Thirty-seven years ago, at a church outside Chicago, my wife Suzanne and I were married. Saxophonist Von Freeman and pianist John Young played at the ceremony.* Afterward, at the nearby reception hall, this guy tickled the ivories. All three are now gone.
Blind John Davis (1913-1985), live, Canada, early ’80s
#1
***
#2
***
#3
*****
*Here’s how they sounded that night. (Give it a few seconds.)
passings
Roy Campbell Jr., trumpeter, September 29, 1952-January 9, 2014
Live (RC, pocket trumpet; Rasul Siddik, trumpet; Jobic Le Masson, piano; Aldridge Hansberry, drums), Paris, 2006
**********
lagniappe
reading table
In the dirty city
one rare glimpse—
mountain moon—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694, translated from Japanese by David Young)
another take
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27, No. 2; Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950), piano
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Things didn’t have to be this way: you could have been born into a world without music.
Something quiet, and lyrical, and beautiful to begin the year.
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Nocturne in D-flat major, Op. 27, No. 2; Shura Cherkassky (1909-1995), piano, 1956
**********
lagniappe
reading table
year after year—
the monkey wearing
a monkey’s mask—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), New Year’s Day, 1693 (translated from Japanese by David Landis Barnhill)
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach, Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826; Martha Argerich, piano, live, Switzerland (Verbier Festival), 2008
**********
lagniappe
radio
WKCR’s Bach Festival, now in its tenth day, concludes at midnight.
*****
reading table
Those who love their own noise are impatient of everything else. . . . Our noise, our business, our purposes, and all our fatuous statements about our purposes, our business, and our noise: these are the illusion.
—Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island
*****
no passport needed
This year folks from ninety-five countries stopped by to listen. Welcome, all.
Last night this woman, who died of cancer in 2006, was very much alive, singing Bach on the radio.*
Johann Sebastian Bach, “Ich Habe Genug” (“I Have Enough,” church cantata), Lorraine Hunt Lieberson (1954-2006), 2003
**********
lagniappe
Christmas, 1948
Charlie Parker (alto saxophone), Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Al Haig (piano), Tommy Porter (bass), Max Roach (drums), “White Christmas,” live, New York (Royal Roost), 12/25/48
*****
*WKCR-FM (Columbia University), Bach Festival, through New Year’s Eve.
passings
Larry Lujack, disc jockey, June 6, 1940-December 18, 2013
Live, WCFL-AM (Chicago), 12/23/72 (not ’73)
**********
lagniappe
Christmas, 1936
Fats Waller, “Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells” (1936)
*****
random thoughts
Sometimes I feel like a TV that works only on certain channels.
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach, Goldberg Variations (excerpts); Glenn Gould (piano), live, 1964
**********
lagniappe
radio: Bach Festival 2013
If, like me, you can’t get enough Bach, you’re in luck. Tonight through New Year’s Eve, it’s all Bach all the time at WKCR-FM (Columbia University).
*****
reading table
One, seven, three, five—
Nothing to rely on in this or any world;
Nighttime falls and the water is flooded with moonlight.
Here in the Dragon’s jaws:
Many exquisite jewels.—Setcho Juken (980-1052)
Something beautiful to begin the week.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, excerpt (2nd movt., Adagio); Hélène Grimaud (piano), Bavarian Radio Chamber Orchestra
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
It is music and dancing that makes me at peace with the world and at peace with myself.
—Nelson Mandela (July 18, 1918-December 5, 2013)
passings
Jim Hall, guitarist, December 4, 1930-December 10, 2013
With Joe Lovano (tenor saxophone), “In a Sentimental Mood” (D. Ellington), live, Italy (Umbria Jazz Festival), 1996
***
With Bill Evans (piano), Undercurrent (“My Funny Valentine,” “I Hear a Rhapsody,” “Dream Gypsy,” “Romain,” “Skating in Central Park,” “Darn that Dream,” “Stairway to the Stars,” “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You”), 1962
When I was in college in the early ’70s, this album was a frequent late-night companion. Since then I’ve listened to it more times than I could count. It never grows old.
music clip of the day 