music clip of the day

jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more

Tag: Kay Ryan

Thursday, 9/22/11

You’re probably in the same boat—no MacArthur “genius” grant this year. Oh, well. These folks, unlike you and me, are half a million dollars richer than they were Monday.

Dafnis Prieto (b. 1974), drummer, composer

Proverb Trio: DP, drums; Kokayi, vocals; Jason Lindner, keyboards
Live, Puerto Rico (San Juan), 8/1/11

Vodpod videos no longer available.

*****

Alisa Weilerstein (b. 1982), cellist

Zoltán Kodály, Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 (1915), excerpt (1st Mvt.)
Live, Massachusetts (Worchester, College of Holy Cross),  c. 2008

Vodpod videos no longer available.

*****

Kay Ryan (b. 1945), poet

We’re Building the Ship as We Sail It

The first fear
being drowning, the
ship’s first shape
was a raft, which
was hard to unflatten
after that didn’t
happen. It’s awkward
to have to do one’s
planning in extremis
in the early years—
so hard to hide later:
sleekening the hull,
making things
more gracious.

The Niagara River

However carved up
or pared down we get,
we keep on making
the best of it as though
it doesn’t matter that
our acre’s down to
a square foot. As
though our garden
could be one bean
and we’d rejoice if
it flourishes, as
though one bean
could nourish us.

Wednesday, 5/18/11

 passings
(an occasional series)

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

Skatalites, “Freedom Sound,” live, Belgium (Lokerse Festival), 1997

http://youtu.be/_lsJY4ymYAA

***

Skatalites, “Latin Go Ska,” live, Los Angeles, 2007

***

Skatalites, live, Los Angeles, 2007

***

Skatalites, “(Straighten Up And) Fly Right”

**********

lagniappe

reading table

Spring

It would be
good to shrug
out of winter
as cicadas do:
look: a crisp
freestanding you
and you walking
off, soft as
new.

—Kay Ryan