serendipity
Yesterday. Late afternoon, working on an old murder case. Happen upon this: windows open, letting in a breeze.
Mary Halvorson Quintet (MH, guitar, compositions; Jon Irabagon, alto saxophone; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; John Hebert, bass; Ches Smith, drums), “Love in Eight Colors,” “Hemorrhaging Smiles,” live, Washington, D.C., 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
From now on
it’s all clear profit,
every sky.—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), on his fiftieth birthday (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
It must have been a comfort, when she was dying, to be able to say to her son, whose trumpet she’d heard since he was a little boy, these are the songs I want you to play at my memorial service.
Dave Douglas Quintet* with guest Aoife O’Donovan (vocal), “Be Still My Soul” (words by Katharina A. von Schlegel, adapted by Aoife O’Donovan, music by Jean Sibelius, arranged by Dave Douglas), recording session (Be Still, 2012)
*DD, trumpet; Jon Irabagon, saxophone; Matt Mitchell, piano; Linda Oh, bass; Rudy Royston, drums.
most useless label?
world music
indie rock
free jazz
The competition’s fierce.
Mostly Other People Do the Killing (Moppa Elliott, bass; Peter Evans, trumpet; Jon Irabagon, alto saxophone; Kevin Shea, drums), live, London (The Vortex), 7/14/11
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago (after a hearing at the nearby federal court building)
Vincent van Gogh
The Bedroom (1889)
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Self-Portrait (1887)
With van Gogh, the life continually threatens to overtake the art; the challenge is to look with fresh eyes.