A pianist plays the piano.
A violinist plays the violin.
A percussionist plays . . . how much time have you got?
Augusta Read Thomas (1964-), Resounding Earth (2012); Third Coast Percussion
1st Movement
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2nd Movement
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3rd Movement
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4th Movement
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Augusta Read Thomas, talking about Resounding Earth:
what’s new
Vijay Iyer (pianist, composer, bandleader, Harvard professor, MacArthur “genius” grant winner, etc.), Mutations, 2014
sounds of Chicago
Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things (MR, drums; Jason Roebke, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tim Haldeman, tenor saxophone), “Wilbur’s Tune,” live, Paris, 2010
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Mike Reed’s Myth/Science Assembly (MR, drums; Tomas Fujiwara, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Ingrid Laubrock, tenor saxophone; Taylor Ho Bynum, trumpet; Mary Halvorson, guitar; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Nick Butcher, electronics), live (rearranging a found Sun Ra fragment [excerpt]), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 2011
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Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly (MR, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone), live (studio performance), Chicago, c. 2009
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If other Chicago musicians are “busy,” what’s Mike Reed? In addition to leading various groups, he owns and operates Constellation, a performing arts center. Then there’s the Pitchfork Music Festival, which this summer will feature, over the course of three days, Beck, Giorgio Moroder, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, et al. He books and produces it.
alone
Ran Blake (1935-), pianist, composer, teacher, MacArthur “genius” grant winner
Above the Sadness (trailer), 2011
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Live, “Over the Rainbow,” Portugal (Lisbon), 2010
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Live (at home), 2001
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lagniappe
reading table
‘[L]ife holds thee; not thou it.’
—Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby Dick
a gathering of birds
Evan Parker Quartet (EP, soprano saxophone; Peter Evans, trumpet; John Russell, guitar; John Edwards, bass), live, London, 2009
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music offers a way out of our little cluttered closet.
sounds of Chicago
Michael Zerang and the Blue Lights (MZ, drums; Mars Williams, alto saxophone; Dave Rempis, baritone saxophone; Josh Berman, cornet; Kent Kessler, bass), live, Chicago (Hideout), 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
Now, in general, Stick to the boat, is your true motto in whaling; but cases will sometimes happen when Leap from the boat, is still better.
—Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby-Dick
Feeling glum?
No more.
Orphic Oxtra, live, Iceland (Reykjavik), 2011
“Kebab Diskó”
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“Orfeus Bekonovitsjí Polka!”
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“Viiinur”
sounds of Mali
Salif Keita, live, Switzerland (Winterthur), 2013
Thirty-seven years ago, at a church outside Chicago, my wife Suzanne and I were married. Saxophonist Von Freeman and pianist John Young played at the ceremony.* Afterward, at the nearby reception hall, this guy tickled the ivories. All three are now gone.
Blind John Davis (1913-1985), live, Canada, early ’80s
#1
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#2
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#3
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*Here’s how they sounded that night. (Give it a few seconds.)
Some people make music even when they speak.
Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream,” Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963
Reading this, instead of hearing it, would be like reading a transcription of a spellbinding saxophone solo.
music clip of the day 