Saturday, July 5th
passings
Alfred Brendel, pianist, writer, January 5, 1931-June 17, 2025
Live, Austria (Vienna), 1979: Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), Toccata K.287 (1921)
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: piano
2025
Tuesday, April 22nd
Happy (103rd) Birthday, Charles!
Charles Mingus Sextet (CM, 4/22/1922–1/5/1979, bass, compositions; Eric Dolphy, 1928-1964, alto saxophone; Clifford Jordan, 1931-1993, tenor saxophone; Johnny Coles, 1925-1987, trumpet; Jaki Byard, 1922-1999, piano; Dannie Richmond, 1931-1988, drums), live, Belgium,* Norway,** Sweden,*** 1964
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR-FM (Columbia University): all Mingus, all day.
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* “So Long Eric,” “Peggy’s Blue Skylight,” “Meditations on Integration”
** “So Long Eric,” “Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk,” “Parkeriana,” “Take The ‘A’ Train”
*** “So Long Eric” (performance and rehearsal), “Meditations on Integration” (performance and rehearsal)
2025
Tuesday, March 25th
sounds of 1940
Raymond Scott And His Orchestra (feat. Walter Gross, piano), “Creepy Weepy” (R. Scott), 1940
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Illinois
2025
Wednesday, March 19th
timeless
Ignaz Friedman (1882-1948), piano, 1936: Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Nocturne No. 16 (E-flat major, Op. 55, No. 2)
2025
Monday, January 27th
Need a break from the unceasing cacophony?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Adagio in B Minor (K. 540); Grigory Sokolov (1950-, piano), live, Spain (San Sebastián), 2023
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
2025
Wednesday, January 22nd
my back pages
On a cold, snowy night forty-eight years ago, at a church thirty miles north of Chicago, my wife, Suzanne, and I were married. Tenor saxophonist Von Freeman (1923-2012, MCOTD Hall of Fame) and pianist John Young (1922-2008) provided the music, playing before the ceremony (“Over the Rainbow,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “More”); during (Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” [unaccompanied saxophone], as Suzanne walked down the aisle), and after (“My Favorite Things,” “Song for My Father”). All of what they played that night can be heard here (0:14-).
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
2024
Thursday, December 19th
like nobody else
Cecil Taylor (1929-2018, piano), live, Washington, D.C., 1978
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago), Day of the Dead exhibit
2024
Saturday, November 23rd
what’s new
Elisabeth Harnik (piano), Joe Morris (guitar), live, Austria (Wels), 11/9/24
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lagniappe
reading table
High over the dark
shadows of Pine Islands, a
skylark breaks into song—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from the Japanese by Sam Hamill
2024
Monday, November 18th
serendipity
Bumped into this last night. Couldn’t take my ears off it. One of the finest performances of Bach’s keyboard music I’ve heard.
Johann Sebastian Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, No. 1-12
Sara Daneshpour (piano), 2024
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
2024
Friday, November 8th
never enough
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Prelude No. 15 (“Raindrop”); Daniil Trifonov (1991-), piano
music clip of the day 