tonight in Chicago
This guy will be playing two sets—one by himself, the other with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and drummer Frank Rosaly—at the Hideout.
James Falzone (clarinet), live, New Haven, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago (lunch hour)
Paul Cezanne, The Bay of Marseilles, Seen From L’Estaque, c. 1885
tonight in Chicago
These guys are playing at Constellation, a performing-arts center on the northwest side.
Rempis Percussion Quartet (Dave Rempis, alto saxophone; Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten, bass; Frank Rosaly, drums; Tim Daisy, drums), live, Austria (Wels), 2013
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lagniappe
art beat
William Eggleston (1939-)
tonight in Chicago
These guys are playing at the Hideout, a small club on the northwest side.
Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone) & Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), live, Austria (Vienna), 3/8/14
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lagniappe
art beat
William Eggleston (1939-)
And speaking of relying more on feel than plan.
Hound Dog Taylor (1915-1975) & the Houserockers (Brewer Phillips guitar; Ted Harvey, drums), “I Held My Baby,” “Taylor’s Rock,” “Wild About You Baby,” “Roll Your Moneymaker,” “Sadie,” instrumental featuring Brewer, instrumental featuring Ted, live, Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, 1973
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lagniappe
art beat
Bruce Davidson (1933-), The Dwarf, Palisades, New Jersey, 1958
sounds of Chicago
One-word review: mesmerizing.
Art Ensemble of Chicago, live, France (Chateauvallon), 1970
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lagniappe
reading table
Despite all my inner crumblings,
I’m still able to recognize a perfect day:
sea without shadow,
sky without wrinkles,
air hovering over me like a blessing.—Nina Cassian (1924-2014), “Summer X-Rays” (fragment)
basement jukebox
J. B. Lenoir (1929-1967), “Mama Talk To Your Daughter,” 1954
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lagniappe
reading table
In the hospital yard stands a small annex surrounded by a whole forest of burdock, nettles, and wild hemp. The roof is rusty, the chimney is half fallen down, the porch steps are rotten and overgrown with grass, and only a few traces of stucco remain. The front facade faces the hospital, the back looks onto a field, from which it is separated by the gray hospital fence topped with nails. These nails, turned point up, and the fence, and the annex itself have that special despondent and accursed look that only our hospitals and prisons have.
—Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), “Ward No. 6” (opening paragraph; translated from Russian by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky)
voices I miss
Lester Bowie (1941-1999), trumpet (MCOTD Hall of Famer), with Brazz Brothers, “Summertime” (G. Gershwin), live, Germany (Jazz Baltica), 1993
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lagniappe
art beat: more from last week at the Art Institute of Chicago
Christopher Wool (1955-), Maggie’s Brain (1995)
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).
basement jukebox
Howlin’ Wolf, “Moanin’ at Midnight,” 1951*
Who needs chord changes?
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Wolf’s harmonica playing was always the right amount. He would never do anything on the harmonica that would detract from you waiting to get back to Wolf’s voice. . . . There is a certain lonesomeness about the harmonica that just fit the Wolf’s character in voice, in song, in lyric; and he just played that just enough to titillate things he was going to do next with his voice.
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*HW (AKA Chester Burnett [1910-1976], vocals, harmonica), Willie Johnson (guitar), Willie Steel, drums.
soundtrack for a dream
Marcos Balter (1974-), Frisson (2011); Chicago Composers Orchestra (Matthew Kasper, cond.) with Eric Lamb (flute), Chicago, 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
Speculative, imaginative writings—texts that ‘open possibility’—help us to live because the definitions by which we live are themselves productions of the cultural imaginary.
—Frances Richard, “Multitudes” (Poetry, May, 2014)
music clip of the day 