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Category: jazz

2015

Monday, May 4th

sounds of Amsterdam

It’s a wonderful life—sometimes, anyway. This weekend, in Chicago, I got to hear these folks twice: Saturday night all together (Constellation), Sunday in a series of (mostly) duos and trios (Elastic Arts).

Instant Composers Pool (ICP) Orchestra*

“Lavoro” (S. Bergin, borrowing from “Moten Swing”), live, Oakland, Ca., 2013


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“East of the Sun, West of the Moon” (Brooks Bowman), recording (East of the Sun), 2014


*****

*Ab Baars, tenor saxophone; Tobias Delius, tenor saxophone; Michael Moore, alto saxophone; Thomas Heberer, trumpet; Walter Wierbos, trombone; Tristan Honsiger, cello; Mary Oliver, violin; Ernst Glerum, bass; Han Bennink, drums.

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2015

Thursday, April 30th

tonight in Chicago

These folks—three reed players and a cellist from Chicago, along with a drummer from Norway—will be playing (and recording a live album) at a performing-arts center on the city’s northwest side (Elastic Arts).

Dave Rempis (saxophones), Keefe Jackson (reeds), Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Tomeka Reid (cello), Tollef Østvang (drums), live, Lafayette, Ind., 4/25/15

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2015

Thursday, April 23rd

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Mingus!

Charles Mingus, composer, bandleader, bassist
April 22, 1922-January 5, 1979

Better late than never for someone who, like Miles and Monk, Bach and Beethoven, I couldn’t live without.

Charles Mingus (bass) with Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute), Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone), Johnny Coles (trumpet), Jaki Byard (piano), Dannie Richmond (drums), live, Belgium, Norway, and Sweden, 1964*


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lagniappe

musical thoughts

There’s something about listening to Eric Dolphy that makes you feel glad to be alive.

—Cliff Preiss, DJ, WKCR (Columbia University), yesterday (Mingus birthday broadcast)

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*Set lists (courtesy of YouTube):

Belgium
00:00-00:45 Intro
00:46-05:33 So Long Eric
05:35-11:20 Peggy’s Blue Skylight
11:23-32:03 Meditations On Integration

Norway
32:30-54:46 So Long Eric
56:30-1:11:40 Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk
1:13:53-1:16:20 Parkeriana
1:16:22-1:29:05 Take The “A” Train

Sweden
1:30:05-1:33:55 So Long Eric
1:34:02-1:52:35 Meditations On Integration
1:52:40- 1:59:50 So Long Eric

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2015

Wednesday, April 15th

MCOTD Hall of Fame

Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy (LB, trumpet; Steve Turre, trombone; Frank Lacy, trombone; Bob Stewart, tuba; Phillip Wilson, drums, et al.), live, Berlin, 1986

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2015

Wednesday, March 25th

sounds of Chicago

Dave Rempis (tenor saxophone) & Tim Daisy (percussion), live, Chicago, 2013


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lagniappe

random thoughts

Sometimes it seems surprising that any of us survives even a single day in a world so sad.

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2015

Tuesday, March 24th

can’t wait

This weekend they’ll be in Chicago, playing at Constellation.

Vijay Iyer Trio (VI, piano; Stephan Crump, bass; Marcus Gilmore, drums), Break Stuff, 2015

 

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2015

Wednesday, March 18th

Feeling glum?

Not for long.

Jim Campilongo & Honeyfingers,* live, New York, 2013


*JC, guitar; Luca Benedetti, guitar; Jonny Lam, lap steel guitar; Catherine Popper, bass; Shawn Pelton, drums.

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2015

Wednesday, March 4th

More of Cecil T.

Cecil Taylor, live, Switzerland (Montreux), 1974


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lagniappe

reading table

It is a very painful thing, having to part company with what torments you.

—Robert Walser (1878-1956), “Balloon Journey” (translated from German by Christopher Middleton)

 

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2015

Tuesday, March 3rd

never enough

Thelonious Monk Quartet (TM, piano; Charlie Rouse, tenor saxophone; John Ore, bass; Frankie Dunlop, drums), “Nutty,” “Bemsha Swing,” “Epistrophy,” “Crepuscule with Nellie,” “I Mean You,” live (TV show), Netherlands, 1961

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lagniappe

art beat

William Klein (1928-), Baseball Cards, New York 1955

3381

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2015

Thursday, February 26th

Soundtrack for your day?

Peter Brotzmann Tentet,* live, Atlanta, 2002


*PB, reeds; Ken Vandermark, reeds; Mats Gustafsson, reeds; Mars Williams, reeds; Joe McPhee, trumpet; Jeb Bishop, trombone; Fred Longberg-Holm, cello; Kent Kessler, bass; Hamid Drake, drums; Michael Zerang, drums.

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