out of this world
DJ Carl Craig and drummer Francisco Mora play Sun Ra, live, Paris, 2018
what’s new
Tim Berne (alto saxophone), Matt Mitchell (piano), Dave King (drums), live, New York, 1/7/19
**********
lagniappe
reading table
in my thatched hut
even dreaming
the cold—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
Here, rehearsing, is the most influential pianist in jazz of the last fifty years.
Bill Evans (piano, 1929-1980), Eddie Gomez (bass), Alex Riel (drums), live, Denmark (Copenhagen), 1966
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
The ‘open’ voicings that Evans used [i.e., leaving out a chord’s root note] were not new . . . . They had been there in ‘classical’ music since the early part of the century, since Bartok and Stravinsky. But they were new to jazz, and they opened up melody and flow in new ways.
—Martin Williams, The Jazz Tradition (2d ed. 1983)
*****
Bill had this quiet fire that I loved on piano. The way he approached it, the sound he got was like crystal notes or sparkling water cascading down from some clear waterfall.
—Miles Davis, Miles: The Autobiography (with Quincy Troupe, 1989)
sounds of New York
Tim Berne (alto saxophone), Michael Formanek (bass) Andrew Cyrille (drums), live, New York, 2018
**********
lagniappe
reading table
One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted –
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), from 407 (Franklin)
A wonderful drummer lifts everyone.
Wolfgang Muthspiel Quintet (WM, guitar; Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet; Brad Mehldau, piano; Larry Grenadier, bass; Brian Blade, drums), “Father and Sun” (W. Muthspiel), live, Austria (Innsbruck), 2016
**********
lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (near the Art Institute)
voices I miss
This drummer never fails to lift my spirits.
Ed Blackwell (drums, 1929-1992) with Mal Waldron (piano), Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), Woody Shaw (flugelhorn), Reggie Workman (bass), “The Git Go” (M. Waldron), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 1985
#1
***
#2
***
#3