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Category: saxophone

2012

Wednesday, 4/4/12

Welcome to the maelstrom.

Miles Davis Group,* live, Berlin, 1973

Part 1: Turnaroundphrase

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Part 2: Turnaroundphrase, cont.; Tune in 5

*MD, trumpet; David Liebman, saxophone; Pete Cosey, guitar, percussion; Reggie Lucas, guitar; Michael Henderson, bass; Al Foster, drums; Mtume, percussion.

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lagniappe

reading table

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night as I slept,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.

—Antonio Mochado (1875-1939), “Last Night As I Was Sleeping” (translated from Spanish by Robert Bly)

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2012

Monday, 4/2/12

When we last saw Miles, playing in Germany in 1967, he was wearing a suit and tie. Here, two years later, his wardrobe is headed in a new direction. So is his music.

Miles Davis Quintet,* live, France (Antibes), 1969
“Milestones,” “Footprints,” “’Round Midnight”

*MD, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor and soprano saxophones; Chick Corea, electric piano; Dave Holland, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums.

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2012

Saturday, 3/17/12

Listening to this is like surfing: the trick is to catch a wave and ride it.

Charles Gayle Trio,* live, New York (Knitting Factory), 1996

Part 1

***

Part 2

***

Part 3

***

Part 4

More? Here.

*Charles Gayle (piano, tenor saxophone), Gerald Benson (bass), Gerald Cleaver (drums).

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2012

Tuesday, 3/13/12

Music doesn’t care who you are, where you come from, what you know. It asks only that you pay attention.

Stefan Wolpe (1902-1972), Piece in Three Parts for Piano and Sixteen Instruments (1961), Peter Serkin (piano), Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (Oliver Knussen, cond.)

More? Here.

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2012

Saturday, 3/10/12

Happy (109th) Birthday, Bix!

How many sonic experiences are as dizzying as the one offered this time each year by WKCR-FM (Columbia University)? First there’s 24 hours, straight, of Ornette. The next 24? Bix, Bix, Bix.

Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra (feat. Bix Beiderbecke, cornet), “There’ll Come A Time (Wait and See),” 1928

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lagniappe

found words

A distinctive psychiatric hospital

—advertisement, New Yorker, 3/5/12

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2012

Friday, 3/9/12

Happy (82nd) Birthday, Ornette!

Ornette Coleman Quartet with guests Joshua Redman (tenor saxophone), James Blood Ulmer (guitar), Charlie Haden (bass), live, Netherlands (North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam), 2010

Part 1

***

Part 2

***

Part 3

***

Part 4

***

Part 5

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lagniappe

radio

WKCR-FM (Columbia University): all Ornette, all day.

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2012

Thursday, 3/8/12

John Cage, Two (1987)

Live, Netherlands (Amsterdam), 2009
Dante Boon (piano), Rutger van Otterloo (soprano saxophone)

*****

Recording, 1991 (hat Art)
Marianne Schroeder (piano), Eberhard Blum (flute)

More? Here. And here.

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

Every something is an echo of nothing.

—John Cage, Silence (1961)

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2012

Monday, 3/5/12

Has there ever been a finer hour of jazz—of music—on TV?

The Sound of Jazz (CBS), 1957*

(A couple excerpts have been posted previously—here and here—but until the other day I’d never seen the whole show.)

*With Count Basie (piano), Thelonious Monk (piano), Billie Holiday (vocals), Jimmy Rushing (vocals), Coleman Hawkins (tenor saxophone), Ben Webster (tenor saxophone), Lester Young (tenor saxophone), Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone), Jimmy Giuffre (tenor saxophone, clarinet), Pee Wee Ellis (clarinet), Henry “Red” Allen (trumpet), Roy Eldridge (trumpet), Vic Dickenson (trombone), Danny Barker (guitar), Freddie Green (guitar), Jim Hall (guitar), Milt Hinton (bass), Jo Jones (drums), et al.

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2012

Thursday, 3/1/12

sounds of joy

Sex Mob,* live, New York (Iridium), 2004

Part 1

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Part 2

***

Part 3

*Steven Bernstein, slide trumpet; Briggan Krauss, alto saxophone; Tony Scherr, bass; Kenny Wollesen, drums

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2012

Monday, 2/27/12

protean, adj. 1. Of or resembling Proteus in having a varied nature or ability to assume different forms. 2. Displaying great diversity or variety. E.g., Miles Davis.

Miles Davis Quintet (MD, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Tony Williams, drums), “I Fall In Love Too Easily,” live, Germany (Karlsruhe), 1967

More? Here. And here. And here.

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lagniappe

last night

There’s something in nothing, and we’ll never know what it is.

—Susan Howe, poet, after a performance of Frolic Architecture with composer and musician David Grubbs at the University of Chicago’s Bond Chapel

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