Wednesday, March 27th
sounds of Chicago
Jimmy Yancey (1894-1951), “How Long Blues”
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lagniappe
random sights
today, Chicago
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: piano
2019
Monday, March 4th
No one fired up this pianist—one of the most influential in the history of jazz—like this drummer.
Bill Evans Trio (BE [1929-1980], piano; Philly Joe Jones [1923-1985], drums; Marc Johnson [1953-], bass), “Nardis” (M. Davis), live, Italy (Umbria), 1978
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lagniappe
reading table
How many poems have gotten so much attention with so few words?
so much depends
upona red wheel
barrowglazed with rain
waterbeside the white
chickens—William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), “The Red Wheelbarrow”
2019
Thursday, February 21st
another take
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Prelude in C-sharp minor (Op. 45); Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995), live, Italy (Prato), 1967
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
[N]ow Miles [Davis] was relaxed and pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli was sending him into several shades of ecstasy.
‘Listen to those trills!’ Miles ordered.
—1961 interview, The Miles Davis Reader
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random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Wednesday, February 6th
timeless
Fats Waller (1904-1943, piano, vocals), “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” (F. E. Ahlert, J. Young), 1935
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Chicago (Monadnock Building, 1891-93)
2019
Monday, February 4th
If told you had a week to live, what recordings would you want to listen to in your waning days? This, for me, would be one.
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), 24 Preludes (Op. 28); Alfred Cortot (1877-1962), piano, 1933/34
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Saturday, February 2nd
what’s new
Quinsin Nachoff’s Flux (QN, tenor saxophone, composition; David Binney, alto saxophone; Matt Mitchell, piano, keyboards, modular synthesizer; Nat Wood, drums; with guest Jason Barnsely, 1924 Kimball theatre organ), “Bounce,” video by Lee Hutzulak, 1/14/19
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Saturday, January 26th
timeless
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Prelude in C-sharp minor (Op. 45); Alfred Cortot (1877-1962), piano, 1949
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lagniappe
random sights
today, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Thursday, January 24th
This I could listen to all day.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987, MCOTD Hall of Fame), Palais de Mari (1986); Blair McMillen (piano) and Ryan Olivier (video processing), live, Philadelphia, 2014
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
My obsession with surface is the subject of my music. In that sense, my compositions are really not ‘compositions’ at all. One might call them time canvases in which I more or less prime the canvas with an overall hue of the music.
—Morton Feldman, “Between Categories” (Give My Regards to Eighth Street)
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random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2019
Wednesday, January 16th
what’s new
Tim Berne (alto saxophone), Matt Mitchell (piano), Dave King (drums), live, New York, 1/7/19
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lagniappe
reading table
in my thatched hut
even dreaming
the cold—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
2019
Monday, January 14th
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
Tarkovsky Quartet (François Couturier, piano; Anja Lechner, cello; Jean-Marc Larché, soprano saxophone; Jean-Louis Matinier, accordion), “Nuit blanche,” 2017
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lagniappe
reading table
I prefer winter . . . when you feel the bone structure of the landscape . . . . Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.
—painter Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), Times Literary Supplement, 11/23/18
music clip of the day 