No matter where you are, new sounds are just around the corner.
Marcos Balter (1974-), Strohbass (2011), Shanna Gutierrez (bass flute) and Ryan Muncy (baritone saxophone), live, Evanston, Ill., 2011
basement jukebox
The Five Jets, “Down Slow,” 1954
the other night
The sky’s all thunder and lightning, and it’s almost midnight, and I’m sitting in a Walgreens parking lot near Midway Airport, waiting for my son Alex’s long-delayed flight to arrive, and if it weren’t for Rubinstein’s recordings of Chopin’s nocturnes, which I keep playing over and over amidst the rain and the neon, I’d be going absolutely bonkers.
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 1; Arthur [Artur] Rubinstein (1887-1982), piano
**********
lagniappe
random thoughts
Listening to Chopin, reading Chekhov: if I ever retire, maybe I’ll relocate to the 19th century.
This piece had its world premiere in 1941; the venue wasn’t fancy—a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp.
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time), live, ChamberFest Cleveland (Franklin Cohen, clarinet; Yura Lee, violin; Gabriel Cabezas, cello; Orion Weiss, piano), 2013
testify!
This old world is not my home. I’m just passing through. But while I’m down here, I’ve got a job to do. . . . I’m just working—singing—for my train fare back home.
—Willie Rogers
Willie Rogers (Soul Stirrers), “When the Gates Swing Open,” live
more
Sun Ra & His Arkestra (with John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, et al.), “Take the ‘A’ Train” (B. Strayhorn), live, Switzerland (Montreux Jazz Festival), 1976
what’s new
Where would Western civilization be without the invention of the three-minute pop song?
Dream Chart Top 40 Songs: May 2014 (5/24/14)
Happy (100th) Birthday, Sonny!
Sun Ra (AKA Herman “Sonny” Blount), May 22, 1914-May 30, 1993, keyboard player, composer, bandleader, singular spirit
Today, celebrating his centennial, we revisit a few favorites.
Sun Ra All Stars (SR, keyboards; Don Cherry, pocket trumpet, vocals; Lester Bowie, trumpet; Archie Shepp, tenor saxophone, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone; Marshall Allen, alto saxophone, percussion; Philly Joe Jones, drums; Clifford Jarvis, drums; Famadou Don Moye, drums, percussion), live, Germany (Berlin), 1983
***
Sun Ra & His Arkestra, live, Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, 1974
***
Sun Ra Arkestra (SR, piano; June Tyson, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, et al.), “Springtime Again,” live, Rome, 1980
***
Sun Ra (piano) & Walt Dickerson (vibraphone), “Astro” (Visions, 1978)
**********
lagniappe
radio
WKCR (Columbia University): Sun Ra all day—tomorrow, too.
what’s new
M.I.A. & The Partysquad, “Double Bubble Trouble” (directed by M.I.A.)
