more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor; Steuart Pincombe (cello), live, Netherlands (Amsterdam), 2018
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR’s Bach Festival, which began the day before Christmas, concludes at midnight.
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random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
back to church
“Good Time in Zion,” live, Center Baptist Church, Gastonia, N.C., 2017
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
sounds of London
NÉRIJA, “The Fisherman,” live (studio), 2016
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
sounds of London
Yussef Dayes (drums) and Alpha Mist (keyboards), with Mansur Brown (guitar), Rocco Palladino (bass), “Love Is the Message,” live (studio), 2018
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lagniappe
reading table
opening the window
I see the butterfly off . . .
into the field—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Partita No. 2 in D minor for solo violin; Bella Hristova (violin)
first four movements, live (studio), Boston, 2012
fifth movement (Chaconne), live, Philadelphia, 2013
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR’s Bach Festival (until midnight New Year’s Eve)
***
musical thoughts
On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind.
—Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), on Bach’s Chaconne, in a letter to Clara Schumann (translated from German)
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II; András Schiff (piano), live, London, 2018
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR’s Bach Festival continues through midnight New Year’s Eve.
***
musical thoughts
If there is anyone who owes everything to Bach, it is God. Without Bach, God would be a third-rate character.
—Emil Cioran (1911-1995)
Merry Christmas
Blind Lemon Jefferson, “Christmas Eve Blues,” 1928
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Victoria Spivey (with Lonnie Johnson, guitar), “Christmas Morning Blues,” 1928
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Bessie Smith (with Joe Smith, cornet; Charlie Green, trombone; Fletcher Henderson, piano), “At the Christmas Ball,” 1925
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Leroy Carr, “Christmas in Jail—Ain’t That a Pain,” 1929
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Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (feat. Charles Brown, vocals, keyboards), “Merry Christmas, Baby,” 1947
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Lowell Fulson, “Lonesome Christmas (I & II),” 1950
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Sonny Boy Williamson II, “Sonny Boy’s Christmas Blues,” 1951
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John Lee Hooker, “Blues for Christmas,” 1959
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
sounds of Chicago
Pastor DeAndre Patterson, “To God Be the Glory,” live (Rev. Clay Evans’ 92nd birthday celebration, Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church), Chicago, 2017
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
more
Erik Satie (1866-1925), Sonneries de la Rose+Croix (No. 2); Reinbert de Leeuw (piano), live, Netherlands (Utrecht), 2011
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lagniappe
random sights
last night, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day 