basement jukebox
Sonny Boy Williamson (AKA Aleck [or Alex] “Rice” Miller, 1912[?]-1965), “Nine Below Zero” (S. B. Williamson), 1951
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
How it haunts the heart, the unfathomable mystery of other people’s lives, other people’s misfortunes.
—John Banville, Time Pieces: A Dublin Memoir
sounds of New York
Zs, live, New York, 2015
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lagniappe
reading table
cold winter sky—
where will this wandering beggar
grow old?—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
basement jukebox
Buddy Guy, “First Time I Met the Blues” (E. Montgomery), 1960
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
I had been hungry, all the Years –
My Noon had Come – to dine –
I trembling drew the Table near –
And touched the Curious Wine –
‘Twas this on Tables I had seen –
When turning, hungry, Home
I looked in Windows, for the Wealth
I could not hope – for Mine –
I did not know the ample Bread –
‘Twas so unlike the Crumb
The Birds and I, had often shared
In Nature’s – Dining Room –
The Plenty hurt me – ’twas so new –
Myself felt ill – and odd –
As Berry – of a Mountain Bush –
Transplanted – to a Road –
Nor was I hungry – so I found
That Hunger – was a way
Of Persons outside Windows –
The Entering – takes away –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 439 (Franklin)
sounds of New York
Marilyn Crispell (piano), Mark Helias (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums, percussion), live, New York, 2014
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
unadorned
Jessie Mae Hemphill (1923-2006), “Home Going,” 1960s
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lagniappe
reading table
my house’s
only face towel
frozen stiff—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
timeless
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Prelude in C-sharp minor (Op. 45); Alfred Cortot (1877-1962), piano, 1949
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lagniappe
random sights
today, Oak Park, Ill.
tonight in Chicago
He’s playing at Buddy Guy’s club (Legends), opening for Buddy himself.
Toronzo Cannon, “All Along the Watchtower” (B. Dylan), live, Detroit area (Auburn Hills), 2017
This I could listen to all day.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Palais de Mari (1986); Blair McMillen (piano) and Ryan Olivier (video processing), live, Philadelphia, 2014
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
My obsession with surface is the subject of my music. In that sense, my compositions are really not ‘compositions’ at all. One might call them time canvases in which I more or less prime the canvas with an overall hue of the music.
—Morton Feldman, “Between Categories” (Give My Regards to Eighth Street)
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random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
out of this world
DJ Carl Craig and drummer Francisco Mora play Sun Ra, live, Paris, 2018
voices I miss
Von Freeman (1923-2012), tenor saxophonist, MCOTD Hall of Fame
“Oleo” (S. Rollins) with Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone), Willie Pickens (piano), Dan Shapera (bass), Robert Shy (drums), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 1988
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With John Young (1922-2008, piano), et al., live (radio broadcast), late 1970s
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“A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” (E. Maschwitz & M. Sherwin) with Jodie Christian (piano), Rufus Reid (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), live, Harrisburg, Penn., 1994
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“I Can’t Get Started” (V. Duke, I. Gershwin), live, Belgium, 1992
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“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (R. Rodgers, L. Hart) with Mike Allemena (guitar), Matt Ferguson (bass), Michael Raynor (drums), live, Chicago (Mandel Hall, University of Chicago), 2011
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lagniappe
my back pages
On this night forty-two years ago, at a church thirty miles north of Chicago, my wife, Suzanne, and I were married. Outside the church it was cold and snowy. Inside Von Freeman was playing, along with pianist John Young. All of what they played that night, before, during, and after the ceremony, can be heard here (0:15-) (“Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “More” [before]; “In a Sentimental Mood” [when Suzanne walked down the aisle]; “My Favorite Things,” “Song for My Father” [after]) .
music clip of the day 