sounds of Chicago
Dave Rempis (saxophones), Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), Joshua Abrams (bass), Taylor Damon (drums), live, Chicago (Elastic Arts), 8/31/23
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lagniappe
reading table
this body
still alive
scratching it—Taneda Santoka (1882-1940), translated from the Japanese by Burton Watson
sounds of Chicago
Fresh Palette Ensemble (Hamid Drake [MCOTD Hall of Fame], drums, percussion, voice; Michael Zerang, drums, percussion; Joshua Abrams, bass; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Aoki, taiko drums; Tatsu Aoki, shamisen, conduction; Zahra Glenda Baker, voice; Angel Bat Dawid, voice, clarinet, keyboards; Mai Sugimoto, reeds), live (performance begins at 13:30), Chicago, last night
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
sounds of Chicago
Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly (MR, drums; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Joshua Abrams, bass), live (performance begins at 13:10), Chicago (Constellation), 8/15/20
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, outside Chicago
*****
reading table
Moon in midsky, high
over the village hovels
and wandering on—Yosa Buson (1716-1784), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill
tonight in Chicago
They’ll be playing at the Art Institute, where I’ll be listening.
Peter Brotzmann (tenor saxophone), Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), Steve Noble (drums), live, London, 2014
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago (outside the Art Institute)
sounds of Chicago
Steve Dawson’s Funeral Bonsai Wedding (SD, vocals and guitar; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Jason Roebke, bass; Frank Rosaly, drums), “As Soon As I Walk In” (S. Dawson), 2014
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music and family have provided two of my life’s through lines. As little boys, my brother Don and I would play in the basement, listening, on the brightly lit juke box, to the Everly Brothers (“Wake Up, Little Susie”), and Johnny Horton (“The Battle of New Orleans”), and Gene Pitney (“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”). Soon we were out the door, hearing the Beatles at Comiskey Park, the Velvet Underground at the Kinetic Playground, and the MC5 in Lincoln Park. Still the beat goes on, undiminished by the passing years. Last week, for my sixty-second birthday, Don gave me (what else?) a record—the new album by this guy, Steve Dawson.
alone
Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), “Stake,” live, Chicago, 2009
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lagniappe
reading table
Dream Song 1
By John Berryman (1914-1972)Huffy Henry hid the day,
unappeasable Henry sulked.
I see his point,—a trying to put things over.
It was the thought that they thought
they could do it made Henry wicked & away.
But he should have come out and talked.All the world like a woolen lover
once did seem on Henry’s side.
Then came a departure.
Thereafter nothing fell out as it might or ought.
I don’t see how Henry, pried
open for all the world to see, survived.What he has now to say is a long
wonder the world can bear & be.
Once in a sycamore I was glad
all at the top, and I sang.
Hard on the land wears the strong sea
and empty grows every bed.
sounds of Chicago
Klang (James Falzone, clarinet; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Jason Roebke, bass; Tim Daisy, drums), live (studio performance), 2009
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lagniappe
art beat: the other day at the Art Institute of Chicago
Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Untitled (Purple, White, and Red), 1953
This painting and I have been getting together, several times a year, for decades. Admittedly, our relationship is rather one-sided. But, if anything, its indifference to me only deepens my feelings for it.
sounds of Chicago
Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things (MR, drums; Jason Roebke, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tim Haldeman, tenor saxophone), “Wilbur’s Tune,” live, Paris, 2010
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Mike Reed’s Myth/Science Assembly (MR, drums; Tomas Fujiwara, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Ingrid Laubrock, tenor saxophone; Taylor Ho Bynum, trumpet; Mary Halvorson, guitar; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Nick Butcher, electronics), live (rearranging a found Sun Ra fragment [excerpt]), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 2011
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Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly (MR, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone), live (studio performance), Chicago, c. 2009
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If other Chicago musicians are “busy,” what’s Mike Reed? In addition to leading various groups, he owns and operates Constellation, a performing arts center. Then there’s the Pitchfork Music Festival, which this summer will feature, over the course of three days, Beck, Giorgio Moroder, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, et al. He books and produces it.
heaven, n. a place where each morning you’d be awakened by a different combination of musical instruments.
Living By Lanterns (Mike Reed, drums; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Tomeka Reid, cello, et al.), live, Switzerland (Zurich), 2013
earthy (horns) + ethereal (vibes) = enthralling
Peter Brötzmann (saxophones, tarogato) and Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), live, New York (Le Poisson Rouge), 9/5/12
Part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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Tonight these guys will be at the Hideout, a little club on Chicago’s near northwest side, which is where I’ll be too.
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lagniappe
reading table
Four trees – upon a solitary Acre –
Without Design
Or Order, or Apparent Action –
Maintain –The Sun – upon a Morning meets them –
The Wind –
No nearer Neighbor – have they –
But God –The Acre gives them – Place –
They – Him – Attention of Passer by –
Of Shadow, or of Squirrel, haply –
Or Boy –What Deed is Theirs unto the General Nature –
What Plan
They severally – retard – or further –
Unknown –—Emily Dickinson
music clip of the day 