saxophone | music clip of the day

Category: saxophone

2010

Saturday, 12/18/10

Captain Beefheart (AKA Don Van Vliet), January 5, 1941–December 17, 2010

replay: a clip too good for just one day

For some people, going their own way seems to be the only way they could possibly go.

Captain Beefheart (AKA Don Van Vliet)

The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart (BBC Documentary, 1997)

Part 1

*****

Part 2

*****

Part 3

*****

Part 4

*****

Part 5

*****

Part 6

**********

lagniappe

Don’t you think that somebody like Stravinsky . . . it would annoy him if somebody bent a note the wrong way?

—Captain Beefheart

*****

About the seventh or eighth time [I listened to Trout Mask Replica], I thought it was the greatest album ever made—and I still do.

—Matt Groening

*****

art beat

Paintings by Don Van Vliet

**********

(Originally posted 3/6/10.)

Having posted this, I’m going to return to the break I mentioned the other day—back soon.

Leave a comment

2010

Saturday, 12/11/10

The older you get, the more time you don’t have.

—James Moody

James Moody, March 26, 1925-December 9, 2010

“Easy Living” (with Barry Harris, piano; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Alan Dawson, drums), 1969 (I have no idea why, but this track, on my Mac, seems to play much better with Safari than Firefox.)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

With Moody, it’s all meat—there’s nothing superfluous.

Want more? Here.

**********

lagniappe

radio

WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University) pays tribute to Moody through noon (EST) today.

Leave a comment

2010

Thursday, 12/9/10

Some music asks nothing more than to be a source of delight.

Wim Mertens Ensemble, “Maximizing the Audience,” live, Spain (Madrid), 1998

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Leave a comment

2010

Tuesday, 12/7/10

The history of jazz, I once thought (like a lot of folks), is a story of progress. The shift from swing to bebop, for example, wasn’t simply a change; it was an advance. What bunk.

Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, “Swinging in Harlem,” 1938

Leave a comment

2010

Monday, 12/6/10

Here’s more from the city that does death like no other.

Funeral for Juanita Brooks, New Orleans, 2009

Vodpod videos no longer available.

**********

lagniappe

Here’s a taste of the Syl Johnson show I recently saw.

Syl Johnson, “Same Kind of Thing,” live, Chicago, 11/27/10

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Leave a comment

2010

Thursday, 12/2/10

Memphis.

1953.

A little studio—Memphis Recording Service—over on Union Avenue.

Little Junior Parker, “Feel So Bad” (1953), “Sittin’ at the Bar” (1954), Sun Records, Memphis

**********

lagniappe

I’d like to dedicate this song to Little Junior Parker, a cousin of mine who’s gone on, but we’d like to kind of carry on in his name . . . .

Al Green, “Take Me To The River,” Hi Records, Memphis, 1974

Al wrote this, with guitarist Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, and recorded it first; Hi labelmate Syl Johnson had the hit.

Leave a comment

2010

Friday, 11/26/10

Deep, wide, strong: the groove, with this guy at the drums, is like a river.

The Levon Helm Band with guest Jim Keltner (drums), “Deep Ellum Blues,” live, Los Angeles (Greek Theater), 8/15/10

Leave a comment

2010

Thursday, 11/25/10

How many pop stars have given thanks so memorably?

Sly & The Family Stone

“Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” live (TV broadcast), 1973

***

“Thankful N’ Thoughtful,” 1973

Vodpod videos no longer available.

*****

Michael Jackson and
George Clinton and
Miles Davis

Big influence on all three?

Short list.

James Brown
Sly Stone

Leave a comment

2010

Monday, 11/22/10

Walk into a blues bar on Chicago’s south or west side in the mid-1970s:
this would jump out of the jukebox.

Syl Johnson, “Take Me To The River,” live, 1975, Memphis

Leave a comment

2010

Tuesday, 11/9/10

Gregory Isaacs, July 15, 1951-October 25, 2010

[Gregory Isaacs’ friend and former manager Don Hewitt] said of Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones that when he was introduced to Mr. Isaacs, “he carried on like he’d met Jesus.”

***

In a 2001 interview, Mr. Isaacs reflected on his legacy. “Look at me as a man who performed works musically,” he said. “Who uplift people who need upliftment, mentally, physically, economically—all forms. Who told the people to live with love ’cause only love can conquer war, and to understand themselves so that they can understand others.”

—Rob Kenner, New York Times (obituary, 10/25/10)

Live, London (Brixton Academy), 1984

“Number One”