music clip of the day

Tuesday, December 13th

passings

Joe Ligon [AKA Willie Joe Ligon], singer, September 11, 1942-December 11, 2016

Today, remembering him, we revisit a few favorites.

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October 18, 2010

“I’ve Been in the Storm Too Long,” live, Albertina Walker Memorial Service, Chicago, 10/14/10

Like a lot of impromptu performances, this starts a little shakily; but then it builds, builds, builds.

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May 27, 2012

two takes

“Steal Away To Jesus” (with the Mighty Clouds of Joy)

TV show (TV Gospel Time), early 1960s

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Live, South Carolina (Charleston), 1996

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December 20, 2015

old school

“I’m Glad About It” (with the Mighty Clouds of Joy), live, Houston, 1967

*****

Gospel singers don’t retire, you know, they just die doing what they do.

—Joe Ligon

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lagniappe

random sights

other day, Oak Park, Ill.

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Monday, December 12th

Chicago blues
day one

Howlin’ Wolf (AKA Chester Burnett, 1910-1976), with Hubert Sumlin (guitar), Willie Dixon (bass), et al., “Somestack Lightning,” live, England, 1964

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lagniappe

random sights

last night, Oak Park, Ill.

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Sunday, December 11th

back to church

First Church of Deliverance Choir (feat. Corneal Overton, vocals; Fred Nelson III, organ), “He’s Been So Good” (F. Nelson), live, Chicago, 1987

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lagniappe

random sights

yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.

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Saturday, December 10th

more

R.L. Burnside (and family), live, Independence, Miss., 1978

“When My First Wife Left Me”

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“Boogie Instrumental”

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Friday, December 9th

sounds of Independence*

R.L. Burnside (1926-2005), “Poor Boy a Long Way from Home,” live, 1978

*Mississippi.

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Thursday, December 8th

One should never underestimate, when living in a world so woeful, the therapeutic benefits, however fleeting, of dumb fun.

Shantel, “Disko Partizani,” 2007

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Sometimes I want to hear something that will quicken my pulse; sometimes I want something that will slow it—like this, for instance, which I heard the other night in Chicago, played by the group for whom it was written (a.pe.ri.od.ic). One sound . . . another . . . another . . .

Jürg Frey (1953-), Fragile Balance (2014), excerpt; Ensemble Grizzana (Jürg Frey, clarinet; Mira Benjamin, violin; Richard Craig, flute; Emma Richards, viola; Philip Thomas, piano; Seth Woods, cello); 2015

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lagniappe

reading table

Winter seclusion—
sitting propped against
the same worn post

—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill (The Sound of Water: Haiku by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets)

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2016

Tuesday, December 6th

two takes

“Ride ‘Em on Down”

Rolling Stones, 2016

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Eddie Taylor, 1955

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lagniappe

reading table

The announcement [that he was the president-elect’s choice to lead HUD] was delayed as Mr. Carson, who once had planned to learn to play the organ in retirement, gave himself several days to mull it over.

—Trip Gabriel, “Trump Chooses Ben Carson to Lead HUD,” New York Times, 12/5/16

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2016

Monday, December 5th

sounds of New York

Taylor Ho Bynum’s Rank Sentimentalist (THB, cornet; Marika Hughes, cello; Evan Patrick, guitar; Stomu Takeiship, bass; Chad Taylor, drums), “Black Lake” (Bjork), New York, 10/7/16

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