piano | music clip of the day

Thursday, June 13th

Speaking of Bach, last night, as I was working on the closing argument I’ll be giving today in a federal bribery-conspiracy trial, it was a great joy—and a great comfort—to be able to listen to this.

Johann Sebastian Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I; Andrei Gavrilov (piano), playing and talking (Preludes & Fugues Nos. 1-12); Joanna MacGregor (piano), playing and talking (Preludes & Fugues Nos. 13-24); TV (BBC), 2000

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lagniappe

reading table

[L]istening to music for an hour or two every evening doesn’t deprive me of the silence—the music is the silence coming true.

—Philip Roth, The Human Stain

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2013

Tuesday, June 11th

two takes

“Lulu’s Back In Town” (H. Warren & A. Dubin)

Fats Waller, recording, 1935

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Thelonious Monk Quartet (TM, piano; Charlie Rouse, tenor saxophone; Larry Gales, bass; Ben Riley, drums), live (TV studio), Norway (Oslo), 1960

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

A note can be as small as a pin or as big as the world. It depends on your imagination.

—Thelonious Monk

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2013

Monday, June 10th

old stuff

This I could listen to all day.

Fats Waller (1904-1943), “Numb Fumbling,” 1929

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lagniappe

reading table

Two of us
brush painting in turn;
autumn night.

—Ryokan, 1758-1831 (translated from Japanese by Kazuaki Tanahashi [Sky Above, Great Wind: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan])

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2013

Thursday, June 6th

Most musicians are no more able than anyone else to talk about what they do in ways that are fresh and absorbing. This guy, to these ears, is something rare: a compelling player who is, as well, a provocative thinker and talker.

Vijay Iyer (piano), playing and talking, 2010

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2013

Tuesday, June 4th

alone

Cecil Taylor, piano, live, Germany (Nürnberg), 1984

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2013

Monday, June 3rd

alone

Matthew Shipp, piano, “Greensleeves,” “Symbol Systems,” 2012

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2013

Thursday, May 23rd

Some singers are so distinctive that when you’re in the mood for them no one else will do.

Blossom Dearie (1924-2009), “They Say It’s Spring,” 1958*

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lagniappe

reading table: Albion Beatnik Bookstore, Oxford, England

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*BD, vocals, piano; Herb Ellis, guitar; Ray Brown, bass; Jo Jones, drums.

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2013

Monday, May 20th

two takes

“Take Five” (P. Desmond)

Ceramic Dog (Marc Ribot, guitar; Shahzad Ismaily, bass & percussion; Ches Smith, drums), live, Netherlands (Amsterdam), 2013

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Dave Brubeck Quartet (DB, piano; Paul Desmond, alto saxophone; Eugene Wright, bass; Joe Morello, drums), live, Germany, 1966

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lagniappe

art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Bullfinch and Weeping Cherry Tree, 1834

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2013

Saturday, May 11th

Here, following Hélène Grimaud’s the other day and Rudolf Serkin’s a while back, is another take.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110, third movement, Maurizio Pollini (1942-), live

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lagniappe

reading table

I stepped from Plank to Plank
A slow and cautious way
The Stars about my Head I felt
About my Feet the Sea.

I knew not but the next
Would be my final inch —
This gave me that precarious Gait
Some call Experience.

—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)