music clip of the day

Tuesday, December 17th

sounds of New York

More of one of my favorite drummers—again at the Village Vanguard.

Ed Blackwell (drums, 1929-1992) with Mal Waldron (1925-2002, piano), Charles Rouse (1924-1988, tenor saxophone), Woody Shaw (1944-1989, flugelhorn), Reggie Workman (1937-, bass), “Git Go” (M. Waldron, excerpt), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 1985

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Chicago

*****

reading table

Do you imagine that writers speak ‘as themselves’? No such selves exist.

—Peter Schjeldahl, “The Art of Dying,” New Yorker, 12/23/19

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2019

Monday, December 16th

sounds of New York

David Murray Quartet (DM, 1955-, tenor saxophone; John Hicks, 1941-2006, piano; Fred Hopkins, 1947-1999, bass; Ed Blackwell, 1929-1992, drums), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 1986

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

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2019

Sunday, December 15th

There are all kinds of gospel.

Common, William Murphy, Erykah Badu, “God Is Love,” “The Light,” live (TV show), Newark, N.J., 2019

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Chicago

*****

reading table

A tethered horse,
snow
in both stirrups.

—Yosa Buson, 1716-1783 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)

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2019

Saturday, December 14th

sounds of Ecuador and all over

Nicola Cruz (DJ), live, Argentina (Iguazú Falls), published 12/12/19

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Chicago

*****

reading table

We’d rather have the iceberg than the ship,
although it meant the end of travel.

—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), from “The Imaginary Iceberg”

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2019

Friday, December 13th

only rock ‘n’ roll

Big Thief, “Shoulders,” “Not,” “Masterpiece,” “The Toy,” live (studio), Seattle, 10/26/19

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Oak Park, Ill.

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2019

Thursday, December 12th

never enough

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Violin Partita No. 3 in E major; Shunske Sato (violin), live, Netherlands (Haarlem), published 11/28/19

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday morning, Oak Park, Ill.

*****

reading table

Listen,
how your heart beats inside me.

—Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012, MCOTD Hall of Fame), from “Could Have,” translated from Polish by Stanislav Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh

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2019

Wednesday, December 11th

Playing, and talking, Monk.

Jason Moran (piano), Frank Lacy (trombone), Bob Stewart (tuba), Nasheet Waits (drums), et al., live, Washington, D.C., 2015

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Chicago

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2019

Tuesday, December 10th

two takes

“I Try” (M. Gray, J. Ruzumna, J. Lim, D. Wilder)

J Dilla (1974-2006), remix, 2006

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Macy Gray, 1999

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Chicago

*****

reading table

Threshold
by Rachel Hadas (1948-, Questions in the Vestibule)

The in-between is queasy,
but all is in between.

Midsummer green? Monotonous
when everything is green.

The sea? A glittering question
if everything is sea.

This vestibule? Unsettling.
I teeter first one way

and then the other. In
or out? I am a fool

to be so caught off balance.
All is vestibule.

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2019

Monday, December 9th

sounds to get lost in

Jessica Pavone String Ensemble (JP, viola, composition; Joanna Matrey, viola; Erica Dicker, violin; Angela Morris, violin), “Hurtle and Flow,” published 9/4/19