Thursday, January 30th
sounds of Nairobi
Coco Em (DJ), live, Nairobi, 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: hard-to-peg
2020
Wednesday, January 29th
what’s new
Max Richter (1966-, compositions, piano, keyboard) with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (Clarice Jensen, cello & artistic director; Ben Russell, violin; Laura Lutzke, violin; Isabel Hagen, viola; Claire Bryant, cello), “On the Nature of Daylight,” “Vladimir’s Blues,” “Infra 5,” live, Washington, D.C., 1/22/20
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
I’m very interested in the idea of a piece of music being a place to think.
—Max Richter
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random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Monday, January 27th
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
Julia Hülsmann Quartet (Julia Hülsmann, piano; Uli Kempendorff, tenor saxophone; Marc Muellbauer, bass; Heinrich Köbberling, drums), “This Is Not America” (D. Bowie), live (studio), 2019
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Wednesday, January 22nd
voices I miss
Von Freeman (1923-2012), tenor saxophonist, MCOTD Hall of Fame
“Oleo” (S. Rollins) with Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone), Willie Pickens (piano), Dan Shapera (bass), Robert Shy (drums), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 1988
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With John Young (1922-2008, piano), et al., live (radio broadcast), late 1970s
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“A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” (E. Maschwitz & M. Sherwin) with Jodie Christian (piano), Rufus Reid (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), live, Harrisburg, Penn., 1994
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“I Can’t Get Started” (V. Duke, I. Gershwin), live, Belgium, 1992
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“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (R. Rodgers, L. Hart) with Mike Allemena (guitar), Matt Ferguson (bass), Michael Raynor (drums), live, Chicago (Mandel Hall, University of Chicago), 2011
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lagniappe
my back pages
On this night forty-three years ago, at a church thirty miles north of Chicago, my wife, Suzanne, and I were married. Outside it was cold and snowy; inside Von Freeman was playing, with pianist John Young. All of what they played that night, before, during, and after the ceremony, can be heard here (0:15-) (before: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “More”; during [as Suzanne walked down the aisle]: “In a Sentimental Mood”; after: “My Favorite Things,” “Song for My Father”).
2020
Tuesday, January 21st
more
Agnes Obel, playing and talking (begins at 2:05; “Won’t You Call Me,” 3:00; “Island of Doom,” 13:55; “Broken Sleep,” 25:35), New York, 1/14/20
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Monday, January 20th
This voice I could listen to all day, even if I didn’t understand a word of English. He doesn’t speak—he sings.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), “I Have a Dream,” Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963
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Another take, with Max Roach (1924-2007, drums).
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Saturday, January 18th
what’s new
Agnes Obel, “Broken Sleep” (A. Obel), 1/7/20
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lagniappe
random sights
last night, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Wednesday, January 15th
sounds of Algeria, France, and the United States
Mohamed Lamouri, “Billie Jean” (M. Jackson), live, Paris, 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Tuesday, January 14th
what’s new
One-word review: Wow!
Fay Victor (vocals), Baba Israel (vocals), Marc Ribot (guitar), Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone), Kris Davis (piano), live (Celebration of the Life of Steve Dalachinsky), New York (Winter Jazz Fest), 1/11/19
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
*****
reading table
I speak across the vast
Dialogues in which we go
To clench my words against
Time or the lack of time
Hoping that for a moment
They will become for me
A place I can think in
And think anything in,
An aside from the monstrous.***
This is no other place
Than where I am, between
This word and the next.—W. S. Graham (1918-1986), from “The Dark Dialogues”
2020
Thursday, January 9th
27 years later
Art Ensemble of Chicago (Roscoe Mitchell, 1940-, reeds, flute, percussion; Famadou Don Moye, 1946-, drums, percussion) and Guests (Hugh Ragin, trumpets, flugelhorn; Tomeika Reed, cello; Silvia Bolognesi, bass; Jaribu Shahid, bass; Dudu Kouate, percussion), live, Italy (Cormòns), 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
