This guy takes me places no one else does.
Tim Berne’s Snakeoil (TB, alto saxophone; Oscar Noriega, clarinet; Matt Mitchell, piano; Ches Smith, drums, vibraphone), “Small World in a Small Town” (T. Berne), live, Brazil (Sao Paulo), 2015
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), City Landscape, 1955
Why start the new week with the same old stuff?
Julia Wolfe (1958-), Believing (2001); Bang on a Can All-Stars, live, South Korea (Tongyeong International Music Festival), 2014
lagniappe
art beat
Regular readers may recognize this drawing, which was posted last year. The artist is a client of mine, Walter Unbehaun, a seventy-something bank robber whose story is told in the January issue of GQ magazine (Kathy Dobie, “The Curious Case of the Homesick Bank Robber”). This drawing makes an appearance:
[H]e’d created a strong bond with his lawyer. He considered ‘Rich’ a friend, giving him two finely wrought pencil sketchings. One was of an ancient and deeply wrinkled Peruvian woman, the other of a plump African woman wearing glasses.
Walter Unbehaun, African Preacher (Kankakee County Jail, 2014)
lucid, adj. translucent, pellucid, clear. E.g., Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians.
Steve Reich (1936-), Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76)
Ensemble Intercontemporain with Synergy Vocals, live, Paris, 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
the door latch
rusting scarlet . . .
winter rain—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
*****
random sights
this morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)
serendipity
When this came on the radio the other day (WKCR, Columbia University), background became foreground.
Luciano Berio (1925-2003), Differences (1959)
like nobody else
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935-1977), live, Paris, 1970
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Chicago Cultural Center
Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist (through 8/31)
Black Belt, 1934
tonight in Chicago
These guys are playing at Elastic Arts.
Vox Arcana (Tim Daisy, percussion; James Falzone, clarinet; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello, guitar), live, South Carolina (West Columbia), 2012
Here’s more of drummer Paal Nilssen-Love and reed player Ken Vandermark—this time together.
Live, Romania (Oradea), 2012
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lagniappe
reading table
These Songs are not meant to be understood, you understand. / They are only meant to terrify & comfort.
—John Berryman (1914-1972, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Dream Song 366
*****
random sights
last night
Columbus Park, Chicago
Whether you live for 50 years, 500 years, or 5,000 years, it makes no difference: always there are new things to hear.
Dieter Ammann (1962-), Violation (1999); Lemanic Modern Ensemble (William Blank, cond.) with Karolina Öhman, cello; live, Russia (St. Petersburg), 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
The old pond—
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694; translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
tonight in Chicago
These guys will be at Constellation, as will I.
Tim Berne’s Snakeoil (TB, alto saxophone; Oscar Noriega, clarinet, bass clarinet; Matt Mitchell, piano; Ches Smith, drums, vibes, conga), “Lost in Redding,” live, Buenos Aires, 2015
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lagniappe
art beat
Bruce Davidson (1933-), Palisades, New Jersey, 1958
tonight in Chicago
These folks—three reed players and a cellist from Chicago, along with a drummer from Norway—will be playing (and recording a live album) at a performing-arts center on the city’s northwest side (Elastic Arts).
Dave Rempis (saxophones), Keefe Jackson (reeds), Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Tomeka Reid (cello), Tollef Østvang (drums), live, Lafayette, Ind., 4/25/15
music clip of the day 