Saturday, January 9th
These guys back David Bowie on his new album.
Donny McCaslin Quartet (DM, tenor saxophone; Jason Lindner, keyboards; Tim Lefebvre, bass; Mark Guiliana, drums), “Fast Future,” New York, 2015
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: drums
2016
Thursday, January 7th
passings
Paul Bley, pianist, November 10, 1932-January 3, 2016
Live, 1970s?
***
With Charlie Haden (bass), live, New York, 2000
***
With John Gilmore (tenor saxophone), Gary Peacock (bass), Paul Motian (drums; or Billy Elgart, side 2, tracks 2-3), Turning Point, rec. 1964/1968
Side 1
Side 2
***
Live, Norway (Oslo), 2008
**********
lagniappe
reading table
I held a Jewel in my fingers –
And went to sleep –
The day was warm, and winds were prosy—
I said ”Twill keep” –I woke – and chid my honest fingers,
The Gem was gone –
And now, an Amethyst remembrance
Is all I own –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #261 (Franklin)
2016
Saturday, January 2nd
sounds of Chicago and Switzerland
Need a jolt?
Easel (Christoph Erb, tenor saxophone [Switzerland]; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello, electronics [Chicago]; Michael Zerang, drums [Chicago]), live, Moscow, 2015
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Note to self: Listen, always, as if it was the first time—and the last.
*****
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
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
**********
lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), City Landscape, 1955
2015
Wednesday, December 23rd
sounds of Chicago
Hamid Drake (drums, percussion, voice), live, Sardinia, 2013
**********
lagniappe
radio
One of the year’s great musical events has begun: the annual Bach Festival on WKCR (Columbia University)—all Bach, all the time, through New Year’s Eve.
*****
musical thoughts
How lucky to be alive in a world of sound.
2015
Tuesday, December 1st
sounds of Chicago
And more.
Left Hand Frank and His Blues Band, “Linda Lu”
Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1, 1978
**********
lagniappe
art beat
Marc PoKempner, Chicago (Divorced Women’s Club), 1988
(I’m taking a break—back in a while.)
2015
Monday, November 30th
sounds of Chicago
More from Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1 (1978).
Jimmy Johnson Blues Band, “Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody’s Home”
2015
Sunday, November 29th
These sounds, which I bumped into the other night on the radio (Sinner’s Crossroads, WFMU), I can’t get out of my head—not that I’d want to.
Rev. Charles White, “How Long,” c. 1948
**********
lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
2015
Friday, November 27th
sounds of Chicago
Some things last. Nearly forty years ago, I co-produced this track, while working at Alligator Records. It remains one of my favorites. The hour was late. The lights had been turned down. But the tape kept rolling.
Carey Bell’s Blues Harp Band, “Woman In Trouble”
Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1, 1978
*****
Here’s more of Carey, years later (2000, Switzerland [Bern]).
**********
lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
2015
Thursday, November 26th
two takes
Lee Morgan (trumpet) with Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone), Harold Mabern (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Billy Higgins (drums), “Yes I Can, No You Can’t,” 1966
***
S. Mos, mash-up (Tupac Shakur, “Holler If Ya Hear Me” [1993]), 2011
**********
lagniappe
reading table
And everything turns and turns
and the unknown turns into the song
that is the known, but what in turn
becomes of the song is not for us to say—Mark Strand (1934-2014), “The Webern Variations,” excerpt
music clip of the day 