Saturday, April 16th
like nobody else
Betty Carter (1929-1998), live, Montreal, 1982
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lagniappe
random sights
Tuesday, Oak Park, Ill.
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Today
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: piano
2016
2016
Friday, April 8th
sounds of New York
Some of the most kinetic, exciting, enlivening sounds I’ve heard in a while.
Farmers by Nature (Craig Taborn, piano; William Parker, bass; Gerald Cleaver, drums), live, New York, 4/4/16
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Martin Puryear, Maquette for Bearing Witness (1994) (Multiple Dimensions, through May 1st)
2016
Tuesday, March 29th
In a hurry?
Better go somewhere else.
Want to step outside of time?
You’ve come to the right place.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Piano Sonata No. 18 (G major, D. 894); Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997), live
Tried listening to this last night while working on a criminal appeal. Couldn’t. Work waited.
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2016
Saturday, March 19th
like nobody else
Cecil Taylor Unit (CT, piano, vocal, percussion; Jimmy Lyons, alto saxophone, percussion; William Parker, bass, percussion; Rashid Bakr, percussion; Andre Martinez, percussion; Brenda Bakr, vocal) with dancers (Doretha Davidson, Leon Brown, Ron McKay, Pauline Zaguhei), live, Germany (Berlin), 1983
2016
Wednesday, March 16th
sounds of joy
Instant Composers Pool (ICP) Orchestra, “Lavoro” (S. Bergin, borrowing from “Moten Swing”), live, Amsterdam, 2013
Joyful? Yes. But sad, too. Pianist (and cofounder) Misha Mengelberg’s encroaching dementia, which has since sidelined him altogether, provides a poignant counterpoint.
2016
Tuesday, March 15th
riveting
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 32; Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997), live, Moscow, 1975
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lagniappe
reading table
Everyone’s journey
through this world is the same,
so I won’t complain.
Here on the plains of Nasu,
I place my trust in the dew.—Sōgi (1421-1502), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill
2016
Monday, March 14th
sounds of 1926
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Prelude No. 15 (“Raindrop”); Ignaz Friedman (1882-1948), piano, 1926
*****
Bessie Smith (1894-1937), “Young Woman’s Blues,” 1926
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lagniappe
reading table
Whatever it is,
I cannot understand it,
although gratitude
stubbornly overcomes me
until I’m reduced to tears.—Saigyō (1118-1190), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill
2016
Wednesday, March 9th
Who needs coffee?
Johnny Griffin Quartet (JG, tenor saxophone; Ronnie Matthews, piano; Ray Drummond, bass; Kenny Washington, drums), live, New York, 1981
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lagniappe
reading table
when cherry blossoms
scatter . . .
no regrets—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David Lanoue
2016
Tuesday, March 8th
sounds of joy
Tenor saxophonists Arnett Cobb (1918-1989; 00:44-), Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis (1922-1986; 02:32-), Johnny Griffin (1928-2008; 04:34-), “Lester Leaps In” (L. Young), live, Netherlands (Laren), 1984
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lagniappe
reading table
Even in the midst of trials and tribulations we still have joy.
—Pastor Norvel Goff, Sr., Sunday service, Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston, S.C., 2015 (New Yorker, 9/28/15)
2016
Saturday, March 5th
This sound-world I could inhabit, happily, all weekend.
Gérard Grisey (1946-1998), Vortex Temporum (1994-96)
Ensemble Sonorama, live, Argentina (Buenos Aires), 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
When we recognize we ‘think again’
without knowing what or if
we thought before.—Rae Armantrout, “Fusion,” excerpt (New Yorker, 3/7/16)
music clip of the day 