sounds of New York
Why not begin the week with sounds, unheralded in their time, that have proven timeless?
Jazz Composers Collective* plays Herbie Nichols (1919-1963), live, New York, 2019
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
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*Frank Kimbrough (piano), Ron Horton (trumpet), Michael Blake (tenor saxophone), Ben Allison (bass), Michael Sarin (drums).
timeless
Herbie Nichols Trio (HN, 1919-1963, piano; Al McKibbon, bass; Art Taylor, drums), “The Third World” (H. Nichols), 1955
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
sounds of New York
Herbie Nichols Trio (HN, 1919-1963, piano; Al McKibbon, bass; Art Blakey, drums), “The Third World” (H. Nichols), 1955
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lagniappe
random sights
other morning, Oak Park, Ill.
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musical thoughts
Thank you all for listening. Your open ears, open minds, and open hearts are essential to resisting the gathering darkness of our times.
—composer John Luther Adams, 2/18/20 email
Sometimes it takes years—decades even—before you’re really able to hear somebody’s music. The other day, for instance, I put on a CD by this guy, a jazz pianist and composer whose music, which I first encountered 20 or 30 years ago, I’d admired more than enjoyed. I put this on expecting to do some work while it played in the background. But it refused to cooperate. Instead of staying put, it jumped out of the speakers, grabbed me, wouldn’t let go. No work got done.
Herbie Nichols, pianist, composer
January 3, 1919-April 12, 1963
“The Third World”
With Al McKibbon, bass; Art Blakey, drums
Blue Note, 1955
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“Applejackin'”
With Al McKibbon, bass; Max Roach, drums
Blue Note, 1955
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“House Party Starting”
With Al McKibbon, bass; Max Roach, drums
Blue Note, 1955
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lagniappe
reading table
Like so many of life’s varieties of experience, the novelty of a diagnosis of malignant cancer has a tendency to wear off.
—Christopher Hitchens, “Unspoken Truths,” Vanity Fair, 6/11
Feet, hands, voices—spirits, too.
Christian Home Baptist Church Hymn Choir, “Hezekiah—You Got To Die!”
Live, McConnells, South Carolina (Mt. Do-Well Baptist Church), 1994
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lagniappe
serendipity
If you keep your ears open, music turns up unexpectedly. Last month, for instance, I was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I got to talking with a Harvard student who’s from Greenville, South Carolina. He’s studying religion, hoping to be a minister. I told him, referring to performances like the one featured today, that I’d heard gospel music from the Greenville area that I loved. As it turned out, he’d grown up with the music—his grandfather sang in quartets. Now he sings, too.
Damaris Taylor, “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”
Live, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Harvard BSA Apollo Night), 2010
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listening room: what’s playing
• The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Herbie Nichols (Mosaic)
• The Lester Young/Count Basie Sessions (1936-1940) (Mosaic)
• Equal Interest (Joseph Jarman, Leroy Jenkins, Myra Melford), Equal Interest (OmniTone)
• Billy Bang Quintet, Above and Beyond (Justin Time)
• Various Artists, Trojan Box Set: Lovers (Trojan)
• Various Artists, Fire In My Bones: Raw + Rare + Other-Worldly African-American Gospel (1944-2007) (Tompkins Square)
• Ernest Bloch: String Quartets 1-4, The Griller String Quartet (Decca)
• Sviatoslav Richter, Richter Rediscovered: Carnegie Hall Recital 1960 (RCA Red Seal)
• Alfred Schnittke: String Quartet No. 3, The Britten Quartet (Collins Classics)
• 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)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Toothpick Rhythm (Betsey Nichols, country)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
—Give The Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis)
—Downtown Soulville (Mr. Fine Wine, soul)
—Pseu Braun (sui generis)
—Fool’s Paradise (Rex, sui generis)
—Transpacific Sound Paradise (Rob Weisberg, “popular and unpopular music from around the world”)
—Daniel Blumin (sui generis)
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Today MCOTD celebrates its 600th post.
music clip of the day 