Wednesday, March 18th
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.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: New York
2015
2015
Sunday, January 25th
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
2015
Friday, January 23rd
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
2015
Wednesday, January 21st
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.
2015
Tuesday, January 20th
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.
2014
Thursday, December 18th
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)
2014
Thursday, December 4th
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!
2014
Wednesday, December 3rd
sounds of New York (day two)
Here, as in the city itself, density and spaciousness coexist.
Tim Berne’s Cornered,* “Embraceable Me,” live, New York, 10/12/14
*TB, alto saxophone; Oscar Noriega, clarinets; Ryan Ferreira, guitar; Matt Mitchell, piano; Michael Formanek, bass; Ches Smith, drums, vibraphone.
2014
Tuesday, December 2nd
sounds of New York (day one)
Tamio Shiraishi, live, New York, 10/12/14
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lagniappe
reading table
Even in Kyoto—
hearing the cuckoo’s cry—
I long for Kyoto.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694; translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
2014
Wednesday, November 12th
two takes
“A Little Lost” (A. Russell)
Sufjan Stevens (1975-), 2014
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Arthur Russell (1951-1992)
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, 1940s
