music clip of the day

Thursday, March 28th

Most saxophonists play with their mouths and fingers.

Not this guy—he uses his whole body.

Mats Gustafsson, baritone saxophone, live, Romania (Bucharest), 2010

*****

Sunday afternoon, at an art gallery on Chicago’s west side (Corbett vs. Dempsey), I heard Gustafsson, who lives in Sweden, perform with the Chicago-based reed player Ken Vandermark. One-word review: mesmerizing.

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lagniappe

musical thoughts

Sometimes discaholism is taken to its most further borders when the “holy 4″ is fulfilled:

When a vinyl has the holy 4 qualities: great music, great title, great rarity and an AMAZING cover and design!!!

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‘one piece of vinyl per day keeps the doctor away’

—Mats Gustafsson, Discaholic Corner

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2013

Wednesday, March 27th

What I love about the ’net is that sometimes, like yesterday, when I happened upon this, you find yourself being lifted out of your seat by something you didn’t even know existed two minutes ago.

Ned Rothenberg (clarinet, alto saxophone) & Samir Chatterjee (tabla), “Interstellar Duo #3,” live, New York, 2009

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lagniappe

reading table

The more I read, the less I understand.

—Charles Simic, “Serving Time” (New and Selected Poems: 1962-2012)

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2013

Tuesday, March 26th

I love the way he plays Mozart. Simply. Directly. There’s nothing fussy here. Nothing fey. Melodies unfold with the ease and grace of a bird flying from branch to branch.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Piano Sonatas & Fantasia,* Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000), live, Germany (Munich), 1981

*****

*Program (courtesy of YouTube):

0:00 – Nº4 in E flat major, K.282
14:35 – Nº9 in D major, K.311
32:58 – Nº12 in F major, K.332
55:54 – Fantasia nº4 in C minor, K.475
1:06:55 – Nº14 in C minor, K.457

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2013

Monday, March 25th

I think I’m in love—with the sister in the middle, that is.

Andy & The Bey Sisters (with Kenny Clarke, drums), “Smooth Sailing” (A. Cobb), live, Paris, c. 1964

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2013

Sunday, March 24th

They sounded so good last Sunday—let’s hear some more.

Pastor B. L. Blade with Daniel Lanois (guitar, vocals), Brian Blade (drums), et al.
“The Maker” (D. Lanois), excerpt (“Oh, river rise from your sleep.”)

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lagniappe

random thoughts

How strange it seems sometimes, like the other day in the shower, to have hands and feet.

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2013

Saturday, March 23rd

sui generis

Quintron and Miss Pussycat, “Freedom,” New Orleans
Too Thirsty For Love, 2008

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lagniappe

reading table

Language is finite and formal; reality is infinite and formless. Order is comic; chaos is tragic.

—John Updike, Assorted Prose (1965)

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2013

Friday, March 22nd

only rock ’n’ roll

Savages, “City’s Full,” live, London, 2012

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2013

Thursday, March 21st

the other night

I heard the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with pianist Yefim Bronfman, perform this piece. In The Human Stain Phillip Roth wrote of Bronfman: “Then Bronfman appears. Bronfman the brontosaur! Mr. Fortissimo. Enter Bronfman to play Prokofiev at such a pace and with such bravado as to knock my morbidity clear out of the ring.” Isn’t that what we want from music, one of the things, anyway—to have our “morbidity” “knock[ed] . . . clear out of the ring,” if only for a while, until it creeps back in?

Bela Bartok (1881-1945), Piano Concerto No. 2; Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana (Zoltan Pesko, cond.), Zoltan Kocsis, piano; live, 1995

1st Movement