two takes
. . . the most beautiful song in the English language.
“Waterloo Sunset” (Ray Davies)
The Kinks, live, 1973 (TV broadcast), England
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Ray Davies, live, 2010, England (Glastonbury)
Vodpod videos no longer available.two takes
The other night, as my older son Alex packed up his stuff for the next day’s trip back to school, this played on his computer—over and over and over.
The Mountain Goats, “This Year”
#1: recording (The Sunset Tree), 2005
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
#2: live, Iowa (Ames), 2006
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander, New York City (Self-Portrait), c. 1960(?)
*****
More Son Seals
Last night I discovered that two of the sets Son played at the Bottom Line in January of 1978 can be heard here and here. The second features a guest
artist—Johnny Winter.
Back in the ’70s, when I was at Alligator Records, I worked with this guy—coproducing albums, booking live performances, traveling to New York for a series of “showcase” performances (little pay, big exposure) at the Bottom Line (opening for Buddy Guy & Junior Wells). But I was a fan before that. In college I had a weekly radio show, where I often played his first album, released in 1973. Now, like so many others I worked with (Hound Dog Taylor, Big Walter Horton, Fenton Robinson, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, et al.), he’s gone.
Son Seals, August 13, 1942-December 20, 2004
“I Think You’re Fooling Me,” live (TV broadcast), 1987
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“Your Love Is Like A Cancer” (The Son Seals Blues Band, Alligator, 1973)
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
reading table
for . . . Son Seals, who left to work a better room
—Andrew Vachss, Mask Market: A Burke Novel (2006)
Talking with a Jamaican-born client, I mention Gregory Isaacs’ passing.
He responds, “He died too?”
Sugar Minott, May 25, 1956-July 10, 2010
1983:”Rough Ole Life (Babylon),” Reggae Sunsplash, Jamaica
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
2009: Rehearsal, Lovers Rock Gala Awards, England
“Lovers Rock”
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“Good Thing Going”
Vodpod videos no longer available.Subtlety has its place; but so does noise.
Whoopie Pie with guest Marc Ribot (guitar), live, New York, 2009
Vodpod videos no longer available.More Marc Ribot? Here.
**********
lagniappe
reading table
It might be thought the height of poor taste to ascribe good fortune to a healthy man with a young family struck down at the age of sixty by an incurable degenerative disorder from which he must shortly die. But there is more than one sort of luck. To fall prey to a motor neuron disease is surely to have offended the Gods at some point, and there is nothing more to be said. But if you must suffer thus, better to have a well-stocked head.
—Tony Judt, The Memory Chalet (2010)
*****
radio
Simone Dinnerstein, featured here a couple weeks ago, was on NPR’s All Things Considered the other day.
Happy Birthday, Max!
No drummer is more clear, more precise, more melodic.
Max Roach, January 10, 1924-August 16, 2007
“The Third Eye,” live
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“The Drum Also Waltzes” (Drums Unlimited), 1966
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
With Sonny Rollins (saxophone), “St. Thomas” (Saxophone Colossus), 1956
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
With Clifford Brown (trumpet), “Sweet Clifford” (Brown and Roach Incorporated), 1955
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
With Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Charlie Parker (saxophone), Bud Powell (piano), Charles Mingus (bass), “Salt Peanuts,” live, 1953
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
In this music, you have to find out who you are, what you feel, what you want to say. That’s one of the reasons that it’s so American. You have to be yourself.
That’s also one way jazz is different from classical music. In classical music, you learn to study and come up with the finest interpretation of a work that you can. That’s a different way of expressing your personality. You have to learn to use what’s written already to express yourself. In jazz, you have to learn to be who you are, and create the music from that.
—Max Roach (in Gene Santoro, Highway 61 Revisited [2004])
*****
radio
Today it’s all Max all day at WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University).
Don’t try this at home.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, live, Detroit, 1971
Vodpod videos no longer available.More? Here.
This would be riveting even with the sound off.
James Brown, “I Got You (I Feel Good),” live (TV broadcast), c. 1965
Vodpod videos no longer available.Like Lester Young and Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, James Brown floats over the bar lines, defying, as he dances, the gravitational pull of the downbeat.
Want more? Here.
Talk about a one-two punch.
9/10
The MacArthur Foundation awards him a “genius grant.”
12/10
The Village Voice, in its annual Jazz Critics’ Poll, names his album Ten the year’s best.
Jason Moran (piano) and the Bandwagon (Tarus Mateen, bass; Nasheet Waits, drums), live, Virginia (Rosslyn), 9/11/10
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
fathers and sons
While still a teenager, Moran began studying with Jaki Byard—a relationship that lasted four years.
*****
reading table
I’m interested in how close our orderly lives are to utter chaos.
—Scott Spencer
Perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived . . .
—Brian Eno
Tony Allen
Live, “New Morning”
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Secret Agent, 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
When I sit down there [at the drums], that’s what I’ve been waiting for . . .
—Tony Allen
*****
reading table
The time to make up your mind about people is never!
—Tracy Lord, The Philadelphia Story
***
You get to decide what to worship.
Zadie Smith, Changing My Mind (2009), epigraphs
