Wednesday, February 6th
timeless
Fats Waller (1904-1943, piano, vocals), “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” (F. E. Ahlert, J. Young), 1935
**********
lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Chicago (Monadnock Building, 1891-93)
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: hard-to-peg
2019
Saturday, February 2nd
what’s new
Quinsin Nachoff’s Flux (QN, tenor saxophone, composition; David Binney, alto saxophone; Matt Mitchell, piano, keyboards, modular synthesizer; Nat Wood, drums; with guest Jason Barnsely, 1924 Kimball theatre organ), “Bounce,” video by Lee Hutzulak, 1/14/19
**********
lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Wednesday, January 30th
sounds of New York
Zs, live, New York, 2015
**********
lagniappe
reading table
cold winter sky—
where will this wandering beggar
grow old?—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
2019
Monday, January 28th
sounds of New York
Marilyn Crispell (piano), Mark Helias (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums, percussion), live, New York, 2014
**********
lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Friday, January 25th
tonight in Chicago
He’s playing at Buddy Guy’s club (Legends), opening for Buddy himself.
Toronzo Cannon, “All Along the Watchtower” (B. Dylan), live, Detroit area (Auburn Hills), 2017
2019
Thursday, January 24th
This I could listen to all day.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Palais de Mari (1986); Blair McMillen (piano) and Ryan Olivier (video processing), live, Philadelphia, 2014
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
My obsession with surface is the subject of my music. In that sense, my compositions are really not ‘compositions’ at all. One might call them time canvases in which I more or less prime the canvas with an overall hue of the music.
—Morton Feldman, “Between Categories” (Give My Regards to Eighth Street)
***
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Wednesday, January 23rd
out of this world
DJ Carl Craig and drummer Francisco Mora play Sun Ra, live, Paris, 2018
2019
Tuesday, 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
***
With John Young (1922-2008, piano), et al., live (radio broadcast), late 1970s
***
“A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” (E. Maschwitz & M. Sherwin) with Jodie Christian (piano), Rufus Reid (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), live, Harrisburg, Penn., 1994
***
“I Can’t Get Started” (V. Duke, I. Gershwin), live, Belgium, 1992
***
“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
**********
lagniappe
my back pages
On this night forty-two years ago, at a church thirty miles north of Chicago, my wife, Suzanne, and I were married. Outside the church it was cold and snowy. Inside Von Freeman was playing, along with pianist John Young. All of what they played that night, before, during, and after the ceremony, can be heard here (0:15-) (“Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “More” [before]; “In a Sentimental Mood” [when Suzanne walked down the aisle]; “My Favorite Things,” “Song for My Father” [after]) .
2019
Monday, January 21st
He didn’t just speak—he sang.
Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream” (excerpt)
Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963
2019
Wednesday, January 16th
what’s new
Tim Berne (alto saxophone), Matt Mitchell (piano), Dave King (drums), live, New York, 1/7/19
**********
lagniappe
reading table
in my thatched hut
even dreaming
the cold—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
music clip of the day 