only rock ’n’ roll
Roky Erickson & The Black Angels, live, Los Angeles, 2008
“Bo Diddley’s A Headhunter,” “Two Headed Dog”
***
“You’re Gonna Miss Me”
What could be more romantic?
Bo Diddley (1928-2008), live, 1981
#1
***
#2
***
#3
never enough
Monk, that is.
“Rhythm-a-Ning,” (T. Monk)
Art Pepper Quartet (AP, alto saxophone; Milcho Leview, piano; Tony Dumas, bass; Carl Burnett, drums), live
***
Tom Harrell Quintet (TH, trumpet, flugelhorn; Wayne Escoffery, tenor saxophone; Danny Grissett, piano; Ugonna Okegwo, bass; Johnathan Blake, drums), live, Paris, 2008
**********
lagniappe
random thoughts
Given the number of lives that end in death, the odds of avoiding it seem slim.
only rock ’n’ roll
Del Shannon (1934-1990), “Runaway,” live (with Tom Petty, guitar; Phil Seymour, tambourine, et al.), 1978
alone
Ran Blake (1935-), pianist, composer, teacher, MacArthur “genius” grant winner
Above the Sadness (trailer), 2011
***
Live, “Over the Rainbow,” Portugal (Lisbon), 2010
***
Live (at home), 2001
**********
lagniappe
reading table
‘[L]ife holds thee; not thou it.’
—Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby Dick
passings
Bunny Rugs (AKA Bunny Clarke, William Clarke), singer
February 6, 1948-February 2, 2014
Live (with Sly & Robbie), “Revolution,” “Love Is Blind,” New York, 2013
***
Live (with Third World), “Now That We Found Love,” Los Angeles, 2013
***
Recording (Lee Perry, prod.), “Be Thankful,” 1975
Silver Quintette, “Sinner’s Crossroads” (1956)
***
Bessemer Sunset Four, “I Feel Like My Time Ain’t Long” (1930)
***
Dixie Hummingbirds, “Every Knee Surely Must Bow” (1946)
***
Famous Davis Sisters, “I Want To Be More Like Jesus” (1957)
*****
What do these tracks have in common? All were featured the other night on Sinner’s Crossroads, arguably (to these ears, anyway) the best show on radio. It airs Thursday night, from 8 to 9 p.m. (EST), on mighty WFMU-FM. Not only can you hear it live; every show is archived and remains available on-line. To my mind there’s no better gateway to gospel music.
a gathering of birds
Evan Parker Quartet (EP, soprano saxophone; Peter Evans, trumpet; John Russell, guitar; John Edwards, bass), live, London, 2009
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music offers a way out of our little cluttered closet.
yesterday
Snowy fields, bare trees, big sky: as my son Luke, now twenty-two, drives us from a family gathering in Nebraska to his place in Kansas City, these are some of the sounds that fill the car.
Pusha T, “40 Acres” (feat. The Dream), 2013
***
J. Cole, “Killers,” 2011
***
Lil Wayne, “I Miss My Dawgs,” 2011
*****
taking a break
Back in a while.
alone
Mississippi Fred McDowell, “Wished I Was In Heaven Sitting Down”
Live, Mississippi (Como), 1959
