serendipity
Last night I bumped into these guys via a live webcast from Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio. Their performance had, as here, what a friend calls “gather.”
Aram Shelton (alto saxophone), Håkon Berre (drums), live, Copenhagen, 2017
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cherry blossoms—
to my lowly sleeve
they cling—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
basement jukebox
Swan Silvertones, “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep,” 1958
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Some, too fragile for winter winds
The thoughtful grave encloses –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 91 (Franklin; excerpt)
more
Salif Keita, live, London, c. 2002
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We humans—
squirming around
among the blossoming flowers.—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
back to church
“Until I Die,” Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, Winston-Salem, N.C., 2001
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God’s Grandeur
by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)The world is charged with the grandeur of God.It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oilCrushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soilIs bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;And though the last lights off the black West wentOh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —Because the Holy Ghost over the bentWorld broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
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random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
basement jukebox
Tyrone Davis (1938-2005), “Can I Change My Mind,” 1969
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill. (Oak Park Conservatory)
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Nature repeats itself, or almost does . . .
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), “North Haven”
How about two minutes of joy?
Felix Quartet (Michael Moore, alto saxophone; Wolter Weirbos, trombone; Wilbert de Joode, bass; Michael Vatcher, drums), live, 2017
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That gorgeous kite
rising
from the beggar’s shack.—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
timeless
Anton Webern (1883-1945), Variations, op. 27 (1936); Vincent Planès (piano), live, France (Pau), 2016
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Moon, plum blossoms,
this, that,
and the day goes.—Yosa Buson, 1716-1784 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
what’s new
Asterids (alto saxophonists Charlotte Greve, Caroline Davis, Caleb Curtis, Oscar Noriega [l-r]), live, New York (Bushwick Public House, Brooklyn), 3/12/2018
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The two plum trees—
I love their blooming!
one early, one later.—Yosa Buson, 1716-1784 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
spring!
Blossom Dearie (1924-2009; vocals, piano), “They Say It’s Spring” (M. Clark, B. Haymes), 1958
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Bob Dorough (1923-; vocals, piano), “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” (T. Wolf, F. Landesman), 1997
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Sun Ra Arkestra (SR, 1914-1993, piano; June Tyson, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, et al.), “Springtime Again” (S. Ra), live, Rome, 1980
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First day of spring—
I keep thinking about
the end of autumn.—Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
The lights are going out
in the doll shops—
spring rain.—Yosa Buson, 1716-1784 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
Not very anxious
to bloom,
my plum tree.—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese byRobert Hass)
what’s new
Big K.R.I.T. (aka Rodney Carmichael), live, Washington, D.C., 3/5/18
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father and son
go their separate ways…
blossom viewing—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), 1820 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
