Friday, May 5th
Still hard to believe he’s gone.
Prince with Stevie Wonder, live, Los Angeles, 2011
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: miscellaneous keyboards
2017
Thursday, February 23rd
passings
Walter “Junie” Morrison, keyboard player, singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, etc., 1954-January 21, 2017
Keyboards and vocals, with Parliament-Funkadelic, “Into You,” live, Passaic, New Jersey, 1978
***
Questlove, Instagram post:
The Great Junie Morrison. So inspirational. All the #OhioPlayers westbound era funk that birthed #Voodoo & #BlackMessiah: #Junie. Those adlibs on Hov’s “#BrooklynsFinest & #Tribe‘s #ScenarioRemix is Junie. All the Warner Era #Funkadelic songwriting wizzardry #OneNationUnderAGroove & #UncleJamWantsYou (he co-wrote #NotJustKneeDeep) even #Parliament‘s #MotorBootyAffair & #Gloryhallastoopid. His ideas birthed and ushered in the G-Funk era (all that synthy #FunkyWorm synth yall associate w gangsta rap/Dre’s sound? That’s #JunieMorrison. Even his #SuzieThundertussy in its tales of “Lost Angeles” were the backdrop on Ye’s bright light for #TLOP‘s #NoMorePartiesInLA. Solange even gave him props on #Junie (“jump on it” for those that call it the “Jump on it song Dre3000 sings on)—this man was an uncelebrated unsung unchampioned whose ideas we just took and took and took. I regret so much not having a “proper” conversation about his journey. His songwriting. His technology innovations. Man. This STINGS. Rip #Junie.
2016
Friday, November 18th
only rock ‘n’ roll
La Luz, live, Iceland (Reykjavik), 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), Descending Geese, c. 1830
2016
Thursday, November 3rd
never enough
Miles Davis (with Wayne Shorter, saxophones; Chick Corea, keyboards; Dave Holland, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums), live, Paris, 1969*
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lagniappe
baseball: Chicago Cubs
It’s going to take a while, maybe a year or two, for this to sink in.
*****
*Setlist (courtesy of YouTube):
1. Introduction 0:00
2. Directions 0:34
3. Bitches Brew 8:33
4. Paraphernalia 22:50
5. Riot 35:21
6. I Fall In Love Too Easily 38:42
7. Sanctuary 40:53
8. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 45:13
9. The Theme 1:02:45
2016
Tuesday, September 13th
Sometimes, in the middle of the night, if sleep leaves and doesn’t return, I’ll put one of these on repeat, softly.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Piano and String Quartet (1985); Aki Takahashi and Kronos Quartet, 1993
***
John Luther Adams (1953-), The Farthest Place (2001), 2002
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (Columbus Park)
2016
Saturday, August 6th
Sometimes the best of what’s new is old.
Betty Davis, “Down Home Girl” (Miles Davis & Teo Macero, prods.; John McLaughlin [guitar], Herbie Hancock [keyboards], Harvey Brooks [bass], Mitch Mitchell [drums]), 6/28/16 (rec. 1969)
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday, Art Institute of Chicago
From Thirteen Laughing at Each Other, Juan Muñoz (1953-2001), through 10/5/16
2016
Saturday, July 30th
keep on dancing
M.A.K.U. SoundSystem, live (TV show), New York, 2016
2016
Monday, July 4th
Happy Fourth!
Let’s celebrate by remembering three giants.
Ralph Stanley, singer, banjo player, February 25, 1927-June 23, 2016
“Little Maggie,” live (TV show), Austin, Tx., 1980
*****
Bernie Worrell, keyboard player, April 19, 1944-June 24, 2016
Live (with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic), Switzerland (Montreux Jazz Festival), 2004
*****
Scotty Moore, guitar player, December 27, 1931-June 28, 2016
“Blue Suede Shoes” (with Elvis Presley), live, 1956
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lagniappe
radio
Today, Louis Armstrong’s adopted birthday, it’s all Louis all day at WKCR (Columbia University).
2016
Thursday, April 21st
what’s new
Vijay Iyer (keyboards), Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet), A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke, 2016
***
“Passages”
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
2016
Monday, April 18th
Feel like floating?
Music for Airports, “1/1” (B. Eno, R. Davies, R. Wyatt), 1978; Bang on a Can All-Stars, live (arr. Michael Gordon), San Diego Airport, 2015
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lagniappe
reading table
To a Snail
By Marianne Moore (1887-1972)If “compression is the first grace of style,”
you have it. Contractility is a virtue
as modesty is a virtue.
It is not the acquisition of any one thing
that is able to adorn,
or the incidental quality that occurs
as a concomitant of something well said,
that we value in style,
but the principle that is hid:
in the absence of feet, “a method of conclusions”;
“a knowledge of principles,”
in the curious phenomenon of your occipital horn.
