voices I miss
Ed Blackwell (1929-1992, drums, percussion) with Mal Waldron (1925-2002, piano), Charles Rouse (1924-1988, tenor saxophone), Woody Shaw (1944-1989, trumpet, flugelhorn), Reggie Workman (1937-, bass), live (“The Git Go” [M. Waldron], excerpt), New York (Village Vanguard), 1980s
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago (Columbus Park)
sounds of New York
More of one of my favorite drummers—again at the Village Vanguard.
Ed Blackwell (drums, 1929-1992) with Mal Waldron (1925-2002, piano), Charles Rouse (1924-1988, tenor saxophone), Woody Shaw (1944-1989, flugelhorn), Reggie Workman (1937-, bass), “Git Go” (M. Waldron, excerpt), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 1985
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
*****
reading table
Do you imagine that writers speak ‘as themselves’? No such selves exist.
—Peter Schjeldahl, “The Art of Dying,” New Yorker, 12/23/19
sounds of New York
David Murray Quartet (DM, 1955-, tenor saxophone; John Hicks, 1941-2006, piano; Fred Hopkins, 1947-1999, bass; Ed Blackwell, 1929-1992, drums), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 1986
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
more
Heaven: hearing, together, a favorite drummer and a favorite bassist.
Ed Blackwell (drums, 1929-1992) with Malachi Favors (bass, 1927-2004) and Dewey Redman (tenor saxophone, 1931-2006), “Paris? Oui” (Tarik), 1969
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
voices I miss
This drummer never fails to lift my spirits.
Ed Blackwell (drums, 1929-1992) with Mal Waldron (piano), Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophone), Woody Shaw (flugelhorn), Reggie Workman (bass), “The Git Go” (M. Waldron), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 1985
#1
***
#2
***
#3
voices I miss
Ed Blackwell (drums, 1929-1992) with Mal Waldron (piano), Charles Rouse (tenor saxophone, flute), Woody Shaw (trumpet, flugelhorn), Reggie Workman (bass), live (“The Git Go,” “All Alone,” “Fire Waltz”), New York (Village Vanguard), 1985
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), Irises at Horikiri, 1857
passings
Charlie Haden, bassist, composer, bandleader, August 6, 1937-July 11, 2014
Old and New Dreams (Charlie Haden, bass; Ed Blackwell, drums; Dewey Redman, tenor saxophone; Don Cherry, pocket trumpet), “Happy House” (O. Coleman), live, Norway (Molde Jazz Festival), 1979
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lagniappe
radio
Thank God, once again, for college radio. Beginning tomorrow at 2 p.m. (EST), WKCR (Columbia University) will air a memorial broadcast. Two hours? Three? Nope. They’ll be playing Haden’s music, continuously, until 9 p.m.—Monday.
voices I miss
Drums, too, can breathe.
Mal Waldron Quintet (MW, piano; Charles Rouse, saxophone, flute; Woody Shaw, trumpet, flugelhorn; Reggie Workman, bass; Ed Blackwell [1929-1992], drums), live, New York (Village Vanguard), 1985
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lagniappe
art beat
Bruce Davidson (1933-), New York, 1980
My favorite drummer?
There are days I’d say this is the guy.
Among the many things I love about his playing, which dances, always, is the balance of simplicity and complexity—it’s never more complex than it is simple, never simpler than it is complex.
Old and New Dreams (Don Cherry [1936-1995], pocket trumpet; Dewey Redman [1931-2006], tenor saxophone; Charlie Haden [1937-], bass; Ed Blackwell [1929-1992], drums), live
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lagniappe
reading table
Art is not in some far-off place.
—Lydia Davis, “Extracts from a Life” (The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, 2009)
Who else (besides, of course, Bob Dylan) has played so many different roles so brilliantly?
Miles Davis (with Robben Ford & guest Carlos Santana, guitars), “Burn”
Live, Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, 6/15/86
Listen to stuff long enough and it changes—or you do, anyway. Once I might have faulted this for being repetitive. But that’s a bit like faulting roast beef for being meat. Of course it’s repetitive. That’s part of what makes it soar.
More? Here.
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lagniappe
listening room: what’s playing
• Rashied Ali Quintet, Live In Europe (Survival Records)
• Paul Motian (with Chris Potter, Jason Moran), Lost In A Dream (ECM)
• Charlie Parker, The Complete Royal Roost Live Recordings on Savoy, Vol. 3 (Columbia Japan)
• Eric Dolphy At The Five Spot, Vol. 2 (with Booker Little, Mal Waldron, Richard Davis, Ed Blackwell; Prestige)
• Various Artists, Fire In My Bones: Raw + Rare + Other-Worldly African-American Gospel (1944-2007) (Tompkins Square)
• Reverend Charlie Jackson, God’s Got It: The Legendary Booker and Jackson Singles (CaseQuarter)
• Group Doueh, Guitar Music from the Western Sahara (Sublime Frequencies)
• Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 8 in A Minor, Helene Grimaud, Resonances (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 23 (“Appasionata”) and No. 29 (“Hammerklavier”), Solomon, The Master Pianist (EMI Classics)
• Anton Webern: String Quartet, Six Bagatelles for String Quartet, String Quartet Op. 28, LaSalle Quartet (Brilliant Classics)
• Arnold Schoenberg: String Quartet in D major, LaSalle Quartet (Brilliant Classics)
• Roger Sessions: String Quartet No. 2, Julliard String Quartet (Composers Recordings)
• Morton Feldman: For Bunita Marcus, John Tilbury, Morton Feldman, All Piano (London HALL)
• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Morning Classical (Various)
—Amazing Grace (Various)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
—Give The Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis)
—Fool’s Paradise (Rex, sui generis)
—Transpacific Sound Paradise (Rob Weisberg, “popular and unpopular music from around the world”)
music clip of the day 