Chicago | music clip of the day

Category: Chicago

Thursday, March 28th

Most saxophonists play with their mouths and fingers.

Not this guy—he uses his whole body.

Mats Gustafsson, baritone saxophone, live, Romania (Bucharest), 2010

*****

Sunday afternoon, at an art gallery on Chicago’s west side (Corbett vs. Dempsey), I heard Gustafsson, who lives in Sweden, perform with the Chicago-based reed player Ken Vandermark. One-word review: mesmerizing.

**********

lagniappe

musical thoughts

Sometimes discaholism is taken to its most further borders when the “holy 4″ is fulfilled:

When a vinyl has the holy 4 qualities: great music, great title, great rarity and an AMAZING cover and design!!!

***

‘one piece of vinyl per day keeps the doctor away’

—Mats Gustafsson, Discaholic Corner

Leave a comment

2013

Monday, March 4th

alone

John Cage, Solo for flute, from Concert for Piano (1958); Eric Lamb, flute (International Contemporary Ensemble); Chicago, 2012

**********

lagniappe

musical thoughts

Music is theater for the ear. Take this performance. The phrasing, the interplay between sound and silence—this unfolds like something by Samuel Beckett.

*****

taking a(nother) break

Back in a while.

Leave a comment

2013

Saturday, March 2nd

last night

I heard a concert, at the University of Chicago, devoted to the work of this man, a composer, a longtime professor, a MacArthur “genius” grant recipient. The performances featured different combinations of violin, viola, cello, clarinet, and piano. The music was often thorny. Occasionally whimsical. Frequently emphatic. Sometimes beautiful. And wholly absorbing.

Ralph Shapey (1921-2002), String Quartet No. 6 (1963)
The Lexington Quartet of the Contemporary Players of the University of Chicago

**********

lagniappe

musical thoughts

To me, [it’s] very important that [the audience] can recall it as an emotional experience; as though it were something they could hold in their hands.

—Ralph Shapey

Leave a comment

2013

Wednesday, February 20th

basement jukebox

Magic Sam (AKA Samuel Maghett, 1937-1969), Cobra Records, Chicago

“All Your Love,” 1957

***

“Love Me with a Feeling,” 1957

***

“Everything Gonna Be Alright,” 1958

***

“21 Days In Jail,” 1958

***

taking a break

I’m taking some time off—back soon.

Leave a comment

2013

Wednesday, 1/23/13

Saturday night, between trips to Northwestern’s Pick-Staiger Hall, I caught these folks at Chicago’s City Winery.

Dolly Varden, “Forgiven Now,” live, Chicago area (SPACE, Evanston), 2011

***

Here they talk about, and play songs from, their new album (For A While).

Leave a comment

2013

Tuesday, 1/22/13

soundtrack of a marriage

On my first date with Suzanne, in 1974, we went to Chicago’s Jazz Showcase (then upstairs on Lincoln, just south of Fullerton), where we saw Sun Ra & His Arkestra. With a start like that, how could one ever go wrong? When we got married, on this date in 1977, Von Freeman played at the wedding, with pianist John Young. Years later John told me: “When I marry ’em, they stay married.”

Sun Ra & His Arkestra, live, Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, 1974

*****

Von Freeman, live (with John Young, piano), “Remember,” Chicago (Jazz Showcase), New Year’s Eve 1983 (according to the clip) or 1979 (according to NPR)

**********

lagniappe

Want to hear what Von and John sounded like on that cold, snowy night thirty-six years ago, at a church north of Chicago? Here (give it a few seconds). As you’ll hear, they played before, during (the processional was Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood”), and after the ceremony.

4 Comments

2013

Saturday, 1/12/13

the other night

Clarity.

Power.

Spaciousness.

Immediacy.

There is nothing in this world—nothing at all, not even remotely—like hearing a great orchestra live, as I was reminded Thursday night as I sat in Chicago’s Symphony Center (across the street from the Art Institute) with my son Alex, listening to this played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, along with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 1 and Piano Concerto No. 1 (with pianist Radu Lupu).

Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)

Philadelphia Orchestra with Riccardo Muti (cond.), live, c. late 1980s

***

NBC Orchestra with Arturo Toscanini (cond.), recording, 1939

Leave a comment

2013

Friday, 1/11/13

two takes

Dolly Varden, “Surrounded By The Sound”

Live, Chicago, 2008

***

Recording (Forgiven Now), 2002

***

A lot of stuff like this, at least on the surface, I can’t stand. This I love. Why? Well, for starters, there’s the way the voices interweave. Then there’s the way the words sound. Take the hook, for instance: “I want to be surrounded by the sound.” And, too, there’s the presentation, disarmingly modest. Nothing’s oversold.