Morton Feldman (1926-1987), Why Patterns?; California EAR Unit (Dorothy Stone, flute; Arthur Jarvinen, glockenspiel; Gaylord Mowrey, piano), 1991
His music makes so much use of space it seems to keep going even after the sounds have stopped.
Little Richard, Jerry Lee—they’ve got nothing on this gal.
Rev. Julius Cheeks (lead vocals), Marge Cheeks (piano), Knights of Washington, D.C., “Morning Train,” TV show (TV Gospel Time), early 1960s
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
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#2
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#3
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*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
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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
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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
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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
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lagniappe
radio
WKCR’s Bach Festival, now in its tenth day, concludes at midnight.
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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
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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
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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
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*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)
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lagniappe
Christmas, 1936
Fats Waller, “Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells” (1936)
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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
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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).
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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)
music clip of the day 