Friday, January 15th
only rock ‘n’ roll
Tenement, “Rock Eating People,” live, Milwaukee, 2014
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: bass
2016
Wednesday, January 13th
sounds of New York
More from the drummer on the new David Bowie album.
Mark Guiliana Beat Music (MG, drums; Stu Brooks, bass; Yuki Hirano, keyboards; with guests Steve Wall [tape recorder], Jeff Taylor [vocals]), live, New York, 2014
*****
lagniappe
reading table
Unknown –
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #778 (Franklin), last line
2016
Monday, January 11th
passings
Friday: “what’s new.”
Saturday: the guys who back him on his new album.
Today: “passings.”
David Bowie, singer, songwriter, January 8, 1947-January 10, 2016
“Blackstar,” 2015
2016
Saturday, January 9th
These guys back David Bowie on his new album.
Donny McCaslin Quartet (DM, tenor saxophone; Jason Lindner, keyboards; Tim Lefebvre, bass; Mark Guiliana, drums), “Fast Future,” New York, 2015
2016
Thursday, January 7th
passings
Paul Bley, pianist, November 10, 1932-January 3, 2016
Live, 1970s?
***
With Charlie Haden (bass), live, New York, 2000
***
With John Gilmore (tenor saxophone), Gary Peacock (bass), Paul Motian (drums; or Billy Elgart, side 2, tracks 2-3), Turning Point, rec. 1964/1968
Side 1
Side 2
***
Live, Norway (Oslo), 2008
**********
lagniappe
reading table
I held a Jewel in my fingers –
And went to sleep –
The day was warm, and winds were prosy—
I said ”Twill keep” –I woke – and chid my honest fingers,
The Gem was gone –
And now, an Amethyst remembrance
Is all I own –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #261 (Franklin)
2015
Monday, December 21st
Why start the new week with the same old stuff?
Julia Wolfe (1958-), Believing (2001); Bang on a Can All-Stars, live, South Korea (Tongyeong International Music Festival), 2014
lagniappe
art beat
Regular readers may recognize this drawing, which was posted last year. The artist is a client of mine, Walter Unbehaun, a seventy-something bank robber whose story is told in the January issue of GQ magazine (Kathy Dobie, “The Curious Case of the Homesick Bank Robber”). This drawing makes an appearance:
[H]e’d created a strong bond with his lawyer. He considered ‘Rich’ a friend, giving him two finely wrought pencil sketchings. One was of an ancient and deeply wrinkled Peruvian woman, the other of a plump African woman wearing glasses.
Walter Unbehaun, African Preacher (Kankakee County Jail, 2014)
2015
Tuesday, December 1st
sounds of Chicago
And more.
Left Hand Frank and His Blues Band, “Linda Lu”
Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1, 1978
**********
lagniappe
art beat
Marc PoKempner, Chicago (Divorced Women’s Club), 1988
(I’m taking a break—back in a while.)
2015
Monday, November 30th
sounds of Chicago
More from Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1 (1978).
Jimmy Johnson Blues Band, “Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home”
2015
Friday, November 27th
sounds of Chicago
Some things last. Nearly forty years ago, I co-produced this track, while working at Alligator Records. It remains one of my favorites. The hour was late. The lights had been turned down. But the tape kept rolling.
Carey Bell’s Blues Harp Band, “Woman In Trouble”
Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1, 1978
*****
Here’s more of Carey, years later (2000, Switzerland [Bern]).
**********
lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
2015
Thursday, November 26th
two takes
Lee Morgan (trumpet) with Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone), Harold Mabern (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Billy Higgins (drums), “Yes I Can, No You Can’t,” 1966
***
S. Mos, mash-up (Tupac Shakur, “Holler If Ya Hear Me” [1993]), 2011
**********
lagniappe
reading table
And everything turns and turns
and the unknown turns into the song
that is the known, but what in turn
becomes of the song is not for us to say—Mark Strand (1934-2014), “The Webern Variations,” excerpt
music clip of the day 