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Category: saxophone

2011

Friday, 9/16/11

Never heard of this guy?

You’re not alone.

But for serious mental illness, he would have been a big star.

 James Carr, singer, June 13, 1942-January 7, 2001

Live, “You Got My Mind Messed Up”

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Live, “Pouring Water on a Drowning Man”

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“The Dark End of the Street” (D. Penn & C. Moman), Goldwax, 1967

Vodpod videos no longer available.

What may be my favorite moment in this track is one that’s easy to miss; a throwaway, it comes at 1:37—the muted, fleeting “huhh.” The whole welter of emotions Carr brings to this performance—anxious, defiant, rueful, resigned—can be heard in this single syllable.

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2011

Wednesday, 9/14/11

Miles Davis Quintet (MD, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Tony Williams, drums), “Footprints” (W. Shorter), live, Sweden, 1967

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Time for just one note? 3:34. (Shorter’s entire solo is a marvel [1:54-3:54]: it’s as intimate and delicate as a dream.)

More? Here. And here.

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lagniappe

reading table

just the other day
we said goodbye . . .
dewy grave

—Kobayashi Issa, 1790s (trans. David G. Lanoue)

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2011

Thursday, 9/8/11

hearing colors, seeing sounds

John Coltrane, “Giant Steps,” excerpt (Giant Steps, Atlantic, 1970)
Animation by Michal Levy (2001)

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(Yo, Michael: Thanks for the tip!)

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lagniappe

Synesthesia is a rare neurological condition that leads stimulation in one sensory pathway to trigger an experience in another. Basically, a short-circuiting in the brain that enables such strange phenomena like perceiving letters and numbers as inherently colored (color-graphemic synesthesia) or hearing sounds in response to visual motion. More than 60 types of synesthesia have been identified, with one of the most common being the cross-sensory experience of color and sound — “hearing” color or “seeing” music.

Israeli artist and jazz musician Michal Levy . . .  is an actual synesthetic: When she listens to music, she sees shapes and colors as different tones, pitches, frequencies, harmonies, and other elements of the melody unfold.

—Maria Popova

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2011

Wednesday, 9/7/11

What’s surprising here isn’t that there are so many wonderful moments. Given the line-up, you’d expect that. What you wouldn’t expect is for these guys to sound so cohesive, as if they’d been playing together for years.

Sun Ra All Stars (SR, keyboards; Don Cherry, pocket trumpet, vocals; Lester Bowie, trumpet; Archie Shepp, tenor saxophone, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone; Marshall Allen, alto saxophone, percussion; Philly Joe Jones, drums; Clifford Jarvis, drums; Famadou Don Moye, drums, percussion), live, Germany (Berlin), 1983

Vodpod videos no longer available.

More Sun Ra? Here. And here. And here.

More Don Cherry? Here. And here. And here.

More Lester Bowie? Here. And here. And here. And here.

More Archie Shepp? Here.

More Philly Joe Jones? Here. And here.

More Famadou Don Moye? Here. And here.

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2011

Monday, 8/29/11

Happy Birthday, Bird!

Charlie Parker, alto saxophonist, August 29, 1920-March 12, 1955

According to Miles Davis, the history of jazz can be summarized in four words: Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker.

Charlier Parker & Dizzy Gillespie, “Hot House,” live (TV broadcast), 1952

(Originally posted 10/17/09.)

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lagniappe

radio

WKCR-FM’s Lester Young/Charlie Parker birthday marathon runs until midnight—today’s all Bird.

*****

musical thoughts

Don’t play the saxophone. Let it play you.

—Charlie Parker

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2011

Saturday, 8/27/11

Happy Birthday, Lester!

Lester Young, tenor saxophonist, August 27, 1909-March 15, 1959

Lester Young (ts) with Carl “Tatti” Smith (trumpet), Count Basie (piano), Walter Page (bass), Jo Jones (drums) (10/9/36, Chicago)

“Oh, Lady Be Good”

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“Shoe Shine Boy”

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More? Here. And here.

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lagniappe

radio: 72 glorious hours

Assuming Irene doesn’t crash the party, the folks at WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)* will be playing Lester Young all day today and into tomorrow, when, at some point, they’ll make the transition to Charlie Parker, whose birthday is Monday. As I wrote last year: “Something happens—something delicious—when you surrender your ears and yourself to someone’s music for such a sustained period of time. Little by little, that musician moves in, taking up residence in your brain. Their distinctive voice becomes, for a time, inseparable from everything else you’re hearing and seeing and thinking and feeling.”

*Later note (2:45 p.m. [CST]): When I just checked, their website seemed to be down; you can also get them via iTunes (radio/college).

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2011

Thursday, 8/25/11

Does anyone have more fun than drummers?

Sonny Rollins/Don Cherry Quartet (SR, tenor saxophone; DC, trumpet; Henry Grimes, bass; Billy Higgins, drums), “52nd Street Theme” (T. Monk), live (TV broadcast), Rome, 1962

Vodpod videos no longer available.

More Sonny Rollins? Here. And here. And here. And here. And here.

More Don Cherry? Here. And here.

More Billy Higgins? Here.

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lagniappe

You know the drum was the first instrument besides the human voice.

—Billy Higgins

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2011

Monday, 8/22/11

Need to chase away those Monday morning blues?

You’ve come to the right place.

TBC (To Be Continued) Brass Band
Live, Satchmo Second Line Parade, New Orleans, 8/7/11

With Sidewalk Steppers

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With Undefeated Divas, Sudan Social Aid and Pleasure Club

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More? Here.


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2011

Friday, 8/19/11

sounds of Nigeria

Fela Kuti, live (filmed by Ginger Baker), Nigeria (Calabar), 1971

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More? Here.

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lagniappe

art beat: yesterday at Chicago’s Art Institute

Oda Kazuma, Catching Whitebait at Nakaumi, Izumo (1924)

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Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1953-54

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reading table

. . . life, that storm before the calm.

—Wislawa Szymborska, from “Negative” (trans. Clare Cavanagh & Stanislaw Baranczak, Monologue of a Dog [2006])

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2011

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Happy Birthday (Again), Pops!

During his life, Louis Armstrong’s birthday was believed to be July 4, 1900, but, as it turned out, that was a year and a month off—the actual date was August 4, 1901. Given the circumstances, WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University) does the only sensible thing: they celebrate both days, playing nothing but Pops 24 hours straight.

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(an occasional series)

According to Miles Davis, the history of jazz can be told in four words:
here are the first two.

Louis Armstrong, “Dinah,” live, Copenhagen, 1933

(Originally posted January 15, 2010.)

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