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Category: guitar

2011

Saturday, 6/11/11

What would Monday’s featured artist sound like if he’d come along a generation later?

Tyondai Braxton (Anthony’s son), “Dead Strings,” live, 2009

Part 1

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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Part 2

Vodpod videos no longer available.

More? Here (with Battles, a group he’s since left).

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lagniappe

If you had to take five albums, books or DVDs on tour with you, which ones would they be, and why?

I picked 5 records and they are:

1. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra & Marin Alsop: Takemitsu: The Flock Decsends Into The Pentagonal Garden
Honestly I always take this piece and the score with me on tour everywhere I go. It’s one of my favorite pieces.

2. Fela Kuti: Underground System
This record is a force. Infectious.

3. Black Dice: Miles Of Smiles
One of my favourites from this band. The mood it creates is wholly its own.

4. Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Pierre Boulez: Boulez Conducts Varèse
Varese is where my head has been for the past couple of months. Amériques is such a mind boggling piece.

5. The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Choir: Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares 1&2
Another go-to old favorite. Stop what you’re doing and order this right now.

For DVDs, the complete Six Feet Under, The Wire and Entourage. Is any other network up to the challenge to even attempt to compete with an HBO series?

Books:

Donari Braxton: The Invisible Alphabet
New novel from my brother. It’s seriously amazing. He seems to have an inexhaustible amount of ideas and has such a great sense of control in his craft. I looked to him and his work when struggling to flesh out my own.

Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
Such an incredible book. Ross fed into my already glorified view of the 20th century composers and made them into the lead characters in one of the most compelling stories I’ve ever read.

John Adams: Hallelujah Junction
It’s great to hear a very down to earth narration of a composer who you respect.

—Tyondai Braxton

*****

art beat

Lee Friedlander, Flowers and Trees (1981) (one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen), Tokyo 1977

More Lee Friedlander? Here. And here.

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2011

Tuesday, 6/7/11

serendipity
an occasional series

The other night, while I was listening to WFMU-FM, this jumped out.

Mikey Erg, “Key of C, Fix It, Fix It, Stop” (2011)

*****

lagniappe

more

“Pray For Rain”

Take 1

The Ergs! (2005)

***

Take 2

Mikey Erg, live, Fest 9 (Gainesville, Florida), 2010

Vodpod videos no longer available.
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2011

Monday, 6/6/11

sui generis, adj. A person or thing that is unique, in a class by itself. E.g., Anthony Braxton, composer, reed player, professor, MacArthur “genius” grant winner, one-time professional chess hustler.

Happy (Belated 66th) Birthday, Anthony!
(born June 4, 1945)

Anthony Braxton with his 12+1tet, Ghost Trance Music
New York (Iridium), 2008

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

I wanted to live. I wanted to be alive. This experience goes by very quickly. Part of the radiance of a moment, in my opinion, involves that which we call music.

***

Suddenly, Coltrane solos become the “it” of music, when in fact, the records and the notated solos are the sonic footprints, the bone structure of what actually happened in the music.

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I wanted a system that would be equal to the dynamics of curiosity. I wanted to have a music where I could have some fun.

***

There is the wonderful discipline of music and the ability of music to keep on opening up fresh prospects. I must say, what a discipline!

—Anthony Braxton

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2011

Friday, 6/3/11

scenes from New Orleans
an occasional series

Neville Brothers (with Irvin Mayfield, trumpet)
“Indian Red,” live, New Orleans (Jazz Fest), 5/8/11

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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lagniappe

art beat

Lance Rosenfield, New Orleans, 2/5/08 (young Mardi Gras Indian preparing for his first Mardi Gras with the Wild Magnolias)

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2011

Tuesday, 5/31/11

favorites
(an occasional series)

She’s going to be a big star someday.

Nneka, live

Vodpod videos no longer available.

(Originally posted 2/15/11.)

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It used to be that music came from a particular place. No more. Whether it’s Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (the Iranian saxophonist who’s lived in Germany, in Japan, and now in New York City [2/18/10]), or Burkina Electric (whose members come from Burkina Faso, from Germany, and from New York City [by way of Austria] [2/22/10]), or this singer, who’s lived (and has homes) in Nigeria and in Germany, much of today’s most intriguing music has its ears and heart and feet on more than one continent.

