music clip of the day

jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more

Month: September, 2012

Thursday, 9/20/12

shhhh . . .

Joe McPhee, “Old Eyes” (for Ornette Coleman), live, New York, 2009

Wednesday, 9/19/12

street music: New York

Acapella Soul

“When We Get Married,” 2009

***

“Ooo Baby Baby,” 2012

***

“Just My Imagination,” 2011

Tuesday, 9/18/12

Kaija Saariaho, Fall (1991, from the ballet Maa); Nuiko Wadden (harp), Ryan Streber (electronics); Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, Mass.), 2010

One of the joys of having grown children is going out with them to hear live music, as I did the other night, meeting my older son Alex after work at a Chicago art gallery (Corbett vs. Dempsey) for a solo performance by this harpist.

Monday, 9/17/12

street music: London

Dave Crowe, beatbox, 2011

Sunday, 9/16/12

Sister Rosetta Tharpe with the Chicago Blues All-Stars (Big Walter Horton [harmonica], Willie Dixon [bass], et al.), “That’s All,” “Didn’t It Rain,” live, 1960s, Germany

What a treat to hear Walter, with whom I worked back in the ’70s while at Alligator Records, playing with Sister Rosetta.

Saturday, 9/15/12

riveting

Anton Bruckner (1824-96), Symphony No. 5 in B flat major; Berlin Philharmonic (Wilhelm Furtwangler, cond.), live, Berlin, 1942

(Yeah, I realize this performance took place in Nazi Germany during World War II and, no, I don’t have anything profound, or even interesting, to say about how such beauty and such horror could coexist.)

Friday, 9/14/12

old stuff

Count Basie Orchestra (feat. Jimmy Rushing [vocals] & Herschel Evans [tenor saxophone]), “When My Dreamboat Comes Home,” live (radio broadcast), New York (Savoy Ballroom, Harlem), 1937

The other day, driving to Rockford for a hearing in a murder case, listening to this for the first time, I couldn’t quit hitting the repeat button: “and once again the fields of gloom are adroitly plowed under.”

**********

lagniappe

musical thoughts

What music from today will folks be listening to in 2087?

Thursday, 9/13/12

A piano to play, books to read, coffee to drink—what more could you want?

Jeremy Denk, talking and playing, New York, 2012

*****

Playing Gyorgy Ligeti’s Piano Etudes, Book 1

No. 4: Fanfares

***

No. 5: Arc-en-ceil

***

No. 6: Automne à Varsovie

Wednesday, 9/12/12

earthy (horns) + ethereal (vibes) = enthralling

Peter Brötzmann (saxophones, tarogato) and Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), live, New York (Le Poisson Rouge), 9/5/12

Part 1

***

Part 2

***

Part 3

***

Tonight these guys will be at the Hideout, a little club on Chicago’s near northwest side, which is where I’ll be too.

**********

lagniappe

reading table

Four trees – upon a solitary Acre –
Without Design
Or Order, or Apparent Action –
Maintain –

The Sun – upon a Morning meets them –
The Wind –
No nearer Neighbor – have they –
But God –

The Acre gives them – Place –
They – Him – Attention of Passer by –
Of Shadow, or of Squirrel, haply –
Or Boy –

What Deed is Theirs unto the General Nature –
What Plan
They severally – retard – or further –
Unknown –

—Emily Dickinson

Tuesday, 9/11/12

Her stuff, I’ve found, can be habit-forming.

Grimes, live (studio performance), 2012

**********

lagniappe

reading table

washing my laundry
with my clothes on . . .
summer rain

—Kobayashi Issa, 1821 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)