music clip of the day

jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more

Month: December, 2018

Tuesday, December 11th

voices I miss

This drummer never fails to lift my spirits.

Ed Blackwell (drums, 1929-1992) with Mal Waldron (piano), Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), Woody Shaw (flugelhorn), Reggie Workman (bass), “The Git Go” (M. Waldron), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 1985

#1

 

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#2

 

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#3

 

Monday, December 10th

more

Brian Eno (1948-), “An Ending (Ascent)”, Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (with Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno), 1983 (remastered 2005)

 

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lagniappe

random sights

this morning, Oak Park, Ill.

Sunday, December 9th

can’t wait

Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack, director; filmed, 1972; scheduled theatrical release, 2019), trailer

 

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lagniappe

reading table

It is true that the unknown is the largest need of the intellect, though for it, no one thinks to thank God.

—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), Letter to Cousins Louisa (aka Louise) and Frances Norcross, 1876

Saturday, December 8th

tomorrow in Chicago

They’re performing at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel.

The Tallis Scholars, live, France (Mont Saint-Michel), 2017

 

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

Friday, December 7th

This is Jimmy’s brother.

Syl Johnson, “Take Me to the River” (A. Green, M. Hodges), 1974

 

*****

Another take.

Live (with Howard Grimes [drums], Leroy Hodges [bass], et al.), Memphis

 

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Oak Park, Ill.

Thursday, December 6th

Every now and then I hear something and wonder: Where has this been all my life?

Ivan Wyschnegradsky (1893-1979), 24 Preludes in quarter-tone system (excerpts), 1934/1970

 

Wednesday, December 5th

more

Brian Eno, Ambient Music 1: Music for Airports, 1978

 

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lagniappe

reading table

All night long
the windswept clouds
plovers calling under the moon

—Yosa Buson, 1716-1784 (translated from Japanese by W.S. Merwin and Takako Lento)

Tuesday, December 4th

timeless

This guy, whom I worked with in the 1970s, co-producing this track and a few others for Alligator Records (Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1), just turned ninety. One of my sons, now older than I was then, heard him the other night at a Chicago club, where, he said, his guitar playing was “robust.” How wonderful to be ninety years old and robust. How wonderful, too, to be able to share music with a son.

“Breaking up Somebody’s Home” (T. Matthews, A. Jackson), 1978

 

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Here he is forty years later.

“People Get Ready” (C. Mayfield), “That’s All Right,” Chicago, 2018

 

Sunday, December 2nd

timeless

Pilgrim Travelers, “I’ve Got a Mother Gone Home,” 1951

 

Saturday, December 1st

what’s new

David Leon (alto saxophone, compositions) & Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone), live, New York, 11/29/18

 

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lagniappe

reading table

The Constructed Space
by W. S. Graham (1918-1986)

Meanwhile surely there must be something to say,
Maybe not suitable but at least happy
In a sense here between us two whoever
We are. Anyhow here we are and never
Before have we two faced each other who face
Each other now across this abstract scene
Stretching between us. This is a public place
Achieved against subjective odds and then
Mainly an obstacle to what I mean.

It is like that, remember. It is like that
Very often at the beginning till we are met
By some intention risen up out of nothing.
And even then we know what we are saying
Only when it is said and fixed and dead.
Or maybe, surely, of course we never know
What we have said, what lonely meanings are read
Into the space we make. And yet I say
This silence here for in it I might hear you.

I say this silence or, better, construct this space
So that somehow something may move across
The caught habits of language to you and me.
From where we are it is not us we see
And times are hastening yet, disguise is mortal.
The times continually disclose our home.
Here in the present tense disguise is mortal.
The trying times are hastening. Yet here I am
More truly now this abstract act become.