Thirty-four years ago, on a cold Saturday night, in a church about
thirty miles north of Chicago, tenor saxophonist Von Freeman played this, unaccompanied, at our wedding.
Sonny Rollins (tenor saxophone) with The Modern Jazz Quartet (John Lewis, piano; Milt Jackson, vibraphone; Percy Heath, bass; Kenny Clarke, drums), “In A Sentimental Mood” (Duke Ellington), 1953
Vodpod videos no longer available.[D]ance first and think afterwards . . . . It’s the natural order.
—Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot (English-language premiere, 1955)
Al Minns & Leon James, New York (Savoy Ballroom, Harlem), 1950s
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt, New York, c. 1940
Happy Birthday, Max!
No drummer is more clear, more precise, more melodic.
Max Roach, January 10, 1924-August 16, 2007
“The Third Eye,” live
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“The Drum Also Waltzes” (Drums Unlimited), 1966
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With Sonny Rollins (saxophone), “St. Thomas” (Saxophone Colossus), 1956
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With Clifford Brown (trumpet), “Sweet Clifford” (Brown and Roach Incorporated), 1955
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With Dizzy Gillespie (trumpet), Charlie Parker (saxophone), Bud Powell (piano), Charles Mingus (bass), “Salt Peanuts,” live, 1953
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
In this music, you have to find out who you are, what you feel, what you want to say. That’s one of the reasons that it’s so American. You have to be yourself.
That’s also one way jazz is different from classical music. In classical music, you learn to study and come up with the finest interpretation of a work that you can. That’s a different way of expressing your personality. You have to learn to use what’s written already to express yourself. In jazz, you have to learn to be who you are, and create the music from that.
—Max Roach (in Gene Santoro, Highway 61 Revisited [2004])
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radio
Today it’s all Max all day at WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University).
Talk about a one-two punch.
9/10
The MacArthur Foundation awards him a “genius grant.”
12/10
The Village Voice, in its annual Jazz Critics’ Poll, names his album Ten the year’s best.
Jason Moran (piano) and the Bandwagon (Tarus Mateen, bass; Nasheet Waits, drums), live, Virginia (Rosslyn), 9/11/10
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lagniappe
fathers and sons
While still a teenager, Moran began studying with Jaki Byard—a relationship that lasted four years.
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reading table
I’m interested in how close our orderly lives are to utter chaos.
—Scott Spencer
This guy moved to Chicago, after World War II, from Birmingham, Alabama.
The temperature outside, on this mid-December day, is 7 degrees.
Is it any wonder springtime meant so much?
Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra, “Springtime Again,” 1979
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Want more? Here.
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lagniappe
Happy (90th) Birthday to Clark Terry!
(Yo, Michael: Thanks for the tip!)
The history of jazz, I once thought (like a lot of folks), is a story of progress. The shift from swing to bebop, for example, wasn’t simply a change; it was an advance. What bunk.
Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, “Swinging in Harlem,” 1938
Here’s more from the city that does death like no other.
Funeral for Juanita Brooks, New Orleans, 2009
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lagniappe
Here’s a taste of the Syl Johnson show I recently saw.
Syl Johnson, “Same Kind of Thing,” live, Chicago, 11/27/10
Vodpod videos no longer available.Coolest guy on the planet?
Will Gaines (tap dance) with Steve Beresford (piano), Alex Ward (clarinet), live, London, 2009
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lagniappe
I tap-danced for ten years before I began to understand that people don’t make musicals anymore.
what’s new
(an occasional series)
Dad, listen to this . . .
—my (19-year-old) son Luke
Lupe Fiasco, “The Show Goes On” (2010)
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Take 2
Live, Georgetown University, 10/30/10: “Superstar,” “The Show Goes On” (’til he forgets the lyrics), back to “Superstar”
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More from Georgetown
“Hip-Hop Saved My Life”
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lagniappe
Interview (Tavis Smiley, 2008)
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listening room
Here, in MP3 format, is a track featuring a guy we listened to the other day: Cecil Taylor, with drummer Tony Williams (“Morgan’s Motion,” from Williams’ 1978 album The Joy of Flying).
music clip of the day 