ten strings, twenty fingers
Stephan Crump (bass) & Mary Halvorson (guitar), “Erie” (S. Crump), live, New York, 4/17/15
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lagniappe
random thoughts
Life consists of driving a vehicle you didn’t design, one that came without an owner’s manual, until one day it runs off the road and winds up in a ditch.
only rock ‘n’ roll
The Ex, “That’s Not a Virus,” live, France (Annecy), 2015
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lagniappe
art beat
William Klein (1928-), 4 Heads, New York, 1955
More of Buddy M.
Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale, The Lone Bellow (27:50-), Rosanne Cash (1:08:05-), live, New York, 8/9/14
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lagniappe
random sights
Tuesday, Columbus Park, Chicago
Feeling glum?
Not for long.
Jim Campilongo & Honeyfingers,* live, New York, 2013
*JC, guitar; Luca Benedetti, guitar; Jonny Lam, lap steel guitar; Catherine Popper, bass; Shawn Pelton, drums.
old school
The Consolers (Iola & Sullivan Pugh), live (TV show), early 1960s
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lagniappe
art beat
Bruce Davidson (1933-), New York (Subway), 1980s
More reasons to wonder: Where would we be without the saxophone?
Collective Identity Saxophone Quartet (Alex Harding, baritone; Jorge Sylvester & Bruce Williams, alto; Sam Newsome, soprano), live, New York, 10/11/14
Open Minds: Chris Potter Underground (with CP, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Craig Taborn, keyboards; Adam Rogers, guitar; Nate Smith, drums), 2012
Music documentaries can go wrong in so many ways. Too much talk. Talk that reminds you, repeatedly, why musicians aren’t paid to speak. Mediocre sound. This one, which I bumped into yesterday, seems to avoid them all.
Need a jolt?
Brandon Lopez (bass), Tyshawn Sorey (drums), Chris Pitsiokos (alto saxophone), live, New York, 11/10/14
Talk about range. The piece we heard Saturday—the one with flute, violin, bass clarinet, and piano? It was composed by the drummer.
When you work on a small scale, a slight shift can seem epic.
Oscar Noriega (alto saxophone), live, New York, 12/7/14
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lagniappe
reading table
Climb Mount Fuji,
O snail,
but slowly, slowly.—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828; translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
sounds of New York (day three)
If this life of ours isn’t easy, why should our music be?
Alex Mincek (1975-), String Quartet No. 3; Mivos Quartet, live, New York, 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
By Emily Dickinson (1830-1886; Franklin 384)
It dont sound so terrible—quite—as it did—
I run it over—”Dead”, Brain—”Dead”.
Put it in Latin—left of my school—
Seems it don’t shriek so—under rule.Turn it, a little—full in the face
A Trouble looks bitterest—
Shift it—just—
Say “When Tomorrow comes this way—
I shall have waded down one Day” .I suppose it will interrupt me some
Till I get accustomed—but then the Tomb
Like other new Things—shows largest—then—
And smaller, by Habit—It’s shrewder then
Put the Thought in advance—a Year—
How like “a fit”—then—
Murder—wear!
music clip of the day 