The last time I heard a trumpeter this quiet, this subtle, this interesting was . . . hmmm . . .
Ambrose Akinmusire (ah-kin-MOO-sir-ee) Quintet,* live, Luxembourg (Dudelange), 2014
*****
*AM, trumpet; Charles Atura, guitar; Sam Harris, piano; Harish Raghavan, bass; Justin Brown, drums.
sounds of Chicago, and Germany, and Norway – in Japan
Peter Brotzmann (Germany, alto saxophone), Fred Lonberg-Holm (Chicago, cello), Paal Nilssen-Love (Norway, drums), live, Japan (Chiba), 2011
generous-souled
Salim Washington/Darius Jones Quintet (SW, tenor saxophone; DJ, alto saxophone; Yayoi Ikawa, piano; Mark Helias, bass; Tyshawn Sorey, drums), live, New York, 2012
sounds of New York
More from the drummer on the new David Bowie album.
Mark Guiliana Beat Music (MG, drums; Stu Brooks, bass; Yuki Hirano, keyboards; with guests Steve Wall [tape recorder], Jeff Taylor [vocals]), live, New York, 2014
*****
lagniappe
reading table
Unknown –
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #778 (Franklin), last line
These guys back David Bowie on his new album.
Donny McCaslin Quartet (DM, tenor saxophone; Jason Lindner, keyboards; Tim Lefebvre, bass; Mark Guiliana, drums), “Fast Future,” New York, 2015
passings
Paul Bley, pianist, November 10, 1932-January 3, 2016
Live, 1970s?
***
With Charlie Haden (bass), live, New York, 2000
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With John Gilmore (tenor saxophone), Gary Peacock (bass), Paul Motian (drums; or Billy Elgart, side 2, tracks 2-3), Turning Point, rec. 1964/1968
Side 1
Side 2
***
Live, Norway (Oslo), 2008
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lagniappe
reading table
I held a Jewel in my fingers –
And went to sleep –
The day was warm, and winds were prosy—
I said ”Twill keep” –I woke – and chid my honest fingers,
The Gem was gone –
And now, an Amethyst remembrance
Is all I own –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #261 (Franklin)
sounds of Chicago and Switzerland
Need a jolt?
Easel (Christoph Erb, tenor saxophone [Switzerland]; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello, electronics [Chicago]; Michael Zerang, drums [Chicago]), live, Moscow, 2015
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Note to self: Listen, always, as if it was the first time—and the last.
*****
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
This guy takes me places no one else does.
Tim Berne’s Snakeoil (TB, alto saxophone; Oscar Noriega, clarinet; Matt Mitchell, piano; Ches Smith, drums, vibraphone), “Small World in a Small Town” (T. Berne), live, Brazil (Sao Paulo), 2015
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Joan Mitchell (1925-1992), City Landscape, 1955
two takes
Lee Morgan (trumpet) with Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone), Harold Mabern (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Billy Higgins (drums), “Yes I Can, No You Can’t,” 1966
***
S. Mos, mash-up (Tupac Shakur, “Holler If Ya Hear Me” [1993]), 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
And everything turns and turns
and the unknown turns into the song
that is the known, but what in turn
becomes of the song is not for us to say—Mark Strand (1934-2014), “The Webern Variations,” excerpt
music clip of the day 