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Category: bass

Monday, September 23rd

only rock ’n’ roll

Here’s something from the show I saw the other night.

Savages, “She Will,” live, Chicago (Metro), 9/16/13


In the hope-I-die-before-I-get-old department, it occurred to me, as I was driving home from this show, that I’ve been doing variations on this particular theme—going out into the dark night to hear live music—for at least, uh, let’s see, yeah, it must be at least forty-five years, since it was 1968, when I was fifteen, that my brother Don and I, after seeing the Velvet Underground at Chicago’s Kinetic Playground, were arrested and taken to the police station. The charge? Curfew.

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

The best music, you can seek some shelter in it momentarily, but it’s essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.

—Bruce Springsteen

Wednesday, September 18th

serendipity

Yesterday. Late afternoon, working on an old murder case. Happen upon this: windows open, letting in a breeze.

Mary Halvorson Quintet (MH, guitar, compositions; Jon Irabagon, alto saxophone; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; John Hebert, bass; Ches Smith, drums), “Love in Eight Colors,” “Hemorrhaging Smiles,” live, Washington, D.C., 2013

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lagniappe

reading table

From now on
it’s all clear profit,
every sky.

—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), on his fiftieth birthday (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)

Tuesday, September 17th

last night*

Savages (Jehnny Beth, vocals; Gemma Thompson, guitar; Ayse Hassan, bass; Fay Milton, drums), live, England (Glastonbury Festival, Somerset), 2013

*I saw them at Metro, a club on Chicago’s north side, near Wrigley Field. The way drummer Fay Milton rode the beat, like a wave that kept surging, surging, surging, reminded me at times of Keith Moon. Is there any higher compliment?

Saturday, September 14th

old school

Charlie Musselwhite (1944-; vocals, harmonica) with Big Walter Horton (1918-1981; vocals, harmonica), live, Chicago, 1981

Charlie’s playing is wonderful: it both swings and sings. And he’s got great presence. But listen to Walter, whom I had the chance to work with in the ’70s when I was with Alligator Records. He’s not onstage long; this was only months before his death. But there are moments, when Walter’s playing, where time seems to stop (16:11, 18:03, 18:22, 19:57, etc.).

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lagniappe

reading table

You can fall a long way in sunlight.
You can fall a long way in the rain.

The ones who don’t take the old white horse
take the morning train.

—Robert Hass (1941-), “August Notebook: A Death” (excerpt)

Wednesday, September 11th

sounds of Chicago

Edward Wilkerson, tenor saxophone (with Kidd Jordan, tenor saxophone; Henry Grimes, bass, violin; Isaiah Spencer, drums, et al.), live, Chicago, 2010

Monday, September 9th

Why not start the week with a slap in the face?

Savages, “City’s Full,” “Shut Up,” “She Will,” “Husbands,” live (studio performance), Seattle, 2013

Wednesday, August 28th

can’t wait: Chicago Jazz Festival, 8/29-9/1

The Engines (9/1; Dave Rempis, saxophones, Jeb Bishop, trombone; Kent Kessler [filling in for Nate McBride], bass; Tim Daisy, drums), live, Columbia, South Carolina, 2013

#1

#2

Tuesday, August 27th

more

O.V. Wright (1939-1980)

“God Blessed Our Love,” “When A Man Loves A Woman,” live, Japan, 1979


*****

“I’d Rather Be Blind, Crippled, And Crazy” (Back Beat, 1973)


*****

“A Nickel And A Nail” (Back Beat, 1975)

Monday, August 26th

old school

O.V. Wright (1939-1980), “Into Something (Can’t Shake Loose)”
Live, Japan, 1979


*****

No other soul singer—not Otis Redding, not Al Green, no one—gives me such chills.

Friday, August 23rd

Stevie Wonder with Prince, “Superstition” (S. Wonder), live, Paris, 2010


Not many stars would handle this the way Prince does. Actually, what’s most impressive is what he doesn’t do. Given a guitar solo, he doesn’t try to steal the show—or even draw attention. Instead, he feeds the groove.

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lagniappe

reading table

Sophistication is upscale conformity.

                          ***

What is more yours than what always holds you back?

                         ***

The heart is a small, cracked cup, easy to fill, impossible to keep full.

—James Richardson, “Even More Aphorisms and Ten-Second Essays from Vectors 3.0” (excerpts)