Wednesday, January 23rd
out of this world
DJ Carl Craig and drummer Francisco Mora play Sun Ra, live, Paris, 2018
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: jazz
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
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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-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
Wednesday, January 16th
what’s new
Tim Berne (alto saxophone), Matt Mitchell (piano), Dave King (drums), live, New York, 1/7/19
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lagniappe
reading table
in my thatched hut
even dreaming
the cold—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
2019
Tuesday, January 15th
what’s new
Miguel Zenón (alto saxophone, compositions) featuring Spektral Quartet, live (“Rosario,” “Milagrosa,” “Villabeño”), Washington, D.C., 1/4/19
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lagniappe
reading table
thin wall—
from the mouse’s hole
the cold—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
2019
Thursday, January 10th
what’s new
Joe Lovano (tenor saxophone), Marilyn Crispell (piano), Carmen Castaldi (drums), playing and talking about their forthcoming album, Trio Tapestry (published 1/8/19)
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Wednesday, January 9th
Here, rehearsing, is the most influential pianist in jazz of the last fifty years.
Bill Evans (piano, 1929-1980), Eddie Gomez (bass), Alex Riel (drums), live, Denmark (Copenhagen), 1966
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
The ‘open’ voicings that Evans used [i.e., leaving out a chord’s root note] were not new . . . . They had been there in ‘classical’ music since the early part of the century, since Bartok and Stravinsky. But they were new to jazz, and they opened up melody and flow in new ways.
—Martin Williams, The Jazz Tradition (2d ed. 1983)
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Bill had this quiet fire that I loved on piano. The way he approached it, the sound he got was like crystal notes or sparkling water cascading down from some clear waterfall.
—Miles Davis, Miles: The Autobiography (with Quincy Troupe, 1989)
2019
Monday, January 7th
sounds of New York
Tim Berne (alto saxophone), Michael Formanek (bass) Andrew Cyrille (drums), live, New York, 2018
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lagniappe
reading table
One need not be a Chamber – to be Haunted –
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), from 407 (Franklin)
2018
Saturday, December 29th
sounds of London
NÉRIJA, “The Fisherman,” live (studio), 2016
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
2018
Friday, December 28th
sounds of London
Yussef Dayes (drums) and Alpha Mist (keyboards), with Mansur Brown (guitar), Rocco Palladino (bass), “Love Is the Message,” live (studio), 2018
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lagniappe
reading table
opening the window
I see the butterfly off . . .
into the field—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
2018
Wednesday, December 12th
more
Heaven: hearing, together, a favorite drummer and a favorite bassist.
Ed Blackwell (drums, 1929-1992) with Malachi Favors (bass, 1927-2004) and Dewey Redman (tenor saxophone, 1931-2006), “Paris? Oui” (Tarik), 1969
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day 