Thursday, July 17th
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Suite No. 3 in C major for Unaccompanied Cello; Jean-Guihen Queyras (1967-), live, c. 2007
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: cello
2014
Wednesday, July 16th
tonight in Chicago
This guy will be playing at the Hideout.
Daniel Levin, cello
With JP Carletti (drums), live, New Haven, Conn., 2013
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With his trio, live, Jersey City, N.J., 2008
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Solo, live, New York, 2009
2014
Saturday, July 5th
Ernst Reijseger (cello) with Harmen Fraanje (organ), “Shadow” (Cave of Forgotten Dreams), live
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lagniappe
art beat
Timothy H. O’Sullivan (1840-1882), Pyramid Lake, Nevada, 1867
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Each week brings new discoveries. Yesterday, on the radio (WFMU, Give the Drummer Some), I heard this cellist for the first time. This photographer I bumped into Wednesday at the Art Institute of Chicago. Next week?
2014
Monday, May 26th
This piece had its world premiere in 1941; the venue wasn’t fancy—a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp.
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time), live, ChamberFest Cleveland (Franklin Cohen, clarinet; Yura Lee, violin; Gabriel Cabezas, cello; Orion Weiss, piano), 2013
2014
Saturday, May 17th
beyond category
John Zorn, Book of Angels (excerpts); Uri Caine, piano; Masada String Trio (Mark Feldman, violin; Erik Friedlander, cello;* Greg Cohen, bass); live, France (Marciac), 2008
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lagniappe
reading table
There’s a line in Tarkovsky’s Solaris: we never know when we’re going to die and because of that we are, at any given moment, immortal.
—Geoff Dyer, “Diary,” London Review of Books, 4/3/14
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*It’s all related: Erik’s the son of photographer Lee Friedlander, whose work is often featured here.
2014
Friday, May 9th
only rock ’n’ roll
The Ex & Brass Unbound,* “Cold Weather Is Back,” live, London, 2010
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Christopher Wool (1955-)
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*Roy Paci (trumpet), Wolkter Wierbos (trombone), Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone), Mats Gustaffson (baritone saxophone).
2014
Wednesday, March 12th
not for the faint of heart
Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet,* live, France (Le Mans), 2004
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Q: What would people be surprised to know that you listen to?
Bill Clinton: Brötzmann, the tenor sax player, one of the greatest alive.
—Oxford American, 2001 (annual music issue)
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*PB, reeds; Ken Vandermark, reeds; Joe McPhee, pocket trumpet, tenor saxophone; Roland Ramanan, trumpet, wooden flute; Toshinori Kondo, trumpet; Jeb Bishop, trombone; Fred Longberg-Holm, cello; Kent Kessler, bass; Michael Zerang, drums; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums.
2014
Monday, March 10th
serendipity
This I bumped into yesterday, while taking a break from work (murder case, tax stuff, etc.). I found it enthralling—maybe you will too.
Okkyung Lee (cello), live, Ireland (Cork), 2012
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lagniappe
radio
Today, on the heels of yesterday’s celebration of Ornette Coleman, WKCR (Columbia University) is hosting yet another birthday marathon—this one for jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, born on this date in 1903.
Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra (with Bix Beiderbecke [1903-1931], cornet), “I’m Coming Virginia” (1927)
2014
Thursday, March 6th
never enough
Bach’s six cello suites, which I’ve been listening to for over forty years, never fail to astonish me—they breathe.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Suite No. 1 in G major for Unaccompanied Cello; Jan Vogler (1964-), live, New York, 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course . . . .—The Odyssey, opening lines (Robert Fagles’ translation)
Smooth sailing wouldn’t make much of a story.
2014
Wednesday, February 19th
sounds of Chicago
Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things (MR, drums; Jason Roebke, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tim Haldeman, tenor saxophone), “Wilbur’s Tune,” live, Paris, 2010
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Mike Reed’s Myth/Science Assembly (MR, drums; Tomas Fujiwara, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Ingrid Laubrock, tenor saxophone; Taylor Ho Bynum, trumpet; Mary Halvorson, guitar; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Nick Butcher, electronics), live (rearranging a found Sun Ra fragment [excerpt]), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 2011
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Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly (MR, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone), live (studio performance), Chicago, c. 2009
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If other Chicago musicians are “busy,” what’s Mike Reed? In addition to leading various groups, he owns and operates Constellation, a performing arts center. Then there’s the Pitchfork Music Festival, which this summer will feature, over the course of three days, Beck, Giorgio Moroder, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, et al. He books and produces it.
music clip of the day 