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
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.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
—Muhammad Ali
Cecil Taylor Quintet (CT, piano; Harri Sjostrom, soprano saxophone; Tristan Honsinger, cello; Thurman Barker, marimba, percussion; Paul Lovens, drums), live, Germany (Hamburg), 1995
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lagniappe
art beat
William Klein (1928-), Blacks + Pepsi (AKA Moves + Pepsi)
Harlem, New York, 1955
More reasons to wonder: Where would we be without the saxophone?
Collective Identity Saxophone Quartet (Alex Harding, baritone; Jorge Sylvester & Bruce Williams, alto; Sam Newsome, soprano), live, New York, 10/11/14
my back pages
On this date in 1977, at a church thirty miles north of Chicago, amidst the cold and the snow and the dark, tenor saxophonist Von Freeman (1923-2012), a MCOTD Hall-of-Famer, played for a wedding. He was accompanied by pianist John Young (1922-2008). Here is how they sounded that night, as people were entering the church (0:15-, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “More”), as the bride walked down the aisle (8:00-, “In a Sentimental Mood”), and as folks were leaving (10:20-, “My Favorite Things,” “Song for My Father”).
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Von Freeman
Open Minds: Chris Potter Underground (with CP, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Craig Taborn, keyboards; Adam Rogers, guitar; Nate Smith, drums), 2012
Music documentaries can go wrong in so many ways. Too much talk. Talk that reminds you, repeatedly, why musicians aren’t paid to speak. Mediocre sound. This one, which I bumped into yesterday, seems to avoid them all.
Need a jolt?
Brandon Lopez (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Chris Pitsiokos (alto saxophone), live, New York, 11/10/14
Talk about range. The piece we heard Saturday—the one with flute, violin, bass clarinet, and piano? It was composed by the drummer.
sounds of Chicago (day one)
Art Ensemble of Chicago (Roscoe Mitchell, reeds; MCOTD Hall-of-Famer Lester Bowie [1941-1999], trumpet; Malachi Favors [1927-2004], bass; Don Moye, drums), live, Hungary (Budapest), 1995
two takes
Rebirth Brass Band, “A. P. Tureaud,” live, New Orleans
Treme Sidewalk Steppers Second Line, 2011
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Revolution Social Aid and Pleasure Club Second Line Parade, 2012
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-), Second Liners at Mardi Gras, New Orleans, 1957
voices I miss
Lester Bowie’s From the Root to the Source (MCOTD Hall-of-Famer Lester Bowie [1941-1999], trumpet; Fontella Bass, vocals, piano; Martha Bass, vocals; Malachi Favors, bass, et al.), live, 1983
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lagniappe
reading table
I walked through the mountains today. The weather was damp, and the entire region was grey. But the road was soft and in places very clean. At first I had my coat on; soon, however, I pulled it off, folded it together, and laid it upon my arm. The walk on the wonderful road gave me more and even more pleasure; first it went up and then descended again. The mountainous world appeared to me like an enormous theatre. The road snuggled up splendidly to the mountainsides. Then I came down into a deep ravine, a river roared at my feet, a train rushed past me with magnificent white smoke. The road went through the ravine like a smooth white stream, and as I walked on, to me it was as if the narrow valley were bending and winding around itself. Grey clouds lay on the mountains as though that were their resting place. I met a young traveller with a rucksack on his back, who asked if I had seen two other young fellows. No, I said. Had I come here from very far? Yes, I said, and went farther on my way. Not a long time, and I saw and heard the two young wanderers pass by with music. A village was especially beautiful with humble dwellings set thickly under the white cliffs. I encountered a few carts, otherwise nothing, and I had seen some children on the highway. We don’t need to see anything out of the ordinary. We already see so much.
—Robert Walser (1878-1956), “A Little Ramble” (translated from German by Tom Whalen)
