jazz | music clip of the day

Wednesday, September 17th

tonight in Chicago

These guys will be at the Hideout, as will I.

Survival Unit III (Joe McPhee, tenor saxophone, pocket trumpet; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello; Michael Zerang, drums), live, Denmark (Copenhagen), 2013

I could live a thousand years and never tire of going out in the dark to hear music.

**********

lagniappe

art beat: Monday at the Art Institute of Chicago (brief stop after lunch)

Josef Koudelka (1938-), Slovakia, 1963 (from Gypsies)
Nationality Doubtful, through September 21st

Leave a comment

Wednesday, September 10th

Following up on Friday’s post, here are a couple more early favorites.

*****

October 15, 2009

How to be both solid and fluid, both fat and delicate. How to make the beat breathe. These are things that, as a child, Philly Joe Jones began to learn while dancing—tap-dancing. Just watch the way Thelonious Monk, listening to this solo, rocks back and forth (1:25-1:50), as if he’s about to break into a little dance himself.

Philly Joe Jones, live (with Thelonious Monk), 1959

*****

October 3, 2009

Here are two New Orleans drummers who embrace the Muhammad Ali aesthetic: float like a butterfly (0:56-1:58, etc.), sting like a bee (1:59, etc.).

Dwayne Williams (bass drum) and Jason Slack (snare), live (before a gig), Hudson, New York, 2007

Leave a comment

2014

Monday, September 8th

alone

One-word review: Wow!

Matthew Shipp (piano), live (music starts at 5:00), Chicago, 8/27/14

Leave a comment

2014

Friday, September 5th

Today, MCOTD‘s fifth anniversary, we revisit a few early favorites.

*****

September 5, 2009

One left Cuba after the revolution, the other stayed. Here they play together: pianists—father and son—Bebo (1918-2013) and Chucho (1941-) Valdes.

*****

September 11, 2009

If spirit could be sold, New Orleans would be rich.

Rebirth Brass Band, live, New Orleans, 2009

*****

September 23, 2009

May, 2012

Nobel-Prize-winning economist devises a way to turn faces—images of them, that is—into marketable commodities: the more expressive the face, the greater the value.

March, 2013

Haiti is named one of the world’s wealthiest countries.

Arcade Fire, “Haiti”

*****

Without music where would we be?

2 Comments

2014

Tuesday, September 2nd

summer in the (small) city

Tom Harrell Colors of a Dream,* live, Iowa City, 7/5/14

*****

*Tom Harrell, trumpet; Jaleel Shaw, alto saxophone; Wayne Escoffery, tenor saxophone; Esperanza Spalding, bass, vocals; Uganna Okegwo, bass; Jonathan Blake, drums.

Leave a comment

2014

Wednesday, August 13th

sounds of Chicago

Trio WAZ (Edward Wilkerson Jr., tenor saxophone; Tatsu Aoki, bass; Michael Zerang, percussion), live, Chicago, 2009

**********

lagniappe

art beat

Lee Friedlander (1980-), Detroit, 1963

Leave a comment

2014

Tuesday, August 12th

sounds of Chicago

8 Bold Souls,* live, Poland (Poznan), 2009

*****

*Edward Wilkerson Jr., reeds; Mwata Bowden, reeds; Tomeka Reid, cello; Isaiah Jackson, trombone; Gerald Powell, tuba; Robert Griffin, trumpet; Harrison Bankhead, bass; Dushun Mosley, drums.