sounds of Kinshasa*
Mbongwana Star, “Kala,” 2015
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Birds, plants, music—one of the most astonishing things about this most astonishing world is its variousness.
*****
*Democratic Republic of Congo.
Merry Christmas
Blind Lemon Jefferson, “Christmas Eve Blues,” 1928
*****
Victoria Spivey (with Lonnie Johnson, guitar), “Christmas Morning Blues,” 1928
*****
Bessie Smith (with Joe Smith, cornet; Charlie Green, trombone; Fletcher Henderson, piano), “At the Christmas Ball,” 1925
*****
Leroy Carr, “Christmas In Jail—Ain’t That A Pain,” 1929
*****
Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (feat. Charles Brown, vocals, keyboards), “Merry Christmas, Baby,” 1947
*****
Lowell Fulson, “Lonesome Christmas (I & II),” 1950
*****
Sonny Boy Williamson II, “Sonny Boy’s Christmas Blues,” 1951
*****
John Lee Hooker, “Blues For Christmas,” 1959
Feel like floating?
Steve Reich (1936-), Six Marimbas (1986); Undergraduate Recital (Colin Van de Reep, Noam Bierstone, Sandro Valiante, Mark Morton, Ben Reimer, Ben Duinker), McGill University, Montreal, 2011
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
—Simone Weil (1909-1943; quoted at Orange Crate Art)
sounds of Chicago
Hamid Drake (drums, percussion, voice), live, Sardinia, 2013
**********
lagniappe
radio
One of the year’s great musical events has begun: the annual Bach Festival on WKCR (Columbia University)—all Bach, all the time, through New Year’s Eve.
*****
musical thoughts
How lucky to be alive in a world of sound.
The only thing hard about listening to this is letting go of everything else.
John Luther Adams (1953-), Dream in White on White (1992); Virtuoso String Orchestra (Joaquin Valdepenas, cond.), Sanya Eng (harp), live, Toronto, 2014
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Barn’s burnt down—
now
I can see the moon.—Mizuta Masahide, 1657-1723 (translated from Japanese by Lucien Stryk and Takashi Ikemoto)
Why start the new week with the same old stuff?
Julia Wolfe (1958-), Believing (2001); Bang on a Can All-Stars, live, South Korea (Tongyeong International Music Festival), 2014
lagniappe
art beat
Regular readers may recognize this drawing, which was posted last year. The artist is a client of mine, Walter Unbehaun, a seventy-something bank robber whose story is told in the January issue of GQ magazine (Kathy Dobie, “The Curious Case of the Homesick Bank Robber”). This drawing makes an appearance:
[H]e’d created a strong bond with his lawyer. He considered ‘Rich’ a friend, giving him two finely wrought pencil sketchings. One was of an ancient and deeply wrinkled Peruvian woman, the other of a plump African woman wearing glasses.
Walter Unbehaun, African Preacher (Kankakee County Jail, 2014)
old school
Mighty Clouds of Joy, “I’m Glad About It,” live, Houston, 1967
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Sometimes I have good nights, and sometimes I have bad nights. One never knows.
—tenor saxophonist, and MCOTD Hall of Famer, Von Freeman (1923-2012)
alone
Georg Friedrich Haas (1953-), Hommage a Steve Reich (1982)
Hans Ludemann (piano), live, Germany (Cologne), 2012
Each time I listen to this, it sounds different.
lucid, adj. translucent, pellucid, clear. E.g., Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians.
Steve Reich (1936-), Music for 18 Musicians (1974-76)
Ensemble Intercontemporain with Synergy Vocals, live, Paris, 2014
**********
lagniappe
reading table
the door latch
rusting scarlet . . .
winter rain—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
*****
random sights
this morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), The Art of Fugue (excerpts)
Glenn Gould (1932-1982), piano
music clip of the day 