sounds of New York
Pulverize the Sound (Peter Evans, trumpet; Tim Dahl, bass; Mike Pride, drums), live, New York, 2013
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Jackie Evancho, a 16-year-old singer who became famous after appearing on “America’s Got Talent,” announced last week that she would sing the national anthem at the inauguration.
—“Andrea Bocelli Won’t Be Singing at the Trump Inauguration,” New York Times, 12/20/16
sounds of New York
Charmaine Lee (vocal) & Nate Wooley (trumpet), live, New York, 11/20/16
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If novelists know anything it’s that individual citizens are internally plural: they have within them the full range of behavioral possibilities. They are like complex musical scores from which certain melodies can be teased out and others ignored or suppressed, depending, at least in part, on who is doing the conducting. At this moment, all over the world—and most recently in America—the conductors standing in front of this human orchestra have only the meanest and most banal melodies in mind. Here in Germany you will remember these martial songs; they are not a very distant memory. But there is no place on earth where they have not been played at one time or another. Those of us who remember, too, a finer music must try now to play it, and encourage others, if we can, to sing along.
—Zadie Smith, “On Optimism and Despair,” (“A talk given in Berlin on November 10 on receiving the 2016 Welt Literature Prize.”), New York Review of Books, 12/22/16 issue
sounds of New York
Eli Keszler & So Percussion, “Archway,” New York, 2013
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“I shouldn’t have to see the pain, struggle and despair of homeless people to and from my way to work every day.”
—Daniel Duane, “The Tent Cities of San Francisco” (quoting Justin Keller), New York Times, 12/18/16
One should never underestimate, when living in a world so woeful, the therapeutic benefits, however fleeting, of dumb fun.
Shantel, “Disko Partizani,” 2007
Sometimes I want to hear something that will quicken my pulse; sometimes I want something that will slow it—like this, for instance, which I heard the other night in Chicago, played by the group for whom it was written (a.pe.ri.od.ic). One sound . . . another . . . another . . .
Jürg Frey (1953-), Fragile Balance (2014), excerpt; Ensemble Grizzana (Jürg Frey, clarinet; Mira Benjamin, violin; Richard Craig, flute; Emma Richards, viola; Philip Thomas, piano; Seth Woods, cello); 2015
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Winter seclusion—
sitting propped against
the same worn post—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill (The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets)
tonight in Chicago
She’ll be playing at Constellation (where I’ll be listening).
Okkyung Lee (cello), live, Netherlands (Nijmegen), 2015
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On the Anniversary of the Death of Matsuo Basho
Winter rain on moss
soundlessly recalls those
happy bygone days—Yosa Buson (1716-1784), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill (The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets)
sounds of Christchurch*
Roy Montgomery, “Five Bears,” 2016
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The way “The Tennessee Waltz”
is about having heard“The Tennessee Waltz”
before:an almost floral
nostalgia,is what we call
beautiful.—Rae Armantrout (1947-), “Overhearing,” fragment (Veil: New and Selected Poems)
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the beat goes on
2,500 posts—and counting.
*New Zealand.
sounds of Kinshasa*
Baloji with Konono No. 1, “Karibu Ya Bintu,” 2011
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One needs to keep a clear head when facing pirates in the Amazon.
—Hubert Kinski, 43-year-old Polish explorer, quoted in “‘There’s No Law on the Amazon’: River Pirates Terrorize Ships by Night,” New York Times, 11/18/16
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*Democratic Republic of Congo.
sounds of Glasgow
Richard Youngs, “Back from a World Changing,” 2016
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art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Sally Mann (1951-), Deep South, 1998
sounds of Chicago
Here’s one of my favorite drummers, leading his own band, playing his own compositions.
Michael Zerang & The Blue Lights, live, Germany (Dortmund), 2015*
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art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Joseph Cornell (1903-1972), Untitled (Hôtel de la Duchesse-Anne), 1957
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*MZ, drums, compositions; Dave Rempis, saxophones; Emil Strandberg, trumpet; John Dikeman, saxophones; Kent Kessler, bass.
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