Nneka, “Heartbeat”

Take 1: recording/video

*****

Take 2: live, Philadelphia, 2009

*****

Take 3: J. Period Remix, featuring Talib Kweli

(Originally posted 2/27/10.)

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2011

Monday, 5/30/11

Today we remember him with a mix of new clips and old favorites.

Gil Scott-Heron, April 1, 1949-May 27, 2011

new clips

“The Bottle,” live, Jamaica (Montego Bay, Reggae Sunsplash), 1983
Cool Runnings: The Reggae Movie (1983)

*****

“We Almost Lost Detroit,” live, Austria (Vienna), 2010

*****

Interview, England (London), 2010

*****

old favorites

Here’s a voice I didn’t know if I’d ever hear again.

Gil Scott-Heron, I’m New Here (out this week)

“Where Did The Night Go” (Gil Scott-Heron)

***

“Me And The Devil” (Robert Johnson)

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lagniappe

I’ve had bad times in my life when I’d rather be somewhere else doing something else, for sure. But you get to my age, that shit happens. You get in trouble; you maybe lose some folks—a parent or a friend. Maybe your marriage breaks up, you lose your wife, lose touch with your kid. But what life does not have those things in it?—Gil Scott-Heron (in yesterday’s Guardian)

(Orignially posted 2/8/10.)

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I’m the person I see least of over the course of my life, and even what I see is not accurate.

—Gil Scott-Heron (New Yorker, 8/9/2010 [Alec Wilkinson, “New York Is Killing Me”])

Gil Scott-Heron, “I’m New Here” (2010)

(Originally posted 8/24/10.)

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It’s a remix world.

Gil Scott-Heron, “New York Is Killing Me” (2010), Chris Cunningham remix

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lagniappe

Here’s the original track, followed by a couple more remixes.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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With Nas

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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With Mos Def

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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langiappe

musical thoughts

In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will be singing. About the dark times.

—Bertolt Brecht

(Originally posted 12/16/10.)

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langiappe

remembrances

Alec Wilkinson (New Yorker)

Richard Russell (XL Recordings; produced and released GSH’s last album)

Eminem, Chuck D, Cee Low Green, Talib Kweli, et al.

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2011

Sunday, 5/29/11

The doors to this church—the church of gospel music—are always open.
You don’t need to believe anything to enter. All you need are ears to hear.

Brooklyn All-Stars (featuring Joe Yawn), “No Cross, No Crown,” live

More? Here.

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lagniappe

reading table

even the pine tree
I planted grows old!
autumn dusk

—Kobayashi Issa, 1803 (trans. David G. Lanoue)

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2011

Saturday, 5/28/11

Tired of the same ol’ same ol’?

Glenn Branca Ensemble, live, New York (The Kitchen), 1995; Symphony No. 8 (“The Mystery” [1992]), Symphony No. 10 (“The Mystery, Part 2” [1994])

Got some headphones? This should be played loud.

More? How ’bout a (terrific) live performance, recorded yesterday at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival? Go to WFMU-FM; click, under “Recently added archives” (lower left corner), “5/27/11: Live Broadcasts and Special Events”—Branca starts at 2:05.

Still more? Here.

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2011

Friday, 5/27/11

scenes from New Orleans
(an occasional series)

Small room, deep pocket.

George Porter (bass), Ivan Neville (vocals, keyboards), June Yamagishi (guitar), Johnny Vidacovich (drums), with guest Corey Glover (vocals)
“Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” live, New Orleans (Maple Leaf Bar), 5/4/11

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

Johnny Vidacovich, New Orleans drummer & teacher (Brian Blade, Stanton Moore, et al.), playing and talking (street rhythms, clave, New Orleans drummers, drum tree, etc.)

#1 (clinic)

***

#2 (with Stanton Moore)

More Johnny V? Here.

*****

radio

Today and tomorrow, from 3 p.m. to midnight (EST), WFMU-FM will be broadcasting live sets from Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival—Pere Ubu, Swans, Animal Collective, et al.

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2011

Thursday, 5/26/11

Light, fluid, elegant—he is, at heart, a tap-dancer.

Paul Motian Quintet (PM, drums; Bill Frisell, guitar; Lee Konitz, alto saxophone; Joe Lovano, tenor saxophone; Marc Johnson, bass); “How Deep Is The Ocean?”; live, Italy (Umbria Jazz Festival), 1995

More Bill Frisell? Here. And here.

Lee Konitz? Here.

Joe Lovano? Here. And here.

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