basement jukebox
Gus Jinkins (aka Jenkins), “You Told Me” (G. Jinkins [aka Jenkins]), 1956
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lagniappe
reading table
new red flowershave bloomed . . .pure water over moss—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
*****
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
Blues? Little of what I hear these days appeals to me—too fast, too flashy, too formulaic. Not this.
Robert Kimbrough Sr. Blues Connection, live (studio), Jersey City, N.J., 4/1/19
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
sounds of Chicago
Jimmy Yancey (1894-1951), “How Long Blues”
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lagniappe
random sights
today, Chicago
voices I miss
Hound Dog Taylor (AKA Theodore Roosevelt Taylor, 1915-1975) and the Houserockers (Brewer Phillips, guitar; Ted Harvey, drums), “Taylor’s Rock” (H.D. Taylor), live, Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1973
*****
reading table
voices in the wind
the withered field’s
crows—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
two takes
Sonny Boy Williamson (AKA Aleck [or Alex] “Rice” Miller, 1912[?]-1965), “Lonesome Cabin” (S. B. Williamson)
Recording, 1960
***
Live, Copenhagen, 1964
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lagniappe
reading table
on honorable Buddha’s
honorable nose
an icicle—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
basement jukebox
Sonny Boy Williamson (AKA Aleck [or Alex] “Rice” Miller, 1912[?]-1965), “Nine Below Zero” (S. B. Williamson), 1951
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
How it haunts the heart, the unfathomable mystery of other people’s lives, other people’s misfortunes.
—John Banville, Time Pieces: A Dublin Memoir
basement jukebox
Buddy Guy, “First Time I Met the Blues” (E. Montgomery), 1960
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
I had been hungry, all the Years –
My Noon had Come – to dine –
I trembling drew the Table near –
And touched the Curious Wine –
‘Twas this on Tables I had seen –
When turning, hungry, Home
I looked in Windows, for the Wealth
I could not hope – for Mine –
I did not know the ample Bread –
‘Twas so unlike the Crumb
The Birds and I, had often shared
In Nature’s – Dining Room –
The Plenty hurt me – ’twas so new –
Myself felt ill – and odd –
As Berry – of a Mountain Bush –
Transplanted – to a Road –
Nor was I hungry – so I found
That Hunger – was a way
Of Persons outside Windows –
The Entering – takes away –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 439 (Franklin)
tonight in Chicago
He’s playing at Buddy Guy’s club (Legends), opening for Buddy himself.
Toronzo Cannon, “All Along the Watchtower” (B. Dylan), live, Detroit area (Auburn Hills), 2017
Merry Christmas
Blind Lemon Jefferson, “Christmas Eve Blues,” 1928
*****
Victoria Spivey (with Lonnie Johnson, guitar), “Christmas Morning Blues,” 1928
*****
Bessie Smith (with Joe Smith, cornet; Charlie Green, trombone; Fletcher Henderson, piano), “At the Christmas Ball,” 1925
*****
Leroy Carr, “Christmas in Jail—Ain’t That a Pain,” 1929
*****
Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (feat. Charles Brown, vocals, keyboards), “Merry Christmas, Baby,” 1947
*****
Lowell Fulson, “Lonesome Christmas (I & II),” 1950
*****
Sonny Boy Williamson II, “Sonny Boy’s Christmas Blues,” 1951
*****
John Lee Hooker, “Blues for Christmas,” 1959
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
timeless
This guy, whom I worked with in the 1970s, co-producing this track and a few others for Alligator Records (Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1), just turned ninety. One of my sons, now older than I was then, heard him the other night at a Chicago club, where, he said, his guitar playing was “robust.” How wonderful to be ninety years old and robust. How wonderful, too, to be able to share music with a son.
“Breaking up Somebody’s Home” (T. Matthews, A. Jackson), 1978
***
Here he is forty years later.
“People Get Ready” (C. Mayfield), “That’s All Right,” Chicago, 2018
music clip of the day 