music clip of the day

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Category: mail

2010

Friday, 1/8/10

Presence, immediacy, feeling: the way his records sound, you’d swear they were nailed in just one take.

What higher compliment could you pay a record producer?

Willie Mitchell (March 23, 1928 – January 5, 2010)

*****

O.V. Wright, “A Nickel and A Nail” (1971)

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Ann Peebles, “I Can’t Stand the Rain” (1973)

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Syl Johnson, “Take Me To The River” (1975)

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Al Green, “Love and Happiness” (1977)

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lagniappe

mail

Thank you so much, Richard. . . . Stay well and Happy New Year. Love, Sheila

(Sheila Jordan, 1/6/10, 9/28/09 [in response to an email letting her know she was being featured here])

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2010

Sunday, 1/3/10

The well of Chicago gospel runs so deep it sometimes seems bottomless.

DeLois Barrett Campbell and The Barrett Sisters, “The Storm Is Passing Over,” live, 1982 (featured in the documentary Say Amen, Somebody)

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[DeLois Barrett Campbell and the Barrett Sisters’] harmony is special, probably the best in female gospel.—Anthony Heilbut, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times (1975 ed.)

*****

DeLois Barrett Campbell & The Barrett Sisters

The O’Neal Twins

The Clark Sisters

The Louvin Brothers

The Delmore Brothers

The Stanley Brothers

The Everly Brothers

The Beach Boys

The Bee Gees

Kate & Anna McGarrigle

The Jackson Five

The Isley Brothers

The Neville Brothers

The list goes on, and on, and . . .

*****

mail

“Thanks very much for that—a really nice blog!”—Tristan Murail (12/26/09 [in response to an email letting him know that his music was being featured here])

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2010

Saturday, 1/2/10

“Check out Gonzales”—a longtime friend (in a recent email)

Gonzales, Piano Vision (2007)

Part 1

Part 2

(Yo, Scott: Thanks!)

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2009

Tuesday, 12/15/09

Yesterday’s email included this from my 18-year-old son Luke:

“i bet you might like this video it’s crazy and i like the song”

Passion Pit, “Sleepyhead” (2009 [album], 2008 [EP, single])

(If this clip stops, then starts, then stops again [as it sometimes does for me], the trick seems to be, as with other YouTube clips, to stop it yourself and allow the colored line at the bottom to fill in all the way before restarting it. It should then play without interruption.)

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2009

Thursday, 12/10/09

This is the kind of guy who gives discographers fits. According to Wikipedia: “On recordings, he is credited under many different names, including: Noel ‘Scully’ Simms, Noel ‘Skully’ Simms, Scully, Scully Simms, Skullie, Skully, Skully Simms, Zoot ‘Scully’ Simms, Mikey Spratt, Scollie, Zoot Sims, and Skitter.” Even in the course of a single book, Lloyd Bradley’s This Is Reggae Music, his name’s spelled two different ways (Skully, Scully).

Noel “Skully” Simms, live (recording session, Horace Andy, Livin’ It Up [2007])

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mail

Tuesday I emailed Oran Etkin, letting him know that his music was being featured here, and he sent this response: “That is great. Thank you. Are you the writer of the blog? I like the melodic rhythm and rhythmic melody idea.” In a later message, he added: “Great stuff. I’m checking out the 3-part Lacy interview. Checked out the Malian drumming and gospel sax stuff too.”

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2009

Thursday, 11/26/09

Wobbly and splayed, this performance of the Jobim classic sounds more like a soundtrack for my life than the silky Getz/Gilberto original ever could.

Ran Blake, “The Girl From Ipanema”

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Stan Getz/Astrud Gilberto (with a very young Gary Burton on vibes), “The Girl From Ipanema” (1964 [charted at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100]; this is from the 1964 movie “Get Yourself A College Girl”)

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mail

The immediacy of the e-world never ceases to amaze. After posting yesterday’s clip, I sent Sam Newsome an email—I’d happened upon his e-address at his website—to let him know that his music was being featured here. A few hours later, this was in my e-mailbox: “Thanks, Richard. It looks like I’m in good company. Peace, S”

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reading table

On this Thanksgiving Day, here’s a favorite quote.

Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.—Henry James

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2009

Thursday, 11/5/09

I think my overall mood might be brighter if every time the phone rang I got to say:

“Hello, Sleepy LaBeef speaking . . .”

Sleepy LaBeef, “Little Bit More” (1957)

Want more? Here.

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mail

Speaking of mood-brightening, how nice to hear this week, via email, from a couple regular reader/listeners:

—“ever since J turned me on to your blog . . . I have been in love with it. . . . It is a fantastic way to start the day.”

—“I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the clips of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk—two of my absolute favorite musicians of all time. Keep up the great work, I’m amazed that you can keep to the daily regimen of posting. Your readers are the beneficiaries. Keep it up and a big thank you.”

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