Wednesday, 6/8/11
flicks
an occasional series
Mamie Smith and The Alphabetical Four, “Harlem Blues” (reworking of “Crazy Blues”), Paradise in Harlem (1939)
Vodpod videos no longer available.music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
2011
2011
Tuesday, 6/7/11
serendipity
an occasional series
The other night, while I was listening to WFMU-FM, this jumped out.
Mikey Erg, “Key of C, Fix It, Fix It, Stop” (2011)
*****
lagniappe
more
“Pray For Rain”
Take 1
The Ergs! (2005)
***
Take 2
Mikey Erg, live, Fest 9 (Gainesville, Florida), 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.2011
Monday, 6/6/11
sui generis, adj. A person or thing that is unique, in a class by itself. E.g., Anthony Braxton, composer, reed player, professor, MacArthur “genius” grant winner, one-time professional chess hustler.
Happy (Belated 66th) Birthday, Anthony!
(born June 4, 1945)
Anthony Braxton with his 12+1tet, Ghost Trance Music
New York (Iridium), 2008
**********
lagniappe
musical thoughts
I wanted to live. I wanted to be alive. This experience goes by very quickly. Part of the radiance of a moment, in my opinion, involves that which we call music.
***
Suddenly, Coltrane solos become the “it” of music, when in fact, the records and the notated solos are the sonic footprints, the bone structure of what actually happened in the music.
***
I wanted a system that would be equal to the dynamics of curiosity. I wanted to have a music where I could have some fun.
***
There is the wonderful discipline of music and the ability of music to keep on opening up fresh prospects. I must say, what a discipline!
—Anthony Braxton
2011
Saturday, 6/4/11
What would it be like to wake up in the morning, have a cup of coffee, then sit down at the piano and try, again, to open this up, let it breathe, let it sing?
David Holzman, piano/recording session, 7/10/10
Music of Stefan Wolpe, Volume 6 (Bridge Records), 2011
Stefan Wolpe (1902-1972), Four Studies on Basic Rows (Passacaglia)
**********
lagniappe
I asked him to teach my class of young English student composers—feeling really that he at least would give the students one worthwhile class. He started talking about his Passacaglia, a piano work built of sections each based on a musical interval—minor second, major second, and so on. At once, sitting at the piano, he was caught up in a meditation on how wonderful these primary materials, intervals, were; playing each over and over again on the piano, singing, roaring, humming them, loudly, softly, quickly, slowly, short and detached or drawn out and expressive. All of us forgot time passing, when the class was to finish. As he led us from the smallest one, a minor second, to the largest, a major seventh—which took all afternoon—music was reborn, new light dawned, we all knew we would never again listen to music as we had. Stefan had made each of us experience very directly the living power of these primary elements. From then on indifference was impossible. Such a lesson most of us never had before or since, I imagine.
2011
Friday, 6/3/11
scenes from New Orleans
an occasional series
Neville Brothers (with Irvin Mayfield, trumpet)
“Indian Red,” live, New Orleans (Jazz Fest), 5/8/11
**********
lagniappe
art beat
Lance Rosenfield, New Orleans, 2/5/08 (young Mardi Gras Indian preparing for his first Mardi Gras with the Wild Magnolias)
2011
Thursday, 6/2/11
Happy (61st) Birthday, Don!*
Bobby Rydell, “Swingin’ School” (Billboard Hot 100, #5)
Live (TV broadcast), 1960
Of musical memories there is no end.
**********
lagniappe
*****
reading table
You see what I am doing: there was an empty space left in the trunk which I am filling with hay; that’s how it is in our life’s baggage; no matter what we stuff it with it’s better than having empty space.
—Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons (1862)
*my brother & oldest musical companion
2011
Wednesday, 6/1/11
One sign of a great performance—no matter what the genre—is that you find yourself on the edge of your seat, leaning forward, trying to get closer.
Orutu player and singer, percussionist, live, Kenya (Homa Bey), 1996
Vodpod videos no longer available.2011
Tuesday, 5/31/11
favorites
(an occasional series)
She’s going to be a big star someday.
Nneka, live
Vodpod videos no longer available.(Originally posted 2/15/11.)
**********
It used to be that music came from a particular place. No more. Whether it’s Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (the Iranian saxophonist who’s lived in Germany, in Japan, and now in New York City [2/18/10]), or Burkina Electric (whose members come from Burkina Faso, from Germany, and from New York City [by way of Austria] [2/22/10]), or this singer, who’s lived (and has homes) in Nigeria and in Germany, much of today’s most intriguing music has its ears and heart and feet on more than one continent.
Nneka, “Heartbeat”
Take 1: recording/video
*****
Take 2: live, Philadelphia, 2009
*****
Take 3: J. Period Remix, featuring Talib Kweli
(Originally posted 2/27/10.)
2011
Monday, 5/30/11
Today we remember him with a mix of new clips and old favorites.
Gil Scott-Heron, April 1, 1949-May 27, 2011
new clips
“The Bottle,” live, Jamaica (Montego Bay, Reggae Sunsplash), 1983
Cool Runnings: The Reggae Movie (1983)
*****
“We Almost Lost Detroit,” live, Austria (Vienna), 2010
*****
Interview, England (London), 2010
*****
old favorites
Here’s a voice I didn’t know if I’d ever hear again.
Gil Scott-Heron, I’m New Here (out this week)
“Where Did The Night Go” (Gil Scott-Heron)
***
“Me And The Devil” (Robert Johnson)
**********
lagniappe
I’ve had bad times in my life when I’d rather be somewhere else doing something else, for sure. But you get to my age, that shit happens. You get in trouble; you maybe lose some folks—a parent or a friend. Maybe your marriage breaks up, you lose your wife, lose touch with your kid. But what life does not have those things in it?—Gil Scott-Heron (in yesterday’s Guardian)
(Orignially posted 2/8/10.)
**********
I’m the person I see least of over the course of my life, and even what I see is not accurate.
—Gil Scott-Heron (New Yorker, 8/9/2010 [Alec Wilkinson, “New York Is Killing Me”])
Gil Scott-Heron, “I’m New Here” (2010)
(Originally posted 8/24/10.)
**********
It’s a remix world.
Gil Scott-Heron, “New York Is Killing Me” (2010), Chris Cunningham remix
**********
lagniappe
Here’s the original track, followed by a couple more remixes.
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
With Nas
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
With Mos Def
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
langiappe
musical thoughts
In the dark times, will there also be singing? Yes, there will be singing. About the dark times.
—Bertolt Brecht
(Originally posted 12/16/10.)
**********
langiappe
remembrances
Richard Russell (XL Recordings; produced and released GSH’s last album)
