With all he does, this can get lost: on guitar, he’s a killer.
Cee Lo Green, “Crazy,” live (with Prince, guitar), New York, 2011
***
Stevie Wonder, “Superstition,” live (with Prince, guitar), Paris, 2010
**********
lagniappe
reading table
I am alive—I guess—
—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #605 (Franklin), first line
astonishing
Lee Hyla (1952-2014), String Quartet No. 4 (1999); Spektral Quartet, live, Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.), 2011
MCOTD Hall of Fame
Lester Bowie’s Brass Fantasy (LB, trumpet; Steve Turre, trombone; Frank Lacy, trombone; Bob Stewart, tuba; Phillip Wilson, drums, et al.), live, Berlin, 1986
yesterday in Chicago
He played a version of this, wonderfully, along with Steve Reich’s “New York Counterpoint” and Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday,” at the Chicago Cultural Center.
James Falzone, “Sighs Too Deep For Words,” live (studio performance), 2011
**********
lagniappe
random thoughts
Why settle for a mirror when you could have a window?
This I could listen to all day.
Daniel Lanois, “Senegal,” “Opera,” “The Collection of Marie Claire,” live (studio performance), Washington (Shoreline), 2/27/15
sounds of Ghana
Prince Buju (vocals, kologo), “In the War,” live, Ghana (Accra), 2014
**********
lagniappe
reading table
[W]hat counted was how you behaved while death let you live, and how you met death when life released you.
—Edith Pearlman, “Blessed Harry” (Honeydew)
only rock ‘n’ roll
Makthaverskan, “Antabus,” live, London, 11/29/14
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Spring at last moistened the town. Impasto leaves replaced pastel buds. He considered self-improvement. He might become a vegan. Let the mouse have his cheese.
—Edith Pearlman, “Tenderfoot” (Honeydew)
Need a jolt?
Felipe Lara (1979-), Corde Vocale (2006)
Mivos Quartet, live (studio performance), New York, 2013
This I listened to for the first time yesterday. Then I listened again. And again.
**********
lagniappe
radio
Tuesday is the centennial of Billie Holiday’s birth and WKCR (Columbia University) is celebrating in the best possible way, featuring her music all day tomorrow and, because twenty-four hours just aren’t enough, the next day too.
**********
taking a break
I’m taking some time off—back in a while.