Why not begin the last week of a dark year with sounds of joy?
Paul Motian Trio (PM, drums; Joe Lovano, tenor saxophone; Bill Frisell, guitar), “Misterioso” (T. Monk), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 2005
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
Something sweet for the strangest summer ever.
Bill Frisell (guitar) with Greg Leisz (pedal steel guitar), Tony Scherr (bass), Kenny Wollesen (drums), “Surfer Girl” (B. Wilson), live, France (Nevers), 2014
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
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reading table
Brilliant moon,
is it true that you too
must pass in a hurry—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill
what’s new
“What the World Needs Now Is Love” (B. Bacharach, H. David)
Bill Frisell Trio (BF, guitar; Thomas Morgan, bass; Rudy Royston, drums), live, New York, 7/19/20
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
sounds of New York
What other drummer does so much with so little?
Paul Motian Trio (PM, drums; Joe Lovano, tenor saxophone; Bill Frisell, guitar), “It Should’ve Happened a Long Time Ago” (P. Motian), live, New York, 2005
alone
Bill Frisell (guitar), “Nowhere Man,” “In My Life,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” live, Washington, D.C., 2012
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lagniappe
random thoughts
Of this I am sure: The longer I live the more mysterious—the more unknowable—is life.
joy, n. listening to Paul Motian play Monk.
Paul Motian Trio (PM, drums; Joe Lovano, tenor saxophone; Bill Frisell, guitar), “Misterioso” (T. Monk), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 2005
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Jasper Johns, Corpse and Mirror II (1974-75)
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reading table
up to today
such a healthy singer . . .
katydid—Kobayashi Issa, 1813 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
favorites
“La-La (Means I Love You)” (T. Bell & W. Hart)
Bill Frisell (guitar) with Tony Scherr (bass) & Kenny Wollesen (drums), live, Rochester (NY), 2007
(Originally posted 5/28/10.)
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The Delfonics, 1968
(Originally posted 2/14/12.)
the first voice Whitney heard
Emily “Cissy” Houston (born Emily Drinkard), singer, 1933-
The Drinkard Singers (Cissy Houston, lead vocals), “Lift Him Up,” live (TV broadcast), c. early 1960s
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lagniappe
Live (TV broadcast), 1970
“Be My Baby” (P. Spector, J. Barry & E. Greenwich)
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“I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself” (B. Bacharach & H. David)
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listening room: (some of) what’s playing
• Ambrose Akinmusire, When the Heart Emerges Glistening (Blue Note)
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, Pierre Fournier, cello (Archiv Production)
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier, Glenn Gould, piano (Sony)
• Johann Sebastian Bach, Partitas Nos. 3, 4, 6, Jeremy Denk, piano (Azica)
• Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonatas Nos. 14 (“Moonlight”), 8 (“Pathetique”), 23 (“Appassionata”), Rudolf Serkin, piano (CBS)
• Alfred Cortot, The Master Pianist (EMI)
• Claude Debussy, Pour Le Piano, Etudes Books 1 & 2, Gordon Fergus-Thompson, piano (Musical Heritage Society)
• The Dirtbombs, Ultraglide In Black (In the Red Records)
• Morton Feldman, For Bunita Marcus, John Tilbury, piano (London Hall)
• Morton Feldman, Piano and String Quartet, Aki Takahashi (piano), Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch)
• Mary Halvorson Quintet, Saturn Sings (Firehouse)
• Slim Harpo, The Best of Slim Harpo (Hip-O)
• Paul Hindemith, Benjamin Britten, Krzysztof Penderecki; Kim Kashkashian (viola), Stuttgarter Kammerorchester (Dennis Russell Davies, cond.), Lachrymae (ECM)
• Steve Lehman Octet, Travail, Transformation, and Flow (Pi Recordings)
• Jimmie Lunceford, The Complete Jimmie Lunceford Decca Sessions (Mosaic)
• Guilliaume de Michaut, Motets, The Hilliard Ensemble (ECM)
• Paul Motian Trio (with Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell), Sound of Love (Winter & Winter)
• Mudd Up!, WFMU-FM (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
• Pee Wee Russell, Swingin’ with Pee Wee (Prestige)
• Pharoah Sanders, Karma (GRP)
• Pharoah Sanders, Live (Evidence)
• Giacinto Scelsi, Natura Renovatur (ECM)
• Arnold Schoenberg, Piano Works, Peter Serkin, piano (Arcana)
• Sinner’s Crossroads, WFMU-FM (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
• Craig Taborn, Avenging Angel (ECM)
• Toru Takemitsu, Peter Serkin Plays the Music of Toru Takemitsu, Peter Serkin, piano (RCA/BMG)
• Anton Webern, Complete Music for String Quartet, Quartetto Italiano (Philips)
• Anton Webern, Works for String Quartet, Emerson Quartet (Deutsche Grammaphon)
• Wild Flag, Wild Flag (Merge)
two takes
“La-La (Means I Love You)” (T. Bell & W. Hart)
Bill Frisell (guitar) with Tony Scherr (bass) & Kenny Wollesen (drums)
Live, Rochester (NY), 2007
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The Delfonics, 1968
(First clip originally posted 5/28/10.)
