Friday, December 14th
what’s new
Wu-Tang Clan, live, Washington, D.C., 12/5/18
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lagniappe
reading table
in the silver dew
one sleeve cold . . .
morning sun—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: reading table
2018
2018
Sunday, December 9th
can’t wait
Amazing Grace (Sydney Pollack, director; filmed, 1972; scheduled theatrical release, 2019), trailer
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lagniappe
reading table
It is true that the unknown is the largest need of the intellect, though for it, no one thinks to thank God.
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), Letter to Cousins Louisa (aka Louise) and Frances Norcross, 1876
2018
Saturday, December 1st
what’s new
David Leon (alto saxophone, compositions) & Ingrid Laubrock (tenor saxophone), live, New York, 11/29/18
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lagniappe
reading table
The Constructed Space
by W. S. Graham (1918-1986)
Meanwhile surely there must be something to say,
Maybe not suitable but at least happy
In a sense here between us two whoever
We are. Anyhow here we are and never
Before have we two faced each other who face
Each other now across this abstract scene
Stretching between us. This is a public place
Achieved against subjective odds and then
Mainly an obstacle to what I mean.
It is like that, remember. It is like that
Very often at the beginning till we are met
By some intention risen up out of nothing.
And even then we know what we are saying
Only when it is said and fixed and dead.
Or maybe, surely, of course we never know
What we have said, what lonely meanings are read
Into the space we make. And yet I say
This silence here for in it I might hear you.
I say this silence or, better, construct this space
So that somehow something may move across
The caught habits of language to you and me.
From where we are it is not us we see
And times are hastening yet, disguise is mortal.
The times continually disclose our home.
Here in the present tense disguise is mortal.
The trying times are hastening. Yet here I am
More truly now this abstract act become.
2018
Wednesday, November 28th
what’s new
How many singers invent their own language?
Charmaine Lee, live, New York, 11/20/18
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lagniappe
reading table
The difference between Despair
And Fear, is like the One
Between the instant of a Wreck
And when the Wreck has been —
The Mind is smooth —
No Motion — Contented as the Eye
Upon the Forehead of a Bust —
That knows it cannot see ——Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 576 (Franklin)
2018
Sunday, November 25th
back to church
Together As One Hymn Choir, “I Feel Good,” live, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Rock Hill, S.C., 2002
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lagniappe
reading table
The lonesome for they know not What –
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), from 326 (Franklin)
2018
Monday, November 19th
The fascinating chill that Music leaves . . .
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), from 1511 (Franklin)
Enno Poppe (1969-), Filz (2014); Ensemble Resonanz (Enno Poppe, guest cond.), live, Germany (Hamburg), 2015
2018
Sunday, November 18th
three takes
“God Has Smiled on Me”
Rev. James Cleveland (1931-1991), live, Oh Happy Day, 2004
*****
Lester Bowie (1941-1999, trumpet, MCOTD Hall of Fame), with Amina Claudine Myers (piano, vocals), Arthur Blythe (alto saxophone), Malachi Favors (bass), Phillip Wilson (drums), 1978
*****
Don Pullen (piano), George Adams (tenor saxophone), live, Italy (Perugia), 1984
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lagniappe
reading table
mountain temple—
deep under snow
a bell—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
2018
Thursday, November 15th
voices I miss
Art Pepper (alto saxophone, 1925-1982) with Hampton Hawes (piano), Charlie Haden (bass), Shelly Manne (drums), “Lost Life” (A. Pepper), Living Legend, 1975
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lagniappe
reading table
. . . that Ethereal Gain
One earns by measuring the Grave –
Then – measuring the Sun –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), from 288 (Franklin)
2018
Monday, November 5th
what’s new
Hot 8 Brass Band, “Love Will Tear Us Apart, 10/24/18
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Here’s the original (remastered).
Joy Division, 1980, 2010
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Deep autumn—
my neighbor,
how does he live, I wonder?—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Robert Hass
2018
Saturday, November 3rd
basement jukebox
“The Only Way Is Up” (G. Jackson, J. Henderson)
Otis Clay (1942-2016), 1980
A few years after Otis Clay recorded this song for his small Chicago label, another version was released in England, where it topped the charts for several weeks.
Yazz (1960-), 1988
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lagniappe
reading table
It is Spring in the mountains.
I come alone seeking you.
The sound of chopping wood echoes
Between the silent peaks.
The streams are still icy.
There is snow on the trail.
At sunset I reach your grove
In the stony mountain pass.
You want nothing, although at night
You can see the aura of gold
And silver ore all around you.
You have learned to be gentle
As the mountain deer you have tamed.
The way back forgotten, hidden
Away, I become like you,
An empty boat, floating, adrift.—Tu Fu (aka Du Fu, 712-729), “Written on the Wall of Chang’s Hermitage” (translated from Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth)
