music clip of the day

Monday, November 4th

three takes

This guy, like Monk, could take a familiar form, open it up, and create something both old and new.

Julius Hemphill (1938-1995), “The Hard Blues”

Live (with members of the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra and the Either/Orchestra), Boston, 1989

***

Recording (JH, alto saxophone, flute; Baikida E.J. Carroll, trumpet; Hamiet Bluiett, baritone saxophone; Abdul Wadud, cello; Philip Wilson, drums), recorded 1972 (first released on Coon Bid’ness, 1975)

***

Recording (Julius Hemphill, alto saxophone; Marty Ehrlich, soprano and alto saxophone, flute; Carl Grubbs, soprano and alto saxophone; James Carter, tenor saxophone; Andrew White. tenor saxophone; Sam Furnace, baritone saxophone, flute), 1991

**********

lagniappe

art beat

Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, c. 1940

Leave a comment

2013

Sunday, November 3rd

five takes

“Where We’ll Never Grow Old,” AKA “Never Grow Old” (J. Moore, 1914)

Patty Griffin with Buddy Miller, live, 2010

***

The Canton Spirituals, live, c. 1990

***

The Carter Family, recording, 1932

***

Aretha Franklin, live, Detroit, 1996

***

Johnny Cash, recording, 2004

**********

lagniappe

art beat

Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York

Leave a comment

2013

Saturday, November 2nd

only rock ’n’ roll

MC5, “Kick Out The Jams,” “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Motor City’s Burning,” “Tonight,” “Black To Comm #2,” live (TV studio), Germany (Bremen), 1972

**********

lagniappe

art beat

Danny Lyon (1942-), Chicago, 1960s

Leave a comment

2013

Friday, November 1st

only rock ’n’ roll

Richard Hell and the Voidoids (with Robert Quine [1942-2004], guitar, et al.), “Blank Generation,” live, New York (CBGB’s), Blank Generation, 1980

**********

lagniappe

art beat

Danny Lyon (1942-), Chicago, 1965

Leave a comment

2013

Monday, October 28th

passings

Lou Reed, singer, songwriter, guitarist, March 2, 1942-October 27, 2013

Live (with Robert Quine [1942-2004], guitar; Fernando Saunders, bass; Fred Maher, drums), New York (Bottom Line), 1983

**********

lagniappe

musical thoughts

All great rock comes from a particular place. Take Lou Reed. Could he have emerged from Detroit? Nah—too self-conscious, too arty. San Francisco? Unh-uh—way too abrasive. He could only have come from one place, the city where, as the joke has it, a tourist goes up to someone and asks: “Can you tell me the way to the Empire State Building—or should I just go fuck myself?”

*****

taking a break

I’m taking some time off—back in a while.