a gathering of birds
Evan Parker Quartet (EP, soprano saxophone; Peter Evans, trumpet; John Russell, guitar; John Edwards, bass), live, London, 2009
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music offers a way out of our little cluttered closet.
sounds of Chicago
Michael Zerang and the Blue Lights (MZ, drums; Mars Williams, alto saxophone; Dave Rempis, baritone saxophone; Josh Berman, cornet; Kent Kessler, bass), live, Chicago (Hideout), 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
Now, in general, Stick to the boat, is your true motto in whaling; but cases will sometimes happen when Leap from the boat, is still better.
—Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby-Dick
Lucid, supple, propulsive: This stuff I could listen to all day.
Steve Lehman Octet (SL, alto saxophone; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; Tim Albright, trombone; Jeremy Viner, tenor saxophone; Jose Avila, tuba; Chris Dingman, vibraphone; Drew Gress, bass; Tyshawn Sorey, drums)
Live, Germany (Moers Festival), 2010
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Live, 2011
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-), Japan (Tokyo), 1981
sweet soul music
D’Angelo and The Soultronics (Questlove, drums; Pino Palladino, bass; Chalmers “Spanky” Alford, guitar; Frank Lacy, trombone, trumpet; Anthony Hamilton, vocals, et al.), “Send It On,” live, London, 2000
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, c. 1940
Last night this woman, who died of cancer in 2006, was very much alive, singing Bach on the radio.*
Johann Sebastian Bach, “Ich Habe Genug” (“I Have Enough,” church cantata), Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (1954-2006), 2003
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lagniappe
Christmas, 1948
Charlie Parker (alto saxophone), Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Al Haig (piano), Tommy Porter (bass), Max Roach (drums), “White Christmas,” live, New York (Royal Roost), 12/25/48
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*WKCR-FM (Columbia University), Bach Festival, through New Year’s Eve.
sounds of Chicago
Tonight these guys, who play all over the world, will be at a little club on the city’s northwest side, the Hideout, as will I.
DKV Trio (Hamid Drake, drums; Kent Kessler, bass; Ken Vandermark, reeds), live, Italy (Sant’Anna Arresi Jazz Festival), 2008
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Joy—no one gives me more than Hamid Drake.
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lagniappe
reading table
God keep me from ever completing anything.
—Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby-Dick
only rock ’n’ roll
Superchunk, “Void” (2013)
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lagniappe
reading table
Cormac McCarthy, particularly in a book like Blood Meridian, is writing an English very remote from our own. It’s more like the King James Bible on acid, right?
—David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), in Quack This Way: David Foster Wallace & Bryan A. Garner Talk Language and Writing (2013)
passings
Jim Hall, guitarist, December 4, 1930-December 10, 2013
With Joe Lovano (tenor saxophone), “In a Sentimental Mood” (D. Ellington), live, Italy (Umbria Jazz Festival), 1996
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With Bill Evans (piano), Undercurrent (“My Funny Valentine,” “I Hear a Rhapsody,” “Dream Gypsy,” “Romain,” “Skating in Central Park,” “Darn that Dream,” “Stairway to the Stars,” “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You”), 1962
When I was in college in the early ’70s, this album was a frequent late-night companion. Since then I’ve listened to it more times than I could count. It never grows old.
sounds of Chicago
Son Seals, “On My Knees,” live (TV show), 1980s
Musical notation has its place. Sometimes, though, it’s useless. How could marks on a piece of paper ever capture his attack?
sounds of Chicago
The Stars of Heaven, live, Chicago, 2012
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lagniappe
art beat
John H. White, Chicago (south side), 1973
