Thursday, 10/6/11
only rock ’n roll
The Ex, “Waiting,” live (studio performance), WFMU-FM, 2007
Vodpod videos no longer available.music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: guitar
2011
Wednesday, 10/5/11
serendipity
The other day, while I was listening to the radio,* this popped out.
Derek Bailey (guitar) & Tony Oxley (percussion, electronics)
“Sheffield Phantoms,” The Advocate, Tzadik, 2007 (rec. 1975)
Rarely do you hear something that’s both this “out” and this intimate.
*Afternoon New Music, WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University), Mon.-Wed., 3-6 p.m. (EST)
2011
Tuesday, 10/4/11
Has anyone played blues harp more sweetly?
Johnny Shines (1915-1992), vocals, guitar; David “Honeyboy” Edwards (1915-2011), guitar; Big Walter Horton (1917-1981), harmonica; “For The Love of Mike,” live, 1978
Vodpod videos no longer available.More Big Walter? Here.
More Honeyboy? Here.
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lagniappe
A belated Happy Birthday to MCOTD Hall of Famer Von Freeman, who turned 88 yesterday. Want to send birthday wishes? You can email them to info@jazzinchicago.org (subject line: Birthday Wishes for Von Freeman). Or you can do it the old-fashioned way: Birthday Wishes for Von Freeman, c/o The Jazz Institute of Chicago, 410 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60605.
2011
Wednesday, 9/28/11
Charisma needs no translation.
Mahmoud Ahmed & Badume’s Band, live, France (Festival de Sete), 2008
“Belomi Benna”
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“Atawurulegn Lela”
Vodpod videos no longer available.2011
Monday, 9/26/11
three takes
Blues guitarists—great ones, anyway—aren’t instrumentalists; they’re singers with two voices.
“Born Under A Bad Sign” (W. Bell, B.T. Jones)
Albert King, live, Sweden, 1980
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Albert King, recording, 1967 (Stax)
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Jimi Hendrix, recorded in 1969 (Blues, 1994)
Vodpod videos no longer available.What makes this last take effective? Part of it is the phrasing: Jimi, like Albert, doesn’t play anything that couldn’t be sung.
More Albert? Here.
2011
Wednesday, 9/21/11
Think you can listen to these guys without moving?
Just try.
Staff Benda Bilili
Live, Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
“Na Lingui Yo,” c. 2007
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“Polio,” c. 2007
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Singing, playing, talking, 2011
Vodpod videos no longer available.2011
Tuesday, 9/20/11
Life thickens as you get older, becoming more layered. The other night, for instance, listening to Mad Professor dub Bob Marley at a club on Chicago’s south side (Reggie’s, State near Cermak), I found it hard not to think of another night over thirty years ago, of another club on the other side of town (Quiet Knight, Belmont near Clark, now gone), of hearing Bob Marley not dubbed but live.
Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Trenchtown Rock”
Live, Chicago (Quiet Knight), 1975
2011
Friday, 9/16/11
Never heard of this guy?
You’re not alone.
But for serious mental illness, he would have been a big star.
James Carr, singer, June 13, 1942-January 7, 2001
Live, “You Got My Mind Messed Up”
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Live, “Pouring Water on a Drowning Man”
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“The Dark End of the Street” (D. Penn & C. Moman), Goldwax, 1967
Vodpod videos no longer available.What may be my favorite moment in this track is one that’s easy to miss; a throwaway, it comes at 1:37—the muted, fleeting “huhh.” The whole welter of emotions Carr brings to this performance—anxious, defiant, rueful, resigned—can be heard in this single syllable.
2011
Friday, 9/9/11
two takes
“Death Letter Blues” (S. House)
Son House, live (TV broadcast), 1967
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
The White Stripes, live, France (Paris), 2007
Vodpod videos no longer available.More White Stripes? Here.
2011
Sunday, 9/4/11
The Dixie Hummingbirds (with Ira Tucker, lead vocals), “If You See My Savior” (T. Dorsey), live (TV broadcast), early 1960s
With a voice like this, who needs words?
(Listen, for instance, at :55 and 1:50.)
More? Here.
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lagniappe
listening room: (some of) what’s playing
• Theo Parrish, Sound Sculptures Vol. 1 (Sound Signature)
• Various artists, Goodbye Babylon (Dust-to-Digital)
• Sun Ra, Jazz in Silhouette (Evidence)
• Anthony Braxton, For Alto (Delmark)
• Fred Anderson, Timeless (Delmark)
• Bach, Suites for Unaccompanied Cello/Steven Isserlis (Hyperion UK [import])
• Alfred Schnittke, Piano Quintet, String Trio, etc. (Naxos)
• Morton Feldman, For Bunita Marcus, Stephane Ginsburgh, piano (Sub Rosa) (available as a download from Amazon for 89¢)
• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)
—Lester Young/Charlie Parker birthday marathon
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Eastern Standard Time (Carter Van Pelt, Jamaican music)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
music clip of the day 