Friday, January 3rd
what’s new
Darkside, live, Paris (Pitchfork Music Festival), 10/31/13
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-), Japan (Kyoto), 1981
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Tag: Lee Friedlander
2014
2013
Thursday, December 19th
Heaven isn’t somewhere else. It’s right here, right now. Don’t believe me? Put on a pair of headphones. Close your eyes. Listen.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Suite No. 5 in C minor for Unaccompanied Cello; Anner Bylsma, live, Germany (Dornheim), 2000
#1
#2 (ends at 9:15)
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-), Kyoto, 1984
2013
Thursday, December 5th
soundtrack to a dream
Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994), String Quartet (1964); Tetris Quartet, live, Thailand (Bangkok), 2012
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-), Japan (Kyoto), 1981
2013
Friday, November 8th
Is any instrument more compelling than the human voice?
Patty Griffin, live, Washington, D.C., 2013
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-)
2013
Tuesday, October 15th
alone
Canray Fontenot, “Bonsoir Moreau,” live, near Eunice, La., 1983
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-)
2013
Thursday, October 10th
alone
Need a jump-start?
Cecil Taylor (1929-), piano, “Looking (Berlin Version) Solo,” live, Berlin, 1989
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
When you are playing, whether you know it or not, you are dancing.
*****
art beat
Lee Friedlander (1934-)
2011
Sunday, 7/3/11
This guy I can’t get enough of.
Vernard Johnson, “Don’t Wait ’Til The Battle Is Over, Shout Now!”; live, TV broadcast (Bobby Jones Gospel)
Vodpod videos no longer available.Time for just one note? 6:23.
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander, Cherry Blossom Time in Japan (2006)
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reading table
Yesterday, opening my Emily Dickinson collection (The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by R. W. Franklin) at random, I came upon this.
We do not play on Graves —
Because there isn’t Room —
Besides — it isn’t even — it slants
And People come —And put a Flower on it —
And hang their faces so —
We’re fearing that their Hearts will drop —
And crush our pretty play —And so we move as far
As Enemies — away —
Just looking round to see how far
It is — Occasionally ——Emily Dickinson (#599)
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listening room: what’s playing
• Echocord Jubilee Comp. (Echocord)
• Art Ensemble of Chicago, Full Force (ECM)
• Art Ensemble of Chicago, Urban Bushmen (ECM)
• Paul Motian (with Lee Konitz, soprano & alto saxophones; Joe Lovano, tenor saxophone; Bill Frisell, guitar; Charlie Haden, bass), On Broadway Vol. 3 (Winter & Winter)
• Rebirth Brass Band, Feel Like Funkin’ It Up (Rounder)
• Marc Ribot, Silent Movies (Pi Recordings)
• Wadada Leo Smith, Kabell Years: 1971-1979 (Tzadik)
• Charles “Baron” Mingus, West Coast, 1945-49 (Uptown Jazz)
• John Alexander’s Sterling Jubilee Singers, Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb (New World Records)
• Rev. Johnny L. Jones, The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta (Dust-to-Digital)
• Elliott Carter, composer; Ursula Oppens, piano; Oppens Plays Carter (Cedille)
• Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, composers; Maurizio Pollini, piano, piano works (Schoenberg), Variations Op. 27 (Webern) (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Morton Feldman, For Bunita Marcus, Stephane Ginsburgh, piano (Sub Rosa)
• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Traditions in Swing (Phil Schaap, jazz)
—Daybreak Express (Various, jazz)
—Out to Lunch (Various, jazz)
—Jazz Profiles (Various, jazz)
—Jazz Alternatives (Various, jazz)
—Morning Classical (Various, classical)
—Afternoon New Music (Various, classical and hard-to-peg)
—Eastern Standard Time (Carter Van Pelt, Jamaican music)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
—Give The Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis)
—Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine (soul)
2011
Sunday, 6/12/11
coming to a theater near you
Rejoice and Shout (2011)
Vodpod videos no longer available.(Yo, Michael—thanks for the heads-up!)
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lagniappe
art beat
Here’s another image from the book featured yesterday.
Lee Friedlander, Kyoto, Japan, 1977
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taking a break
I’m taking a little break (my first since December)—back soon.
While I’m away, why not enjoy, oh, Amadou & Mariam and Ornette Coleman and Hound Dog Taylor and Solomon playing Beethoven’s Appassionata sonata and Solomon Burke and Del Shannon and . . . ?
2011
Saturday, 6/11/11
What would Monday’s featured artist sound like if he’d come along a generation later?
Tyondai Braxton (Anthony’s son), “Dead Strings,” live, 2009
Part 1
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Part 2
Vodpod videos no longer available.More? Here (with Battles, a group he’s since left).
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lagniappe
If you had to take five albums, books or DVDs on tour with you, which ones would they be, and why?
I picked 5 records and they are:
1. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra & Marin Alsop: Takemitsu: The Flock Decsends Into The Pentagonal Garden
Honestly I always take this piece and the score with me on tour everywhere I go. It’s one of my favorite pieces.2. Fela Kuti: Underground System
This record is a force. Infectious.3. Black Dice: Miles Of Smiles
One of my favourites from this band. The mood it creates is wholly its own.4. Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Pierre Boulez: Boulez Conducts Varèse
Varese is where my head has been for the past couple of months. Amériques is such a mind boggling piece.5. The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Choir: Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares 1&2
Another go-to old favorite. Stop what you’re doing and order this right now.For DVDs, the complete Six Feet Under, The Wire and Entourage. Is any other network up to the challenge to even attempt to compete with an HBO series?
Books:
Donari Braxton: The Invisible Alphabet
New novel from my brother. It’s seriously amazing. He seems to have an inexhaustible amount of ideas and has such a great sense of control in his craft. I looked to him and his work when struggling to flesh out my own.Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
Such an incredible book. Ross fed into my already glorified view of the 20th century composers and made them into the lead characters in one of the most compelling stories I’ve ever read.John Adams: Hallelujah Junction
It’s great to hear a very down to earth narration of a composer who you respect.
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art beat
Lee Friedlander, Flowers and Trees (1981) (one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen), Tokyo 1977
2011
Tuesday, 1/18/11
two takes
The other night, as my older son Alex packed up his stuff for the next day’s trip back to school, this played on his computer—over and over and over.
The Mountain Goats, “This Year”
#1: recording (The Sunset Tree), 2005
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
#2: live, Iowa (Ames), 2006
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander, New York City (Self-Portrait), c. 1960(?)
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More Son Seals
Last night I discovered that two of the sets Son played at the Bottom Line in January of 1978 can be heard here and here. The second features a guest
artist—Johnny Winter.
music clip of the day 