John Lee Hooker, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Dinu Lipatti: where else would you find these three artists together, performing back to back, besides a cyberstage?
John Lee Hooker, “Blues For Christmas” (1949)
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Rahsaan Roland Kirk (tenor saxophone, manzello, flute, stritch), “We Free Kings” (1961)
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Dinu Lipatti, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” Johann Sebastian Bach/Hess transcription (1947)
. . . I want to be your Santa Claus even if my whiskers ain’t white.—Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson, “Christmas Eve Blues” (1928)
The French Quarter: the spirit of some places is so strong you can go there, in mind if not in body, just by saying their name.
Rebirth Brass Band, live, New Orleans’ French Quarter, 2008
Yesterday’s clip roamed all over the world. Today we travel to one city, Chicago. This is the Chicago of another era, where, on Sunday morning, on the near west side, on Maxwell Street, you could hear—right on the street—some of the greatest musicians in the world, including this man, one of the finest slide guitar players of all time.
Robert Nighthawk (AKA Robert Lee McCollum; 1909-1967), “Eli’s Place,” live, Chicago’s Maxwell Street, circa 1964
Here’s one of the more intriguing, and inspiring, music videos I’ve ever seen.
Various Artists (Roger Ridley, Grandpa Elliott, Washboard Chaz, Clarence Bekker, Twin Eagle Drum Group, Francois Viguie, Cesar Pope, Dimitri Dolganov, Roberto Luti, Geraldo & Dionisio, Junior Kissangwa Mbouta, Pokei Klass, Django Degen, Sinamuva, Stefano Tomaselli, Vusi Mahlasela), “Stand By Me,” live, various locations
Here’s another well-known artist who started out singing gospel.
The Pilgrim Travelers (with Lou Rawls [singing lead on the refrain]), “Daniel Saw the Stone” (late 1950s)
“Hey, Dad, listen to this . . .”—my 18-year-old son Luke
Mr. J. Medeiros, “Constance”
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lagniappe
wow, somehow i did not know Tommy Johnson [12/16/09], just fine. Luke’s guy [Passion Pit, 12/15/09] was good too.
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Responding a couple days late to your Passion Pit [12/15/09] posting. I was first exposed to Passion Pit last year when my son . . . wrote a paper on the role of bloggers in the distribution of music. He tracked Passion Pit’s hits on My Space in relation to hits on a well-respected music blogger, Stereogum, and a music blogging compilation Hype Machine. Although he started off on the premise that the blogs and internet distribution of music was a new and democratic form of distribution of music, I believe he ended up concluding that the music blogs were just another way to exploit artists. . . . I do not recall all of the details, but there appeared to be a number of examples where a music blog became successful (lots of hits – I couldn’t believe how may, like hundreds of thousands) off of the free distribution of music by up and coming bands. Then the blog was bought out and/or funded by one of the large music/entertainment conglomerates without anything going to the artists.
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i think feldman [12/5/09, 11/7/09] is the discovery i’ve enjoyed most thru your clips (which i consistently enjoy, but much of the other music i know). i played him for my students during the 3-week term, along with an Eno video installation and Malick’s Days of Heaven (still my favorite movie ever). it made for an interesting contrast between the few who appreciated such work and the many who were bored/nervous/offended because “nothing happens.”
Moment for moment, this record, made in 1931 (up north in Wisconsin), remains one of the most astonishing performances in all of blues.
Skip James (1902-1969), “I’m So Glad” (1931, Grafton, Wisconsin [famously covered by Cream on both their first and last albums: Fresh Cream, 1966; Goodbye, 1969])
Here’s another record, featuring another of blues’ greatest voices, that was made in Memphis in the 1920s.
Sleepy John Estes (1899[or 1904]-1977), “The Girl I Love She Got Long Curly Hair” (1929, Memphis)
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lagniappe
i’m standing there watching the parade/feeling combination of sleepy john estes. jayne mansfield. humphry [sic] bogart/mortimer snerd. murph the surf and so forth . . .—Bob Dylan (liner notes to Bringing It All Back Home [1965])
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. . . Bob Dylan stalked [Ry] Cooder for months asking him for advice on how to play one particular Sleepy John Estes lick.—Paul Duane
Old records, where everyone involved is long dead, don’t just appeal to the senses—they’re springboards for the imagination. Here’s a record that was made, in Memphis, over 80 years ago. It features one of the greatest voices in blues.
Close your eyes.
Open your imagination.
They’re just about ready to record.
What’s the room look like?
What’s the last thing they say before they start?
Tommy Johnson (1896-1956), “Cool Drink of Water Blues” (1928, Memphis)
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lagniappe
On the deepest level, a recording . . . is an invitation to time travel, a chance to resurrect the voices of the dead, a way to indulge a deep instinctual yearning to slow the passage of time. With a recording, we can preserve that fleeting moment, and play it again and again, according to our will. In his penetrating book “The Recording Angel,’’ Evan Eisenberg calls record listening “a séance where we get to choose our ghosts.’’—Jeremy Eichler, 12/13/09
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For about twenty years Tommy Johnson was perhaps the most important and influential blues singer in the state of Mississippi. He was one of the few black musicians to whom that much abused epithet ‘legendary’ rightfully applies.—David Evans
