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)
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.
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.
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.
Happy (70th) Birthday, Bob!
Being young—that’s so twentieth century.
What’s hot now?
Old age.
Bob Dylan, London, 1965 (65 Revisited [2007])
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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lagniappe
radio
All Dylan, all day, every day—The World’s Only Bob Dylan Radio Station.
*****
reading table
flicks
(an occasional series)
Rosco Gordon & The Red Tops, “Chicken In The Rough”
Rock Baby, Rock It! (1957)
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lagniappe
radio
Lloyd Knibb Memorial Broadcast: Eastern Standard Time, WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University), 5/21/11 (archived).
Who else (besides, of course, Bob Dylan) has played so many different roles so brilliantly?
Miles Davis (with Robben Ford & guest Carlos Santana, guitars), “Burn”
Live, Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, 6/15/86
Listen to stuff long enough and it changes—or you do, anyway. Once I might have faulted this for being repetitive. But that’s a bit like faulting roast beef for being meat. Of course it’s repetitive. That’s part of what makes it soar.
More? Here.
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lagniappe
listening room: what’s playing
• Rashied Ali Quintet, Live In Europe (Survival Records)
• Paul Motian (with Chris Potter, Jason Moran), Lost In A Dream (ECM)
• Charlie Parker, The Complete Royal Roost Live Recordings on Savoy, Vol. 3 (Columbia Japan)
• Eric Dolphy At The Five Spot, Vol. 2 (with Booker Little, Mal Waldron, Richard Davis, Ed Blackwell; Prestige)
• Various Artists, Fire In My Bones: Raw + Rare + Other-Worldly African-American Gospel (1944-2007) (Tompkins Square)
• Reverend Charlie Jackson, God’s Got It: The Legendary Booker and Jackson Singles (CaseQuarter)
• Group Doueh, Guitar Music from the Western Sahara (Sublime Frequencies)
• Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 8 in A Minor, Helene Grimaud, Resonances (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 (“Appasionata”) and No. 29 (“Hammerklavier”), Solomon, The Master Pianist (EMI Classics)
• Anton Webern: String Quartet, Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, String Quartet Op. 28, LaSalle Quartet (Brilliant Classics)
• Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet in D major, LaSalle Quartet (Brilliant Classics)
• Roger Sessions: String Quartet No. 2, Julliard String Quartet (Composers Recordings)
• Morton Feldman: For Bunita Marcus, John Tilbury, Morton Feldman, All Piano (London HALL)
• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Morning Classical (Various)
—Amazing Grace (Various)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
—Give The Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis)
—Fool’s Paradise (Rex, sui generis)
—Transpacific Sound Paradise (Rob Weisberg, “popular and unpopular music from around the world”)
passings
(an occasional series)
Lloyd Knibb, drummer (Skatalites, et al.)
March 8, 1931-May 12, 2011
Lloyd Knibb’s importance to Jamaican music can’t be overstated. The inventor of the ska beat at Coxson Dodd’s Studio One, Knibb created a sound that spread like wildfire the world over.
—Carter Van Pelt, host, Eastern Standard Time, WKCR-FM
Skatalites, “Freedom Sound,” live, Belgium (Lokerse Festival), 1997
***
Skatalites, “Latin Go Ska,” live, Los Angeles, 2007
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Skatalites, live, Los Angeles, 2007
***
Skatalites, “(Straighten Up And) Fly Right”
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lagniappe
reading table
Spring
It would be
good to shrug
out of winter
as cicadas do:
look: a crisp
freestanding you
and you walking
off, soft as
new.—Kay Ryan
soundtrack for an indoor road trip
Henry Flynt, “Rockabilly Boogie”
(recorded 1982; Spindizzy, 2003, 2011)
More? Repeat.
White folks got soul, too.
Brother Claude Ely, singer, songwriter, preacher
July 22, 1922-May 7, 1978
Ain’t No Grave: The Life and Legacy of Brother Claude Ely
(Dust-to-Digital 2011)
***
“There Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down”
(King 1954 [recorded 1953])
***
“Cryin’ Holy Unto the Lord”
(recorded 1953)
music clip of the day 