sounds of Chicago
DJ Mike Dunn, live, Chicago (Gramaphone Records), 2015
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Yeah, everybody’s got a bomb
We could all die any day,
But before I’ll let that happen
I’ll dance my life away.—Prince, “1999”
Sometimes the best of what’s new is old.
Betty Davis, “Down Home Girl” (Miles Davis & Teo Macero, prods.; John McLaughlin [guitar], Herbie Hancock [keyboards], Harvey Brooks [bass], Mitch Mitchell [drums]), 6/28/16 (rec. 1969)
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday, Art Institute of Chicago
From Thirteen Laughing at Each Other, Juan Muñoz (1953-2001), through 10/5/16
Happy Fourth!
Let’s celebrate by remembering three giants.
Ralph Stanley, singer, banjo player, February 25, 1927-June 23, 2016
“Little Maggie,” live (TV show), Austin, Tx., 1980
*****
Bernie Worrell, keyboard player, April 19, 1944-June 24, 2016
Live (with George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic), Switzerland (Montreux Jazz Festival), 2004
*****
Scotty Moore, guitar player, December 27, 1931-June 28, 2016
“Blue Suede Shoes” (with Elvis Presley), live, 1956
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lagniappe
radio
Today, Louis Armstrong’s adopted birthday, it’s all Louis all day at WKCR (Columbia University).
what’s new
Wyclef Jean, “Hendrix,” 6/17/16
sounds of New Orleans
Professor Longhair (1918-1980), live, New Orleans (Riverboat President, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival), 1979*
*****
*Set list (courtesy of YouTube):
1. Mess Around
2. Every Day I Have The Blues
3. Big Chief
4. Mardi Gras In New Orleans
5. Tipitina
6. How Long (Has That Train Been Gone)
7. Got My Mojo Working
Vancouver folkie + iconic Memphis rhythm section.
This should never have worked.
But it does, wonderfully.
Frazey Ford, “September Fields” (Indian Ocean), 2014
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lagniappe
reading table
The climate is pretty.
I wrote everything on it.
That’s the activity where it
gets relatively inauspicious.***
And you were sitting there
in the night of life. It sure was good.
My favorite desserts were there.
And when they invite you, it’s like an important document
goes missing. I’ll give you an example:
a twelve-year struggle upstate, in
the slick atmosphere of the breakfast room.
It might have gotten stuck in her farthingale.Otherwise no reply.
—John Ashbery (1927-), “As Someone Who Likes Travel,” fragments (New Yorker, 5/30/16)
To read Ashbery is to read English as a foreign language—which I mean as a compliment.
more Prince
“I Wanna Be Your Lover,” live, Capitol Theatre (Passaic, N.J.), 1982
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lagniappe
reading table
Whatever we’re dealing with catches us
in mid-reconsideration. It’s beautiful,
my lord, just not made to be repeated,
that’s all.***
It was a moment, what can I say.
—John Ashbery (1927-), Breezeway (2015), fragments (“A Breakfast Radish,” “Domani, Dopodomani”)
more Prince
With Miles Davis, live, Paisley Park (Chanhassen, Minn.), 12/31/87
passings
Lonnie Mack, guitarist, singer, songwriter, July 18, 1941-April 21, 2016
“Memphis” (C. Berry), 1963
***
“She Don’t Come Here Anymore,” 1966
***
“Farther on Down the Road,” live (with Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan), New York (Carnegie Hall), 1985
passings
Prince, singer, songwriter, master of all (musical) trades, June 7, 1958-April 21, 2016
Today, remembering him, we revisit a post from last year.
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With all he does, this can get lost: on guitar, he’s a killer.
Cee Lo Green, “Crazy,” live (with Prince, guitar), New York, 2011
***
Stevie Wonder, “Superstition,” live (with Prince, guitar), Paris, 2010
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lagniappe
reading table
I am alive—I guess—
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #605 (Franklin), first line
music clip of the day 