June | 2014 | music clip of the day

2014

Friday, June 20th

only rock ’n’ roll

This guy reminds me a little, at times, of some of the blues musicians I worked with years ago (when I was with Alligator Records in the ’70s), often relying, it seems, more on feel than plan.

Roky Erickson, live, Denmark (Christiana), 2013*

*****

*Set list (courtesy of YouTube):

1. Cold Night for Alligators
2. Bermuda
3. The Interpreter
4. Roller Coaster
5. Fire Engine
6. Tried to Hide
7. Levitation
8. Splash 1
9. Reverberation
10. Two Headed Dog
11. You’re Gonna Miss Me

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2014

Thursday, June 19th

passings

Jimmy Scott, singer, July 17, 1925-June 12, 2014

“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” live, New York (Birdland), 2000

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lagniappe

reading table

If you were to open up Iona’s chest and pour all the grief out of it, you would probably flood the entire planet, yet it is not visible.

—Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), “Grief” (often rendered as “Misery”; translated from Russian by Rosamund Bartlett)

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2014

Wednesday, June 18th

never enough

Same composer, same pianist—23 years earlier.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major (“Hammerklavier”), Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Germany (Bonn), 1970

1st & 2nd movements

3rd movement (beginning)

3rd movement (end), 4th movement

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lagniappe

art beat

Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), Seville, Spain, 1933

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2014

Tuesday, June 17th

alone

Searching, searching—never finding.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major (Third Movt.), Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Japan, 1993

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lagniappe

reading table

Imaginary Number
by Vijay Seshadri (1954-)

The mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
is not big and is not small.
Big and small are

comparative categories, and to what
could the mountain that remains when the universe is destroyed
be compared?

Consciousness observes and is appeased.
The soul scrambles across the screes.
The soul,

like the square root of minus 1,
is an impossibility that has its uses.

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2014

Monday, June 16th

Ornette, at 84, still plays some of the most haunting blues I’ve ever heard.

Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone), with Henry Threadgill (alto saxophone), David Murray (tenor saxophone), Savion Glover (tap dance), et al., live, New York (Prospect Park), 6/12/14

*****

With Don Cherry (trumpet), Charlie Haden (bass), Billy Higgins (drums), The Shape Of Jazz To Come, 1959

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lagniappe

art beat

Bruce Davidson (1933-), East 100th St., New York, 1966

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2014

Sunday, June 15th

back to church

Bozie Sturdivant, “Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down,” live, Clarksdale, Miss. (Silent Grove Baptist Church), 1942

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lagniappe

art beat

Bruce Davidson (1933-), East 100th St., New York, 1966

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2014

Saturday, June 14th

passings

Bob Abrahamian, soul music DJ (WHPK, Sitting in the Park), historian, archivist, September 25, 1978-June 5, 2014

Dolores Gibson, “I Got A Feeling,” 1960

*****

Byrdie Green, “Tremblin’,” 1962

*****

Deanie Parker, “Each Step I Take,” 1964

*****

These tracks opened his last radio show (5/4/14).

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2014

Friday, June 13th

sounds of Brazil & Jamaica

Slavish imitation. Contrived reinvention. Tributes usually leave me wondering why they even bothered. Not this.

Gilberto Gil (1942-), Tribute to Bob Marley, live, Brazil (Sao Paulo), 2001

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2014

Thursday, June 12th

sounds of Chicago

One-word review: mesmerizing.

Art Ensemble of Chicago, live, France (Chateauvallon), 1970

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lagniappe

reading table

Despite all my inner crumblings,
I’m still able to recognize a perfect day:
sea without shadow,
sky without wrinkles,
air hovering over me like a blessing.

—Nina Cassian (1924-2014), “Summer X-Rays” (fragment)