Sunday, January 25th
sounds of Philadelphia
Davis Sisters (featuring Ruth Davis), “I Believe I’ll Go Back Home,” live (TV show: TV Gospel Time), 1960s
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
2020
Saturday, January 25th
what’s new
Brian Blade & Life Cycles (BB, drums; Myron Walden, woodwinds; John Hart, guitar; Jon Cowherd, piano; Doug Weiss, bass; Monte Croft, vibraphone, voice; Rogerio Boccato, percussion), “My Joy,” “Slow Change,” “Hello to the Wind,” “The Final Four,” live (studio), Seattle, published 1/10/20 (recorded 9/27/19)
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lagniappe
random sights
other morning, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
The moon disappears
into darkening treetops
collecting the rain—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill
2020
Friday, January 24th
sounds of Ukraine
Alina Pash, “Radila,” live, Tel Aviv, published 12/9/19
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lagniappe
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Thursday, January 23rd
basement jukebox
Alton Ellis (1938-2008), “Breaking Up,” 1968
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Wednesday, January 22nd
voices I miss
Von Freeman (1923-2012), tenor saxophonist, MCOTD Hall of Fame
“Oleo” (S. Rollins) with Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone), Willie Pickens (piano), Dan Shapera (bass), Robert Shy (drums), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 1988
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With John Young (1922-2008, piano), et al., live (radio broadcast), late 1970s
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“A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” (E. Maschwitz & M. Sherwin) with Jodie Christian (piano), Rufus Reid (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), live, Harrisburg, Penn., 1994
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“I Can’t Get Started” (V. Duke, I. Gershwin), live, Belgium, 1992
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“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” (R. Rodgers, L. Hart) with Mike Allemena (guitar), Matt Ferguson (bass), Michael Raynor (drums), live, Chicago (Mandel Hall, University of Chicago), 2011
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lagniappe
my back pages
On this night forty-three years ago, at a church thirty miles north of Chicago, my wife, Suzanne, and I were married. Outside it was cold and snowy; inside Von Freeman was playing, with pianist John Young. All of what they played that night, before, during, and after the ceremony, can be heard here (0:15-) (before: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “More”; during [as Suzanne walked down the aisle]: “In a Sentimental Mood”; after: “My Favorite Things,” “Song for My Father”).
2020
Tuesday, January 21st
more
Agnes Obel, playing and talking (begins at 2:05; “Won’t You Call Me,” 3:00; “Island of Doom,” 13:55; “Broken Sleep,” 25:35), New York, 1/14/20
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Monday, January 20th
This voice I could listen to all day, even if I didn’t understand a word of English. He doesn’t speak—he sings.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), “I Have a Dream,” Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963
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Another take, with Max Roach (1924-2007, drums).
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Sunday, January 19th
more
Soul Stirrers (feat. Sam Cooke, Paul Foster), live, Los Angeles, 1955
“I Have a Friend Above All Others,” “Be With Me Jesus”
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“Nearer My God to Thee”
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lagniappe
random sights
a while ago, off the coast of Maine
*****
reading table
The present
must be kept empty
so that anything
can happen:—Rae Armantrout (1947-), from “Empty”
2020
Saturday, January 18th
what’s new
Agnes Obel, “Broken Sleep” (A. Obel), 1/7/20
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lagniappe
random sights
last night, Oak Park, Ill.
2020
Friday, January 17th
tonight just outside Chicago
They’re playing at a small club (Fitzgerald’s).
Los Lobos
With Robert Randolph (pedal steel guitar), “Don’t Worry Baby” (C. Rosas, L. Perez, T. Burnett), live, Austin, Tx., 2018
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“La Bamba” (trad. adapted by R. Valens), live, Watsonville, Calif., 1989
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
music clip of the day 