Thursday, January 21st
Ashley Fure (1982-), Soma (2012)
Curious Chamber Players, live, Germany (Darmstadt), 2012
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Why shouldn’t our music be as mysterious as our life?
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: clarinet
2016
2015
Tuesday, December 29th
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
2015
Monday, December 21st
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)
2015
Friday, December 18th
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)
2015
Wednesday, September 9th
serendipity
When this came on the radio the other day (WKCR, Columbia University), background became foreground.
Luciano Berio (1925-2003), Differences (1959)
2015
Friday, August 21st
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
2015
Tuesday, July 28th
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
2015
Saturday, July 18th
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
2015
Thursday, May 14th
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)
2015
Saturday, May 9th
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
music clip of the day 