what’s new
M.I.A., “Bring the Noize,” 6/13
**********
lagniappe
this just in
It is a slightly intellectually undemanding thing to do, being a rock singer, but, you know, you make the best of it.
Speaking of Bach, last night, as I was working on the closing argument I’ll be giving today in a federal bribery-conspiracy trial, it was a great joy—and a great comfort—to be able to listen to this.
Johann Sebastian Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I; Andrei Gavrilov (piano), playing and talking (Preludes & Fugues Nos. 1-12); Joanna MacGregor (piano), playing and talking (Preludes & Fugues Nos. 13-24); TV (BBC), 2000
**********
lagniappe
reading table
[L]istening to music for an hour or two every evening doesn’t deprive me of the silence—the music is the silence coming true.
—Philip Roth, The Human Stain
musical logic
1. No day that includes a Bach cello suite can be all bad.
2. Any day can include a Bach cello suite.
3. Therefore a day that’s all bad can always be avoided.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Suite No. 1 in G major for Unaccompanied Cello; Pablo Casals (1876-1973), live, France (Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa), 1954
**********
lagniappe
reading table
[T]here really is no bottom to what is not known. The truth about us is endless. As are the lies.
—Philip Roth, The Human Stain
two takes
“Lulu’s Back In Town” (H. Warren & A. Dubin)
Fats Waller, recording, 1935
***
Thelonious Monk Quartet (TM, piano; Charlie Rouse, tenor saxophone; Larry Gales, bass; Ben Riley, drums), live (TV studio), Norway (Oslo), 1960
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
A note can be as small as a pin or as big as the world. It depends on your imagination.
Some voices wrap themselves around you and hold you. And you don’t want them to let go.
Ted Hawkins (1936-1995), singer, songwriter, street performer
“Happy Hour” (T. Hawkins)
***
“Long As I Can See The Light” (J. Fogerty)
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
For some of us, music isn’t life or death, it’s much more important than that.
tonight
I’m going, with my son Alex, to hear a quartet led by this Chicago-based saxophonist at the Hideout, a small club on the city’s northwest side.
Nick Mazzarella Trio (NM, alto saxophone; Anton Hatwich, bass; Frank Rosaly, drums), live, “Do Not Disturb,” live, Asheville, N.C., 2011
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Make the drummer sound good.
Only a world this noisy could produce music this quiet.
Evan Parker (soprano saxophone), et al.,* live, London (Freedom of the City festival), 2011
*Heledd Francis Wright (flute), John Russell (guitar), Augusti Fernandez (piano), Adam Linson (bass), Toma Gouband (percussion), Lawrence Casserley (electronics), Matt Wright (electronics).
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110; Hélène Grimaud (1969-), live, Germany (Berlin), c. 2001
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Each performer plays this piece differently, and each performance is different. Each listener hears it differently, and each listen is different. This isn’t one piece; it’s many.
*****
random thoughts
Two sons, two fathers. Saturday evening, as we were driving back to Bloomington from Indianapolis, where we’d celebrated his graduation from Indiana University at a grand old steakhouse, Luke got a call from a friend. A guy he knew, who grew up in the town right next to us and was a couple years behind him at IU, had just been in a terrible car accident—north of Indianapolis, on the highway to Chicago. He was on his way home for the summer. Now all I could think of was his father, whom I had never met. He would be getting into his car. He would be driving into Chicago on the Eisenhower Expressway, then going south on the Dan Ryan. He would be taking the Skyway into Indiana, then heading toward Indianapolis on Interstate 65. He would be going to get his son. For the last time.
Yeah, I love Mozart and Chopin, but I don’t want to listen to them every day. I don’t want to listen to anything every day. This stuff, to these ears, is utterly exhilarating.
Nels Cline (guitar), Dave Rempis (saxophones), Devin Hoff (bass), Frank Rosaly (drums), live, Chicago (Hideout), 2011
#1
#2
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
I discovered that there’s a kind of a hidden connection between R&B and free jazz: the need for that kind of visceral connection with the audience and for something to happen that moves people. I think that beyond R&B, it’s a feature of black music — the moment the solo builds and builds and at a certain point, it hits that cry. Knowing when that needs to happen is something that players from that tradition seem to have.
—guitarist Marc Ribot
music clip of the day 