Need a lift?
Angelika Niescier (alto saxophone), Ralph Alessi (trumpet), Florian Weber (piano), Chris Tordini (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums), “The Barn Thing” (A. Niescier), live, Germany (Krefeld), 2013
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Aaron Siskind (1903-1991), Martha’s Vineyard Rocks 127B 1954 (Abstractions, through 8/14/16)
Vancouver folkie + iconic Memphis rhythm section.
This should never have worked.
But it does, wonderfully.
Frazey Ford, “September Fields” (Indian Ocean), 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
The climate is pretty.
I wrote everything on it.
That’s the activity where it
gets relatively inauspicious.***
And you were sitting there
in the night of life. It sure was good.
My favorite desserts were there.
And when they invite you, it’s like an important document
goes missing. I’ll give you an example:
a twelve-year struggle upstate, in
the slick atmosphere of the breakfast room.
It might have gotten stuck in her farthingale.Otherwise no reply.
—John Ashbery (1927-), “As Someone Who Likes Travel,” fragments (New Yorker, 5/30/16)
To read Ashbery is to read English as a foreign language—which I mean as a compliment.
Unfailing clarity, lyricism—how apt to hear him shortly after Mozart.
Sonny Rollins, live (“On Green Dolphin Street,” “St. Thomas,” “Four”), Denmark, 1968*
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lagniappe
reading table
dripping from the flower vendor’s
display
morning dew—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1828 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
*****
*With Kenny Drew (piano), Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (bass), Albert “Tootie” Heath (drums).
old school
Tommy Ellison & The Singing Stars, “I’m Not the Same Person,” live, Hempstead, N.Y., 2007
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lagniappe
reading table
I hear a river thro’ the valley wander
Whose water runs, the song alone remaining.—Trumbull Stickney (1874-1904), “Dramatic Fragments,” excerpt
*****
random sights
yesterday morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)
tonight in Chicago
They’ll be playing at the Art Institute, where I’ll be listening.
Peter Brotzmann (tenor saxophone), Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), Steve Noble (drums), live, London, 2014
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (outside the Art Institute)
sounds of New York
Music is, in part, a function of place. Can you imagine these sounds coming out of San Diego?
Charles Gayle Trio (CG, tenor saxophone, piano; Larry Roland, bass; Michael Wimberly, drums), live, Germany (Cologne), 2012
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lagniappe
reading table
It might be lonelier
Without the Loneliness –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 535 (Franklin), fragment
never enough
What do I watch when he’s at the piano? His feet.
Thelonious Monk Quartet (TM, piano, compositions; Charlie Rouse, tenor saxophone; Larry Gales, bass; Ben Riley, drums), live, France (Amiens), 1966
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lagniappe
reading table
Thought forms in the soul in the same way clouds form in the air.
—Joseph Joubert (1754-1824), 1786 (The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, translated from French by Paul Auster)
(Thanks to Orange Crate Art for introducing me to Joubert.)
gathering of birds
Oliver Lake & Alto Madness (Oliver Lake, alto saxophone, compositions; Darius Jones, Bruce Williams, Anthony Ware, alto saxophones; Pheeroan AkLaff, drums), live, New York, 2014
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)
only rock ‘n’ roll
Dog Faced Hermans, live, Lincoln, Neb., 1994
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday, Art Institute of Chicago
Vincent van Gogh, A Corner of the Asylum and the Garden with a Heavy, Sawed-Off Tree, 1889 (Van Gogh’s Bedrooms, through May 10th)
More.
Henry Threadgill’s Society Situation Dance Band
Live, Germany (Hamburg), 1988
#1
#2
#3
*****
Henry Threadgill and His Very Very Circus
“Too Much Sugar for a Dime,” live, New York, 1995
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day 