Wednesday, April 29th
If this is the answer, what’s the question?
Bernhard Leitner (1938-), Serpentinata, Austria (Vienna), 2011
If this is the answer, what’s the question?
Bernhard Leitner (1938-), Serpentinata, Austria (Vienna), 2011
This I could listen to all day.
Brian Eno (1948-), sound installation (“Music for the Great Gallery”), Palace of Venaria, Italy (near Turin)
Of sounds there is no end.
Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), sound sculptures, Bally, Pennsylvania
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lagniappe
reading table
I found a bird this morning, down—down—on a little bush at the foot of the garden, and wherefore sing, I said, since nobody hears?
One sob in the throat, one flutter of bosom—’My business is to sing‘—and away she rose!
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), letter to Dr. and Mrs. J. G. Holland, c. 1862
More of Vernard Johnson.
Live, Roanoke, Tx.
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“What Is This,” live (Something’s Got a Hold on Me), Little Rock, Ark., 1981
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“I’ve Decided To Make Jesus My Choice,” The Gospel Saxophone of Vernard Johnson, 1974
Sometimes nothing is more enlivening than to hear something that sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before.
Rebecca Saunders (1967-), Fury II (2009); Remix Ensemble (Emilio Pomarico, cond.; Antonio Augusto Aguiar, bass), live, Portugal (Porto), 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
after the dance
right away, cutting
the morning grass—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
only rock ‘n’ roll
Metz, “Get Off,” live, Seattle, 2014
Happy (Belated) Birthday, Mingus!
Charles Mingus, composer, bandleader, bassist
April 22, 1922-January 5, 1979
Better late than never for someone who, like Miles and Monk, Bach and Beethoven, I couldn’t live without.
Charles Mingus (bass) with Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute), Clifford Jordan (tenor saxophone), Johnny Coles (trumpet), Jaki Byard (piano), Dannie Richmond (drums), live, Belgium, Norway, and Sweden, 1964*
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
There’s something about listening to Eric Dolphy that makes you feel glad to be alive.
—Cliff Preiss, DJ, WKCR (Columbia University), yesterday (Mingus birthday broadcast)
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*Set lists (courtesy of YouTube):
Belgium
00:00-00:45 Intro
00:46-05:33 So Long Eric
05:35-11:20 Peggy’s Blue Skylight
11:23-32:03 Meditations On Integration
Norway
32:30-54:46 So Long Eric
56:30-1:11:40 Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk
1:13:53-1:16:20 Parkeriana
1:16:22-1:29:05 Take The “A” Train
Sweden
1:30:05-1:33:55 So Long Eric
1:34:02-1:52:35 Meditations On Integration
1:52:40- 1:59:50 So Long Eric
sounds of South Africa
Fantasma, “Basbizile,” live, London, 2015
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Another take (Free Love, 2015)
sounds of Malawi
The Very Best with Mafalika, “Let’s Go,” live, Malawi (Kumbali Village), 2/15
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Another take (Makes a King, 4/15)
what’s new
Kendrick Lamar, “King Kunta” (video, 4/15; To Pimp a Butterfly, 3/15)