two takes
“A House Is Not A Home” (B. Bacharach & H. David)
Luther Vandross (1951-2005), live, 1988
*****
Ronald Isley (1941-) & Burt Bacharach, TV show, 2004
**********
lagniappe
reading table
This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to Me –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #519 (excerpt)
If I had a dollar for every guitar player I’ve ever heard who had an original sound and approach, I probably couldn’t afford dinner.
David Fiuczynski Group,* live, New York, 2010
#1
#2
#3
*DF, guitar; Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto saxophone; John Medeski, keyboards; David Ginyard, bass; Skoota Warner, drums.
In a world this fast what you need, sometimes, is something this slow.
Shirley Horn (1934-2005), “Summer (Estate)” (B. Martino & B. Brighetti), live, Switzerland (Bern), 1990
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Space is a valuable commodity in music. Too many musicians rush through everything with too many notes. I need time to take the picture. A ballad should be a ballad. It’s important to understand what the song is saying, and learn how to tell the story. It takes time. I can’t rush it. I really can’t rush it.
*****
art beat: more from the other day at the Art Institute of Chicago
Statuette of a Female Figure
Cycladic, probably from the island of Keros
Early Bronze Age, 2600/2400 B.C.
serendipity
Last night, while I was doing some law work, these guys—I’d never heard of them before—jumped out of the radio.*
Los Pirañas, “Bambo Ha Muerto Devorado Por El Pecado (Version Alterna),” live, Colombia (Bogotá), 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
I am not poor, I am not rich, nothing’s here but nothing’s lacking, I have little, I want nothing: all my treasure is in Minerva’s tower.
—Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621)
*****
*Give the Drummer Some (WFMU-FM [Give the Drummer Radio Stream] Tues., 6-7 p.m.; Fri., 9 a.m.-noon [EST]).
two takes
Music for Airports, “1/1” (B. Eno, R. Davies, R. Wyatt)
Bang on a Can All-Stars, live, Düsseldorf Airport (Germany), 2011
*****
Brian Eno, recording, 1978
**********
lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago (while waiting for the jury in my federal bribery-conspiracy trial to return a verdict, which, alas, they did)
Bowl, 150/50 B.C.
Greek, Hellenistic, Eastern Mediterranean
Glass, mosaic technique
old stuff
This I could listen to all day.
Fats Waller (1904-1943), “Numb Fumbling,” 1929
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Two of us
brush painting in turn;
autumn night.—Ryokan, 1758-1831 (translated from Japanese by Kazuaki Tanahashi [Sky Above, Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan])
sounds of Chicago
Bangs & Works Vol. 2 (The Best of Chicago Footwork), 2011
Jlin, “Erotic Heat”
***
Young Smoke, “Space Muzik Pt. 3”
***
RP Boo, “Off Da Hook”
Most musicians are no more able than anyone else to talk about what they do in ways that are fresh and absorbing. This guy, to these ears, is something rare: a compelling player who is, as well, a provocative thinker and talker.
Vijay Iyer (piano), playing and talking, 2010
kinetic
Rudresh Mahanthappa (alto saxophone), Rez Abbasi (guitar), Rich Brown (bass), Rudy Royston (drums), “Killer,” “Playing with Stones,” Washington, D.C., 2012
alone
Cecil Taylor, piano, live, Germany (Nürnberg), 1984
music clip of the day 