Singers who come out of gospel bring something to everything they touch—conviction.
Bobby Womack, live (Later . . . with Jules Holland, BBC), 10/2 & 5/12
“Please Forgive My Heart” (B. Womack & R. Russell)
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“The Bravest Man in the Universe” (B. Womack & R. Russell)
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lagniappe
reading table
my home village
even behind the outhouse
pure water gushes—Kobayashi Issa, 1812 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
Alfred Schnittke (1934-98), Concerto Grosso No. 1, live, Russia, 2004
Kremerata Baltica (Gidon Kremer & Tatiana Grindenko, violins)
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
What do we want from music—a mirror or a window?
Rhythmic punch?
Not much.
Lyrical beauty?
Ditto.
But, like few others, he keeps me on the edge of my seat.
Lennie Tristano (1919-78), live, Copenhagen, 1965*
*“Darn That Dream,” “Lullaby of the Leaves,” “Expressions,” “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” “Tivoli Gardens Swing,” “Ghost of a Chance,” “Imagination,” “Tangerine.”
two takes
“I’ll Take Care Of You” (B. Benton)
Bobby “Blue” Bland, 1959
*****
Gil Scott-Heron, 2010
neo neo soul
D’Angelo, “The Charade,” live, Switzerland (Zurich), 2012
Some folks sing with their feet.
Duke Ellington Orchestra, Bunny Briggs (dance), Jon Hendricks (vocal), “David Danced Before the Lord with All His Might,” live, San Francisco (Grace Cathedral), 1965
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lagniappe
reading table
And David danced before the Lord with all his might . . .
—2 Samuel 6:14 (King James)
my favorite 103-year-old composer
Elliott Carter (December 11, 1908-), Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux (1985); Claire Chase (flute),* Joshua Rubin (clarinet), International Contemporary Ensemble; live, Brazil (Sao Paulo), 2012
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
The “opportunity cost” of listening to something you already know, to borrow from the dreary world of economics, is that you’re forgoing an opportunity to discover something new.
*****
found words
Last night, after a concert at the University of Chicago’s Mandel Hall (Takacs Quartet), I stopped at Harold’s Chicken Shack on 53rd Street, as much for old times’ sake as anything else (Harold got me through law school), and found this at the bottom of the receipt:
REFUNDS WITHIN 24 HOURS
MUST BRING FOOD BACK
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*Winner of a 2012 MacArthur “genius grant.”
favorites*
The other night my son Alex took me—this was my Christmas present—to see this guy at a small concert hall on the north side of Chicago (Old Town School of Folk Music). We’d last seen him together 20 years ago, in 1992, at a little club not far from where we live (FitzGerald’s). Alex wasn’t even five years old. It was an early evening set, part of a big Fourth of July festival. The night was stormy. The power went out. He played by candlelight.
Alejandro Escovedo, singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader
“Anchor” (A. Escovedo & C. Prophet)
Live, Austin, Tx., 2010
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“Always a Friend” (A. Escovedo & C. Prophet)
Live (with Bruce Springsteen), Asbury Park, N.J., 2010
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“Tender Heart” & “Street Songs” (A. Escovedo & C. Prophet)
Live, Austin, Tx., 2010
(Originally posted 1/16/12.)
*Happy (25th) Birthday, Alex!
two takes
How To Dress Well (Tom Krell), “Cold Nites”
Live in the Boiler Room, 2012
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Recording (Total Loss), 2012
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lagniappe
reading table
Autumn
the sky huge and clear
the marsh miles from farms and housesoverjoyed by the cranes
standing around the sandbarsthe mountains above the clouds in the distance
this water
utterly still
in the duskthe white moon overhead
I let my boat drift free tonight
I can’t go home.—Wang Wei (701-61), “Floating on a Marsh” (trans. from Chinese by David Young [Five T’ang Poets, 1990])
