Monday, September 21st
drum fest
day one
Gebhard Ullmann (tenor saxophone), Steve Swell (trombone), Hilliard Greene (bass), Barry Altschul (drums), “Planet Hopping on a Thursday Afternoon” (S. Swell), live, Germany (Bernbeuren), 2010
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: saxophone
2015
Saturday, September 19th
voices I miss
Lester Bowie’s New York Organ Ensemble (LB [1941-1999, MCOTD Hall of Fame], trumpet; Frank Lacy, trombone; James Carter, tenor saxophone; Spencer Barefield, guitar; Kathy Farmer, organ; Famoudou Don Moye, drums), live, Spain (Madrid), 1992
Time for just one?
Try “Somewhere” (L. Bernstein, S. Sondheim), 11:45-.
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lagniappe
art beat
Vivian Maier (1926-2009), Chicago (Maxwell Street), 1967
2015
Wednesday, September 2nd
tenor fest
day three
Sonny Rollins Trio (with Henry Grimes, bass; Joe Harris, drums), “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” (E. K. “Duke” Ellington), live, Sweden, 1959
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lagniappe
reading table
frogs sing, roosters sing
the east
turns light—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
2015
Tuesday, September 1st
tenor fest
day two
Von Freeman (MCOTD Hall of Fame), live, New Apartment Lounge, Chicago
2010
***
2008
*****
Von Freeman, who was considered one of the finest tenor saxophonists in jazz but attained wide fame only late in life, died on Aug. 11 in Chicago. He was 88.
—New York Times obituary, 8/18/12
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lagniappe
reading table
A wounded Deer – leaps highest –
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #181 (Franklin)
2015
Monday, August 31st
tenor fest
day one
Dexter Gordon (1923-1990), “Blues Up and Down” (G. Ammons, S. Stitt), live, Denmark, 1967*
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lagniappe
reading table
Withered grass,
under piling
heat waves.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto
*****
*With Kenny Drew, piano; Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, bass; Albert “Tootie” Heath, drums.
2015
Friday, August 21st
like nobody else
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935-1977), live, Paris, 1970
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Chicago Cultural Center
Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist (through 8/31)
Black Belt, 1934
2015
Monday, August 17th
another take
These guys I could listen to all day.
Steve Lacy Quartet (SL [1934-2004], soprano saxophone; Bobby Few, piano; Jean Jacques Avenel, bass; John Betsch, drums), “Revenue,” live, 1995
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lagniappe
reading table
Escape is such a thankful Word
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #1364 (Franklin)
2015
Saturday, August 15th
How about a trip to Paris?
Steve Lacy Trio (SL [1934-2004], soprano saxophone; Jean Jacques Avenel, bass; John Betsch, drums), “Epistrophy” (T. Monk), “Revenue,” live, Paris (Sunset Jazz Club), 1993
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lagniappe
reading table
A gentleman of the better type is, in our opinion, only he who entertains a fair number of vain and foolish ideas about himself, and who above all imagines that his nose is better than any other good and sensible human nose whatsoever.
—Robert Walser (1878-1956), “The Walk” (translated from German by Christopher Middleton)
2015
Saturday, August 8th
tonight in Chicago
These guys are playing at Constellation.
Trio 3 (Oliver Lake, alto saxophone; Reggie Workman, bass; Andrew Cyrille, drums), live, c. 2008
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lagniappe
random thoughts: riding my bicycle
After a while, there’s no bicycle. No me. Only riding.
music clip of the day 