Friday, January 26th
what’s new
Amadou & Mariam, “Bofou Safou,” “Dimanche à Bamako,” “Filaou Bessame,” live, Washington, D.C., 1/19/2018
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
2018
Thursday, January 25th
never enough
If I could play like this, I’d never stand up.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor, Prelude; Eva Lymenstull (baroque cello), 2017
**********
lagniappe
reading table
I like this story from the N.Y. Times—a composition by a child in the third grade: ‘I told my little brother that when you die you cannot breathe and he did not say a word. He just kept on playing.’
—Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1979), Letter to Robert Lowell, September 8, 1948
2018
Wednesday, January 24th
sounds of New York
Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die (JB, trumpet, compositions; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Ajemian, bass; Chad Taylor, drums), live, New York (Rye Bar, Brooklyn), 2016
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Improvised music is like basketball: a great player makes everybody better.
*****
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
2018
Tuesday, January 23rd
more
No one plays ballads more tenderly—or tartly.
Von Freeman (MCOTD Hall of Fame, 1923-2012), “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” (E. Maschwitz & M. Sherwin) with Jodie Christian (piano), Rufus Reid (bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), live, Harrisburg, Penn., 1994
***
“I Can’t Get Started” (V. Duke, I. Gershwin), live, Belgium, 1992
***
“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
**********
lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
2018
Monday, January 22nd
voices I miss
Von Freeman (MCOTD Hall of Fame), tenor saxophonist, 1923-2012
“Oleo” (S. Rollins) with Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone), Willie Pickens (piano), Dan Shapera (bass), Robert Shy (drums), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 1988
***
“Take the ‘A’ Train” (B. Strayhorn) with Joanie Pallatto (vocals), Bettye Reynolds (vocals), Fred Anderson (tenor saxophone), Billy Brimfield (trumpet), John Young (piano), George Freeman (guitar), Larry Gray (bass), Michael Adams (drums), live, Chicago, 1999
**********
lagniappe
my back pages
On a cold, snowy night forty-one years ago, at a church thirty miles north of Chicago, Von Freeman and John Young played at our—Suzanne’s and my—wedding. All of what they played that night—”Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “More” (before); “In a Sentimental Mood” (as Suzanne walked down the aisle); “My Favorite Things,” “Song for My Father” (after)—can be heard here (0:15-). Years later, John told me: “When I marry ’em, they stay married.”
2018
Sunday, January 21st
Some singers—not many—need no accompaniment.
Mary Ann & China Pettaway (mother, daughter), live, Boykin, Ala., 2016
**********
lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-), Ana “Mama Cookie” Cook, 1958
2018
Saturday, January 20th
How about a trip to the nineteenth century?
Daniil Trifonov, piano (Chopin, Schumann, Grieg), live (studio performance), Washington, D.C., 1/12/18
**********
lagniappe
reading table
To shut our eyes is Travel.
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), Letter 354
2018
Friday, January 19th
This guy—this voice—gets under my skin.
Moses Sumney, live (studio performance), Seattle, 2017
2018
Thursday, January 18th
timeless
Gregory Porter, “You Send Me” (S. Cooke), live, London, 2014
**********
lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Kamisaka Sekka (1866-1942), Moonlit Scene with Hut and Flowers, 1909/10 (from the series Worlds of Things)
2018
Wednesday, January 17th
Astonishing performance.
Astonishing piece.
Anton Webern (1883-1945), Variations, op. 27 (1936)
Glenn Gould (1932-1982), piano
**********
lagniappe
reading table
What Miracles the News is!
Not Bismark but ourselves.—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), Letter 354
