hard-to-peg | music clip of the day

Monday, October 17th

timeless

Les McCann (1935-, piano, vocals) and Eddie Harris (1934-1996, tenor saxophone), “Compared to What” (G. McDaniels), live, Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), 1969

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Chicago

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reading table

If you want to rob a bank, it really is best to start with a small one because then you might remember what you wanted to say once you’re inside.

—Nachoem M. Wijnberg (1961-), from “Can You Ask Your Banker, or Another Banker Who’s Still Awake, to Quickly Get Some Cheap Money, but a Great Deal, Not a Little?” (translated from the Dutch by David Colmer)

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Saturday, October 15th

what’s new

Patricia Brennan (vibraphone, marimba, electronics, composition), with Kim Cass (bass), Marcus Gilmore (drums), Mauricio Herrera (percussion): “Sizigia (Syzygy),” published 10/13/22

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Chicago

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Friday, October 14th

more sounds of Niger (and all over)

Mdou Moctar, live (“Takoba,” “Ya Habibti,” “Chismiten,” “Afrique Victime”), Port Townsend, Washington, 8/26/22

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

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2022

timeless

Milton Babbitt (1916-2011), Composition for 12 instruments (1948, rev. 1954; Ralph Shapey [1921-2002], cond.)

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Chicago

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Monday, October 10th

like nothing else

“Old Man Dancing” (Carla Bley, 1936-): Chet Doxas (clarinet, tenor saxophone), Carla Bley (piano), Karen Mantler (keyboard), Steve Swallow (bass), 2020

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

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reading table

This is the point in prefaces where I customarily say something nice about my wife. This time, however, I can’t think of anything that even comes anywhere near doing her justice. Her name is Susan Patek Booth.

Berkeley, California
May 3, 1997

—Stephen Booth (1933-2020), from Precious Nonsense: The Gettysburg Address, Ben Jonson’s Epitaphs on His Children, and Twelfth Night (1998)

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radio

Today, Thelonious Monk’s birthday, it’s all Monk, all day at WKCR (Columbia University).

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Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Crippled Symmetry (1983); Ives Ensemble (Rik Andriessen, flute, bass flute; Arnold Marinissen, vibraphone, glockenspiel; John Snijders, piano, celesta), live, Amsterdam (Netherlands), 2008