timeless
Les McCann (1935-, piano, vocals) and Eddie Harris (1934-1996, tenor saxophone), “Compared to What” (G. McDaniels), live, Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), 1969
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago

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reading table
If you want to rob a bank, it really is best to start with a small one because then you might remember what you wanted to say once you’re inside.
—Nachoem M. Wijnberg (1961-), from “Can You Ask Your Banker, or Another Banker Who’s Still Awake, to Quickly Get Some Cheap Money, but a Great Deal, Not a Little?” (translated from the Dutch by David Colmer)
like nothing else
“Old Man Dancing” (Carla Bley, 1936-): Chet Doxas (clarinet, tenor saxophone), Carla Bley (piano), Karen Mantler (keyboard), Steve Swallow (bass), 2020
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

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reading table
This is the point in prefaces where I customarily say something nice about my wife. This time, however, I can’t think of anything that even comes anywhere near doing her justice. Her name is Susan Patek Booth.
Berkeley, California
May 3, 1997—Stephen Booth (1933-2020), from Precious Nonsense: The Gettysburg Address, Ben Jonson’s Epitaphs on His Children, and Twelfth Night (1998)
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radio
Today, Thelonious Monk’s birthday, it’s all Monk, all day at WKCR (Columbia University).