Monday, March 21st
I can’t think of a finer way to begin the week.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Cello Suite No. 6, excerpt (Allemande); Natalia Gutman (1942-), live, Moscow, 1987
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Month: March, 2016
2016
Sunday, March 20th
old school
Dynamic Revelators (Wichita, Ks.), “Holding On,” live, Gurdon, Ark., c. 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
We have to live out our precise experimentation.
—John Ashbery (1927-), “Breezeway” (Breezeway, 2015)
2016
Saturday, March 19th
like nobody else
Cecil Taylor Unit (CT, piano, vocal, percussion; Jimmy Lyons, alto saxophone, percussion; William Parker, bass, percussion; Rashid Bakr, percussion; Andre Martinez, percussion; Brenda Bakr, vocal) with dancers (Doretha Davidson, Leon Brown, Ron McKay, Pauline Zaguhei), live, Germany (Berlin), 1983
2016
Friday, March 18th
only rock ‘n’ roll
Tenement, live, Philadelphia, 2012
2016
Thursday, March 17th
sounds of Iceland
Anna Thorvaldsdottir (1977-), In the Light of Air, first movt. (“Luminance”); International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), live, Iceland (Reykjavik), 2014
2016
Wednesday, March 16th
sounds of joy
Instant Composers Pool (ICP) Orchestra, “Lavoro” (S. Bergin, borrowing from “Moten Swing”), live, Amsterdam, 2013
Joyful? Yes. But sad, too. Pianist (and cofounder) Misha Mengelberg’s encroaching dementia, which has since sidelined him altogether, provides a poignant counterpoint.
2016
Tuesday, March 15th
riveting
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 32; Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997), live, Moscow, 1975
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lagniappe
reading table
Everyone’s journey
through this world is the same,
so I won’t complain.
Here on the plains of Nasu,
I place my trust in the dew.—Sōgi (1421-1502), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill
2016
Monday, March 14th
sounds of 1926
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Prelude No. 15 (“Raindrop”); Ignaz Friedman (1882-1948), piano, 1926
*****
Bessie Smith (1894-1937), “Young Woman’s Blues,” 1926
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lagniappe
reading table
Whatever it is,
I cannot understand it,
although gratitude
stubbornly overcomes me
until I’m reduced to tears.—Saigyō (1118-1190), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill
2016
Sunday, March 13th
back to church
“My God’s Living Army,” Mt. Zion Baptist Church, McConnells, S.C., 2006
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lagniappe
art beat
William Klein (1928-), See Saw Gang, New York, 1955
2016
Saturday, March 12th
more
Gérard Grisey (1946-1998), Les espaces acoustiques, I-III (1974-76); Ensemble Intercontemporain, live, Paris, 2013
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lagniappe
random thoughts
How many things can go wrong with the human body?
music clip of the day 