Friday, November 15th
yeeeowww!
James Brown, “Sex Machine,” “There Was a Time,” “I Got the Feelin’,” live (TV show), 1982
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lagniappe
art beat
Dawoud Bey (1953-), New York (Harlem), 1970s
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: art beat
2013
2013
Wednesday, November 13th
Here’s a variation, from the 1960s civil rights struggles, on the gospel song we heard Sunday.
SNCC Freedom Singers (AKA The Freedom Singers), “Woke Up This Morning with My Mind on Freedom,” live, Turkey, 2007
We started singing songs at the mass meetings. Songs of the movement gave you energy–a willingness and a wantingness to want to be free. Whenever there was a march to be taken place, there were songs that we would use to motivate the people to get in the line. One such song was “I Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Freedom.” Most of the songs from the movement were taken from spirituals, gospel, and rhythm and blues–any type of music. Someone in the audience would start and say, “Come and go with me to that land. Come and go with me to that land.” And the rest would just repeat it.
*****
And here’s another take on the original.
Mavis Staples, “Woke Up This Morning with My Mind on Jesus,” recording (One True Vine), 2013
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lagniappe
art beat
Danny Lyon (1942-), Atlanta (Toddle House), 1963
2013
Monday, November 11th
People talk about getting enough of this or that in their daily diet. But what about beauty? There’s an epidemic, unreported by TV, radio, newspapers, of beauty malnutrition.
Lou Harrison (1917-2003), Threnody for Carlos Chavez (1978); William Winant Percussion Group with David Abel (viola), live, Berkeley, Calif., 2010
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lagniappe
art beat: Friday at the Art Institute of Chicago (while waiting for the jury to return a verdict in a trial involving an alleged conspiracy to steal millions of dollars of diamonds)
Paul Cezanne, The Bay of Marseilles, Seen From L’Estaque, c. 1885
2013
Sunday, November 10th
four takes
“Woke Up this Morning with My Mind on Jesus”
Earl Washington (and congregation), live, Newark Church of Christ, Newark, N.J., 2007
*****
Fred McDowell, live, Como, Miss., 1959
***
On the first day of fall, 1959, in Como, Mississippi, a farmer named Fred McDowell emerged from the woods and ambled over to his neighbor Lonnie Young’s front porch with a guitar in hand. Alan Lomax was there recording the Young fife and drum ensemble, as well as the raggy old country dance music of their neighbors, the Pratcher brothers, and he had no idea what to expect from this slight man in overalls. He certainly didn’t expect that Fred would soon become internationally known as one of the most original, talented, and affecting country bluesmen ever recorded.
*****
Blind Roosevelt Graves and Brother, recording, 1936
(This illustration isn’t BRG—it’s Charley Patton.)
*****
Richard Coffey Jr. (and congregation), live, Sweetwater Church of Christ, Jacksonville, Fla., 2012
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lagniappe
art beat
Danny Lyon (1942-), Albany, Ga. (Mt. Zion Baptist Church), 1962
2013
Saturday, November 9th
alone
His sound world is so clear, so lyrical, it can be hard to leave.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Fantasia in D minor, K. 397
Yvonne Loriod (1924-2010), live, 1969
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lagniappe
art beat
Paul Strand (1890-1976)
2013
Friday, November 8th
Is any instrument more compelling than the human voice?
Patty Griffin, live, Washington, D.C., 2013
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-)
2013
Wednesday, November 6th
love it or hate it
Terrie Ex (guitar), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), live, Paris, 2012
#1
#2
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lagniappe
art beat
Danny Lyon (1942-), Chicago (Uptown), 1965
2013
Monday, November 4th
three takes
This guy, like Monk, could take a familiar form, open it up, and create something both old and new.
Julius Hemphill (1938-1995), “The Hard Blues”
Live (with members of the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra and the Either/Orchestra), Boston, 1989
***
Recording (JH, alto saxophone, flute; Baikida E.J. Carroll, trumpet; Hamiet Bluiett, baritone saxophone; Abdul Wadud, cello; Philip Wilson, drums), recorded 1972 (first released on Coon Bid’ness, 1975)
***
Recording (Julius Hemphill, alto saxophone; Marty Ehrlich, soprano and alto saxophone, flute; Carl Grubbs, soprano and alto saxophone; James Carter, tenor saxophone; Andrew White. tenor saxophone; Sam Furnace, baritone saxophone, flute), 1991
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, c. 1940
2013
Sunday, November 3rd
five takes
“Where We’ll Never Grow Old,” AKA “Never Grow Old” (J. Moore, 1914)
Patty Griffin with Buddy Miller, live, 2010
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The Canton Spirituals, live, c. 1990
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The Carter Family, recording, 1932
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Aretha Franklin, live, Detroit, 1996
***
Johnny Cash, recording, 2004
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York
2013
Saturday, November 2nd
only rock ’n’ roll
MC5, “Kick Out The Jams,” “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Motor City’s Burning,” “Tonight,” “Black To Comm #2,” live (TV studio), Germany (Bremen), 1972
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lagniappe
art beat
Danny Lyon (1942-), Chicago, 1960s
music clip of the day 