only rock ’n’ roll
Cloud Nothings, “I’m Not Part of Me,” live, Chicago, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: more from Monday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Josef Koudelka (1938-), Spain, 1975
Nationality Doubtful, through September 21st
Passed over, again, for a MacArthur “genius” grant? Me, too. This guy, though, has reason—625,000 reasons—to celebrate.
Steve Coleman and Five Elements,* live, Switzerland (Cully Jazz Festival), 2013
Steve Coleman took up the alto saxophone when he was a freshman at South Shore High School and within a few years inevitably was drawn into the orbit of one of Chicago’s greatest jazzmen: Von Freeman.
It was Freeman, a tenor saxophone giant who died two years ago at age 88, who welcomed Coleman into the rigors of the jazz life, setting him on a course that has led to Coleman winning one of America’s most prestigious and lucrative arts awards, a MacArthur Fellowship. Like each recipient, Coleman will receive a total of $625,000, dispensed quarterly over the next five years, from the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
“I realized that (Freeman) is a major player, and he’s right here in the neighborhood,” recalls Coleman, who lives in Allentown, Pa., but always has considered himself a product of musical Chicago.
“He’s somebody I consider one of my mentors, but the rest of the city too. There were a lot of local players I was into,” adds Coleman, citing especially altoist Bunky Green. “Even the blues scene. I’d go to Theresa’s and the Checkerboard — everything about the city influenced me, but mainly the South Side.”
*SC (1957-), alto saxophone; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; Anthony Tidd, bass; Sean Rickman, drums.
summer in the (small) city
Tom Harrell Colors of a Dream,* live, Iowa City, 7/5/14
*****
*Tom Harrell, trumpet; Jaleel Shaw, alto saxophone; Wayne Escoffery, tenor saxophone; Esperanza Spalding, bass, vocals; Uganna Okegwo, bass; Jonathan Blake, drums.
voices I miss
Albert Collins (1932-1993), “Cold, Cold Feeling,” live, Switzerland (Montreux Jazz Festival), 1979
Nobody sounds like this guy, whose 1978 album Ice Pickin’, recorded at Curtis Mayfield’s studio in Chicago and nominated for a Grammy, I’m happy to say I co-produced.
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lagniappe
art beat
Bruce Davidson (1933-), Birmingham, Ala., 1963
only rock ’n’ roll
Spoon, live (studio performance), Seattle, 7/24/14
sounds of Chicago
Trio WAZ (Edward Wilkerson Jr., tenor saxophone; Tatsu Aoki, bass; Michael Zerang, percussion), live, Chicago, 2009
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1980-), Detroit, 1963
sounds of Chicago
8 Bold Souls,* live, Poland (Poznan), 2009
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
*****
*Edward Wilkerson Jr., reeds; Mwata Bowden, reeds; Tomeka Reid, cello; Isaiah Jackson, trombone; Gerald Powell, tuba; Robert Griffin, trumpet; Harrison Bankhead, bass; Dushun Mosley, drums.
sounds of Chicago
Fred Anderson Trio (FA, tenor saxophone; Tatsu Aoki, bass; Hamid Drake, drums), live, Netherlands (North Sea Jazz Festival), 2000
summer in the city
Chvrches, live, Chicago (Lollapalooza), 8/1/14
sounds of Zimbabwe
Bhundu Boys, “Hupenyu Hwangu,” live, 1980s
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lagniappe
reading table
Yesterday’s email brought this from a reader.
The Layers
by Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006)I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle
not to stray.
When I look behind,
as I am compelled to look
before I can gather strength
to proceed on my journey,
I see the milestones dwindling
toward the horizon
and the slow fires trailing
from the abandoned camp-sites,
over which scavenger angels
wheel on heavy wings.
Oh, I have made myself a tribe
out of my true affections,
and my tribe is scattered!
How shall the heart be reconciled
to its feast of losses?
In a rising wind
the manic dust of my friends,
those who fell along the way,
bitterly stings my face.
Yet I turn, I turn,
exulting somewhat,
with my will intact to go
wherever I need to go,
and every stone on the road
precious to me.
In my darkest night,
when the moon was covered
and I roamed through wreckage,
a nimbus-clouded voice
directed me:
“Live in the layers,
not on the litter.”
Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written.
I am not done with my changes.