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lagniappe
reading table
And this disease which was Swann’s love had so proliferated, was so closely entangled with all his habits, with all his actions, with his thoughts, his health, his sleep, his life, even with what he wanted after his death, it was now so much a part of him, that it could not have been torn from him without destroying him almost entirely: as they say in surgery, his love was no longer operable.
—Marcel Proust, Swann’s Way (translated from French by Lydia Davis)
more favorites from the past year
passings
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Is any drummer more lyrical?
Paul Motian, drummer, composer, collaborator, bandleader
March 25, 1931-November 22, 2011
Paul Motian Trio (PM, drums; Joe Lovano, saxophone; Bill Frisell, guitar), “It Should’ve Happened a Long Time Ago” (P. Motian), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 2005
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lagniappe
Sometimes he would strip a beat to absolute basics, the sound of brushes on a dark-toned ride cymbal and the abrupt thump of his low-tuned kick drum. Generally, a listener could locate the form, even when Mr. Motian didn’t state it explicitly.
“With Paul, there was always that ground rhythm, that ancient jazz beat lurking in the background,” said the pianist Ethan Iverson, one of the younger bandleaders who played with and learned from him toward the end.
Mr. Motian’s final week at the [Village] Vanguard was with Mr. Osby and Mr. Kikuchi, in September. “He was an economist: every note and phrase and utterance counted,” Mr. Osby said on Tuesday. “There was nothing disposable.”
—Ben Ratliff, New York Times, 11/22/11
(Originally posted 11/23/11.)
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You’re never too young to die.
Amy Winehouse, September 14, 1983-July 23, 2011
“Tears Dry On Their Own”
Take 1: original recording and video (2006)
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Take 2: remix by Organized Noize Dungeon Family (Big Boi)
(released 7/24/11)
(Originally posted 7/26/11.)
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Today we remember him with a mix of new clips and old favorites.
Gil Scott-Heron, April 1, 1949-May 27, 2011
“The Bottle,” live, Jamaica (Montego Bay, Reggae Sunsplash), 1983
Cool Runnings: The Reggae Movie (1983)
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I’m New Here (2010)
“Where Did The Night Go”
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“Me And The Devil” (Robert Johnson)
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It’s a remix world.
“New York Is Killing Me” (2010), Chris Cunningham remix
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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 5/30/11.)
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Lloyd Knibb, drummer (Skatalites, et al.)
March 8, 1931-May 12, 2011
Lloyd Knibb’s importance to Jamaican music can’t be overstated. The inventor of the ska beat at Coxson Dodd’s Studio One, Knibb created a sound that spread like wildfire the world over.
—Carter Van Pelt, host, Eastern Standard Time, WKCR-FM
“Freedom Sound,” live, Belgium (Lokerse Festival), 1997
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Live, Los Angeles, 2007
#1
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#2
(Originally posted 5/18/11.)
