only rock ’n’ roll
Richard Hell and the Voidoids (with Robert Quine [1942-2004], guitar, et al.), “Blank Generation,” live, New York (CBGB’s), Blank Generation, 1980
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lagniappe
art beat
Danny Lyon (1942-), Chicago, 1965
passings
Lou Reed, singer, songwriter, guitarist, March 2, 1942-October 27, 2013
Live (with Robert Quine [1942-2004], guitar; Fernando Saunders, bass; Fred Maher, drums), New York (Bottom Line), 1983
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
All great rock comes from a particular place. Take Lou Reed. Could he have emerged from Detroit? Nah—too self-conscious, too arty. San Francisco? Unh-uh—way too abrasive. He could only have come from one place, the city where, as the joke has it, a tourist goes up to someone and asks: “Can you tell me the way to the Empire State Building—or should I just go fuck myself?”
*****
taking a break
I’m taking some time off—back in a while.
sounds of Chicago
Art Ensemble of Chicago (Roscoe Mitchell, saxophones, percussion; Joseph Jarman, saxophones, percussion, electric guitar; Lester Bowie [MCOTD Hall of Famer], trumpet, percussion; Malachi Favors, bass, percussion; Don Moye, drums, percussion [first clip])
Live, Chicago (Jazz Showcase), 1981
***
Recording (“Rock Out”), 1969
mesmerizing
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), Lachrymae (1950; arranged for viola and string orchestra, 1976); A Far Cry with Roger Tapping (viola), live, Cambridge, Mass., 2008
#1
#2
only rock ’n’ roll
Mitch Ryder (with Jimmy McCarty, guitar; Don Was, bass, et al.), “Little Latin Lupe Lu,” live, Detroit, 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
Alice Munro, yesterday, on winning the Nobel Prize in Literature:
tonight*
Andrew Hill (1931-2007), “Smoke Stack”
Vijay Iyer Trio (VI, piano; Stephan Crump, bass; Marcus Gilmore, drums), Historicity, 2009
***
Andrew Hill (with Richard Davis, bass; Eddie Khan, bass; Roy Haynes, drums), Smoke Stack (AKA Smokestack), 1966 (rec. 1963)
This is one of my favorite albums of all time, of any artist, on any instrument.
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
More and more I find myself seeking sounds that don’t convey a particular feeling or mood but, instead, create a space I can inhabit, physically, emotionally, intellectually, if only for a short while.
*****
*On WKCR-FM (Columbia University), from 6-9 p.m. (EST), Vijay Iyer, pianist, composer, recent MacArthur “genius” grant winner, future Harvard professor, will be joining host Mitch Goldman “for a deep focus on Andrew Hill.”
two takes
Bobby McFerrin, “Joshua,” live (studio performances), 2013
WNYC-FM, New York
*****
WFUV-FM, New York
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lagniappe
reading table
Novelist Philip Roth on death, getting older, etc.:
‘You think, That’s the end of it when your parents die. After that, you’re done. Nobody’s supposed to die anymore, right?’
—Claudia Roth Pierpont, “The Book of Laughter: Philip Roth and His Friends,” New Yorker, 10/7/13
*****
‘Seventy-five; how sudden.’
***
‘Time runs out at a terrifying speed. It seems that it was just 1943.’
—Patricia Cohen, “Philip Roth, Provacateur, Is Celebrated at 75,” New York Times, 4/12/08
never enough
Thelonious Monk Quartet (TM, piano, compositions; Charlie Rouse, tenor saxophone; Larry Gales, bass; Ben Riley, drums), “Epistrophy,” “Straight, No Chaser,” “Hackensack,” “Rhythm-a-Ning,” “Epistrophy,” live (TV show, Jazz 625 [BBC]), England, mid-’60s
good news, bad news
24 Recipients of MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant Named
First the bad news: MCOTD was passed over, again. The good news? This guy, often featured here, wasn’t.
Vijay Iyer (1971-), pianist, composer, soon-to-be Harvard professor
“Imagine” (J. Lennon), live, Germany (Leverkusen), 2011
*****
“Actions Speak” (V. Iyer), live (Stephan Crump, bass; Marcus Gilmore, drums), New York, 2012
*****
“Somewhere” (L. Bernstein), recording (Stephan Crump, bass; Marcus Gilmore, drums), Historicity, 2009
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
the stillness of the valley
is itself a kind of music—Du Fu (AKA Tu Fu; 712-770; “Visting the Fengxian Monastery” [excerpt]; translated from Chinese by David Young)
sounds of Chicago
This is a track I coproduced. It was the last thing recorded that night, an afterthought. The lights had just been turned down. The room was nearly dark.
Carey Bell’s Blues Harp Band,* “Woman In Trouble” (Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1; Grammy Nominee), Alligator, 1978
*CB, vocals, harmonica; Lurrie Bell, guitar; Bob Riedy, piano; Aron Burton, bass; Odie Payne, Jr., drums.
music clip of the day 