three takes
You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board.
“People Get Ready”
Curtis Mayfield, live, England (London), 1988
*****
The Impressions (featuring Curtis Mayfield), 1965
More Curtis Mayfield? Here. Here. Here.
*****
Al Green, live, Washington, D.C., 1983 (Gospel According to Al Green, 1984)
More Al Green? Here. Here. Here.
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lagniappe
radio gems: gospel
Gospel Memories
WLUW-FM
Chicago, Illinois
Saturday, 10-11 a.m. (CST) (archived shows)
three takes
He’s the guy who, early in his career, while an arranger and producer for Curtom Records, brought Baby Huey & the Babysitters to the attention of Curtis Mayfield.
“Little Ghetto Boy” (Donny Hathaway)
take 1
John Legend & The Roots
Live (recording studio), 2010
*****
take 2
Live, New York, 9/23/10
Want more of John Legend & The Roots? Here.
*****
take 3
Donny Hathaway, live, 1972
*****
lagniappe
Donny Hathaway, “The Ghetto,” live, 1970s
*****
Donny Hathaway died in 1979 at the age of 33. He was a casualty of mental illness. Afflicted with severe chronic depression and ultimately diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he leapt to his death out of a New York City hotel room.
*****
Curtis Mayfield on Donny Hathaway:
To see him there in the studio at about 21 years old, directing all these real big session guys like he’d been doing it for years, was a tremendous sight to see. But he always believed in himself. He always believed in his talent. He wasn’t conceited about it, but he knew he could do anything these guys could do and almost certainly better. I’d have loved to sign him as artist, but it wasn’t to be.
*****
Bassist Christian McBride on Donny Hathaway:
You can tell that he listened to Stravinsky. He listened to Debussy. He was a musician who was the full 360-degree circle.
Mali—one of the poorest countries economically, one of the richest musically.
Amadou & Mariam
Live, Mali (Festival of the Desert), 2010
***
“Dimanche A Bamako,” live (with David Gilmour, guitar), England (Islington), 2009
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“Welcome To Mali,” “Africa,” live, South Africa (Johannesburg), 2010
Want more? Here.
*****
I saw Amadou & Mariam, like Orchestra Baobob, with my son Alex—last year at Chicago’s Park West.
How far away does Africa seem to Alex?
About as far, I think, as South Carolina seemed to me at 23.
Career plan for the next life, if tap-dancer and rubboard player don’t pan out: reggae bassist.
Lee “Scratch” Perry, Junior Murvin, The Heptones, The Congos, The Upsetters, “Play On Mr. Music,” live, Jamaica (Roots Rock Reggae [1977]),
Who would’ve thought this would be so good?
Tom Jones & Janis Joplin, “Raise Your Hand,” live (TV broadcast), 1969
Last week I wrote: “Guitar, drums—that’s all it takes.”
Actually, all it takes is a single string.
Lonnie Pitchford (diddley bow), live, Mississippi, 1978 (The Land Where The Blues Began [1979])
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lagniappe
? and the Mysterians—still more (take #4 [NYC, Great Jones Cafe; 7/31/10])
*****
mail (makes me want to be [yikes!] a grandfather)
The other day Oran Etkin, whose music was featured here a while back, wrote:
I’ve been checking in every once in a while to your blog— you’ve got some really amazing and diverse music up there!
***
I wanted to let you know about a new project I have and a great video I just posted yesterday. I have a project for kids called Timbalooloo (www.timbalooloo.com), which has music classes for 0-10 year olds using a new approach I developed to reach that age group, CDs, Videos, Books, etc. I am putting out a kids CD next month called Wake Up, Clarinet! based on this whole approach. It’s with my band featuring Jason Marsalis, Curtis Fowlkes, Fabian Almazan, Garth Stevenson and Charenee Wade. Anyways, I put up this video from a live concert, and I thought you might enjoy it and see if it would be cool for your blog.
***I’m loving the videos up on the site!
—Oran
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Oran Etkin, “Wake Up, Clarinet!”; live
three takes
I don’t often feel like listening to someone named after a punctuation mark, but when I do I know just where to turn.
? and the Mysterians, “96 Tears”
With Ronnie Spector, live, New York, 2010
*****
Live, New York (1998)
*****
TV broadcast, 1966
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langiappe
inscrutable instructions
Amazon: Express Checkout with Payphrase
To use Express Checkout on Amazon.com and across the web,
create a PayPhrase like “Richard’s Overarching Dentist”
How quaint they seem today—the predictions made, years ago, that drum machines would make flesh-and-blood drummers obsolete.
The Black Keys, “Too Afraid To Love You”
Recording Studio (Muscle Shoals, Alabama), Brothers (2010)
***
Live, New York, 2010
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lagniappe
record shopping with a Black Key
music clip of the day 