Alright Now,” Paducah, Ky., 2008
(Originally posted 3/11/12)
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Johnny Shines (1915-1992), vocals, guitar; David “Honeyboy” Edwards (1915-2011), guitar; Big Walter Horton (1917-1981), harmonica; “For The Love of Mike,” 1978
(Originally posted 10/4/11.)
Von Freeman, tenor saxophone; Clifford Jordan, tenor saxophone (first solo); Willie Pickens, piano; Dan Shapera, bass; Robert Shy, drums; “Oleo” (S. Rollins), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 1988
(Originally posted 5/3/12.)
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lagniappe
radio
All Pops, all day:
Tune in on July 4th, Independence Day . . . as we celebrate the professed (although according to historians, not actual) birthday of Jazz great and American Hero, the trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong, by playing 24 hours straight of his music, from midnight to midnight.
*****
encore*
Dave Alvin with the Blasters, “4th of July,” Berwyn, Ill. (Fitzgerald’s), 2010
*By popular demand (see Comments).
What more could you ask for, when you’re old, than to be able, still, to dance?
Drummers Roy Haynes (87, facing the camera) & Jack DeJohnette (69, back to the camera), tap dancing, New York (NEA Jazz Masters Luncheon), 2012
joy, n. looking for something else and happening upon this.
Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition (JD, drums; Rufus Reid, bass; Marty Erlich, bass clarinet; John Purcell, alto saxophone; Howard Johnson, tuba, baritone saxophone), live, Poland (Warsaw), 1983
Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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Part 4
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lagniappe
reading table
First, I’ll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later. The robbery is the more important part, since it served to set my and my sister’s lives on the courses they eventually followed. Nothing would make complete sense without that being told first.
Our parents were the least likely two people in the world to rob a bank. They weren’t strange people, not obviously criminals. No one would’ve thought they were destined to end up the way they did. They were just regular—although, of course, that kind of thinking became null and void the moment they did rob a bank.
—Richard Ford, Canada (2012)
music clip of the day 