Tuesday, November 17th
Where would we be without the tenor saxophone?
David S. Ware Quartet (DSW [1949-2012], tenor saxophone; Matthew Shipp, piano; William Parker, bass; Guillermo Brown, drums), live
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: piano
2015
Thursday, November 12th
Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Preludes, Book 1, Nos. 1-7, 9-11; Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997), piano, live
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I am not a complete idiot, but whether from weakness or laziness have no talent for thinking. I know only how to reflect: I am a mirror . . . Logic does not exist for me. I float on the waves of art and life and never really know how to distinguish what belongs to the one or the other or what is common to both. Life unfolds for me like a theatre presenting a sequence of somewhat unreal sentiments; while the things of art are real to me and go straight to my heart.
2015
Wednesday, November 11th
passings
Allen Toussaint, songwriter, arranger, producer, singer, pianist, January 14, 1938-November 10, 2015
“Tipitina and Me,” 2005 (Our New Orleans)
2015
Tuesday, November 10th
One-word review: Wow!
Nicole Mitchell’s Sonic Projections (NM, flute; David Boykin, tenor saxophone; Craig Taborn, piano; Chad Taylor, drums), live, New York, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: Sunday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946), An Icy Night, New York, 1898 (Alfred Stieglitz and the 19th Century, through 3/27/16)
2015
Sunday, November 8th
regal, adj. Characteristic of or resembling a monarch; splendid, magnificent, stately; distinguished. E.g., Mahalia Jackson.
Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972), “These Are They,” live (TV show), 1956 (Rejoice and Shout [2010], commentary by Smokey Robinson and Anthony Heilbut)
2015
Friday, November 6th
voices I miss
Albert Collins (1932-1993), “If Trouble Was Money,” live, 1990
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2015
Thursday, November 5th
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Twelve Little Preludes
Tatiana Nikolayeva (1924-1993), piano
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Lurie Garden)
2015
Saturday, October 24th
tonight in Chicago
They’ll be playing at the University of Chicago.
Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet (WLS, trumpet; Anthony Davis, piano; John Lindberg, bass; Pheeroan akLaff, drums; with Jesse Gilbert, video artist), “Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 381 Days” (W. L. Smith), live, Spain (San Sebastian), 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), A Red Plum Branch against the Summer Moon
c. mid-1840s
2015
Monday, October 19th
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Preludes, Book 1, No. 2 (“Voiles”); Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (1920-1995), piano, live (studio performance)
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
When he plays something it sounds like he’ll never play it again.
—Miles Davis, speaking of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli
(I’m taking a break—back in a while.)
2015
Thursday, October 15th
3n
Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006), Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano (1982); Tomas Major (violin), Zora Sloka (horn), Denes Varjon (piano), 2009
#1
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#2
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lagniappe
reading table
This World is not conclusion.
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #373 (Franklin)
music clip of the day 