Something small, quiet, mysterious for this most unimaginable day.
Erik Satie (1866-1925), Gnossienne 1 (c. 1890); Alessio Nanni, piano
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lagniappe
reading table
The only choice we get is what to worship.
—David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), This Is Water
timeless
Sleepy John Estes (1899-1977), “Diving Duck Blues” (with James “Yank” Rachell, mandolin; Jab Jones, piano), recorded September 24, 1929 (Memphis)
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Whitney Museum of American Art (Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016, through February 5th)
Edwin S. Porter, Coney Island at Night (1905)
sounds of New York
Aaron Burnett’s Big Machine (AB, tenor saxophone, compositions; Peter Evans, trumpet, Carlos Homs, piano; Nicholas Joswiak, bass; Tyshawn Sorey, drums), live, New York, 11/30/16
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, The Guggenheim (New York)
Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944), Painting with White Border, 1913
two takes
“What a Wonderful World” (B. Thiele & G.D. Weiss)
George Adams (1940-1992; tenor saxophone) & Don Pullen (1941-1995; piano), live, Japan (Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival), 1989
***
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971), live (TV show), England, 1967
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)
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what we’re about to lose
Michelle Obama, speaking to a gathering of school counselors at the White House (excerpt), yesterday
Our glorious diversity—our diversities of faiths, and colors, and creeds—that is not a threat to who we are; it makes us who we are.
sounds of New York
This guy’s one of my favorite alto players and composers.
Tim Berne’s Almost Human (TB, alto saxophone, composition; Matt Mitchell, piano; Dan Weiss, drums), live, New York, 12/14/16
#1
***
#2
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Goldberg Variations (excerpt); Glenn Gould (1932-1982), piano, live (studio performance), 1981
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lagniappe
radio
Bach Festival, WKCR-FM (see 12/22/16 post): Day Six.
Chicago blues
day three
Otis Rush (1935-; vocal, guitar) with Fred Below (1926-1988; drums), et al., “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” live, East Berlin, 1966
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Here’s the original 1956 recording.
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lagniappe
reading table
On the first page of the course syllabus [for the class, taught at Columbia, on “The American Radical Tradition”], I always included the words of Max Weber, a rebuke to those who believe that critics of society should set their sights only on “practical” measures: “What is possible would never have been achieved if, in this world, people had not repeatedly reached for the impossible.”
—Eric Foner, “American Radicals and the Change We Could Believe In,” The Nation, January 2-9, 2017 issue
Sometimes I want to hear something that will quicken my pulse; sometimes I want something that will slow it—like this, for instance, which I heard the other night in Chicago, played by the group for whom it was written (a.pe.ri.od.ic). One sound . . . another . . . another . . .
Jürg Frey (1953-), Fragile Balance (2014), excerpt; Ensemble Grizzana (Jürg Frey, clarinet; Mira Benjamin, violin; Richard Craig, flute; Emma Richards, viola; Philip Thomas, piano; Seth Woods, cello); 2015
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lagniappe
reading table
Winter seclusion—
sitting propped against
the same worn post—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill (The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets)
Happy Thanksgiving!
What am I thankful for?
That I live in a world of sound.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Piano Sonata in B-flat major, 2nd movt.; Ivan Moravec (1930-2015), live, Princeton, N.J., 1993
passings
Leon Russell, singer, songwriter, piano player, April 2, 1942-November 13, 2016
“His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (C. Martin, C. Gabriel), 2013*
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*Recorded in tribute to Sherman Halsey (video director and producer, artist manager).
music clip of the day 