Friday, 7/1/11
scenes from New Orleans
(an occasional series)
Rebirth Brass Band, live, Maple Leaf Bar (where RBB plays Tuesday nights), New Orleans, 2011
“Big Chief”
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“I Like It Like That”
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: trombone
2011
2011
Monday, 6/6/11
sui generis, adj. A person or thing that is unique, in a class by itself. E.g., Anthony Braxton, composer, reed player, professor, MacArthur “genius” grant winner, one-time professional chess hustler.
Happy (Belated 66th) Birthday, Anthony!
(born June 4, 1945)
Anthony Braxton with his 12+1tet, Ghost Trance Music
New York (Iridium), 2008
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
I wanted to live. I wanted to be alive. This experience goes by very quickly. Part of the radiance of a moment, in my opinion, involves that which we call music.
***
Suddenly, Coltrane solos become the “it” of music, when in fact, the records and the notated solos are the sonic footprints, the bone structure of what actually happened in the music.
***
I wanted a system that would be equal to the dynamics of curiosity. I wanted to have a music where I could have some fun.
***
There is the wonderful discipline of music and the ability of music to keep on opening up fresh prospects. I must say, what a discipline!
—Anthony Braxton
2011
Wednesday, 5/18/11
passings
(an occasional series)
Lloyd Knibb, drummer (Skatalites, et al.)
March 8, 1931-May 12, 2011
Lloyd Knibb’s importance to Jamaican music can’t be overstated. The inventor of the ska beat at Coxson Dodd’s Studio One, Knibb created a sound that spread like wildfire the world over.
—Carter Van Pelt, host, Eastern Standard Time, WKCR-FM
Skatalites, “Freedom Sound,” live, Belgium (Lokerse Festival), 1997
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Skatalites, “Latin Go Ska,” live, Los Angeles, 2007
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Skatalites, live, Los Angeles, 2007
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Skatalites, “(Straighten Up And) Fly Right”
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lagniappe
reading table
Spring
It would be
good to shrug
out of winter
as cicadas do:
look: a crisp
freestanding you
and you walking
off, soft as
new.—Kay Ryan
2011
Monday, 5/9/11
scenes from New Orleans
(an occasional series)
Free Spirit Brass Band, live, New Orleans (Bourbon Street), 3/20/11
Vodpod videos no longer available.2011
Thursday, 4/7/11
Happy (96th) Birthday, Billie!
Tune in to WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University) and you’ll swear you must’ve died and gone to heaven—it’s all Billie, all day.
Billie Holiday, “The Blues Are Brewin'” (with Louis Armstrong, trumpet), New Orleans (1947)
Vodpod videos no longer available.More? Here. And here. And here.
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lagniappe
art beat
Joan Mitchell, Chamonix (c. 1962), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
2011
Wednesday, 4/6/11
I’m surprised that I got this old and know so little.
—Terry Riley
Terry Riley, talking and playing, California, 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
In C (excerpt), Terry Riley, 1964
Take 1
Terry Riley, Center of Creative and Performing Arts (SUNY-Buffalo), 1968
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Take 2
Ars Nova, Percurama Percussion Ensemble, Paul Hillier (cond.), 2007
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts
Hiroshige, The City Flourishing, Tanabata Festival (1857)
2011
Monday, 4/4/11
Feeling glum?
Not for long.
Albert Ammons, Lena Horne, Pete Johnson, Teddy Wilson
Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944)
Part 1
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
Part 2
Vodpod videos no longer available.2011
Thursday, 3/31/11
basement jukebox*
(an occasional series)
Fontella Bass, “Rescue Me” (1965)
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
Tyrone Davis, “Can I Change My Mind” (1969)
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
Otis Clay, “The Only Way Is Up” (1980)
Vodpod videos no longer available.*When I was a little boy, a big bright shiny jukebox lit up our basement. Daily it granted our wishes, communicated with just the touch of a finger, for “Wake Up, Little Susie” (Everly Brothers) and “The Battle of New Orleans” (Johnny Horton) and “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance” (Gene Pitney). It taught me something I’ve never forgotten—music is magic.
2011
Monday, 3/14/11
Fontella Bass
Fela Anikulapo Kuti
Few musicians travel so widely—or so well.
Lester Bowie, trumpet, October 11, 1941-November 8, 1999
Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy (Steve Turre, trombone; Phillip Wilson, drums)
Live, Germany (Berlin), 1986
#1
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
#2 (Whitney Houston’s “Saving All My Love For You”)
Vodpod videos no longer available.Lester and drummer Phillip Wilson were kindred spirits. Like Lester, the drummer came out of St. Louis. And like Lester, he roamed freely. Adventurous jazz (Art Ensemble of Chicago), funky soul (Stax Records sessions), hard-rocking blues (Paul Butterfield Blues Band): to each he brought the same hands, the same feet, the same ears.
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lagniappe
Bill Cosby on Lester Bowie
Vodpod videos no longer available.
music clip of the day 