protean, adj. 1. Of or resembling Proteus in having a varied nature or ability to assume different forms. 2. Displaying great diversity or variety. E.g., Miles Davis.
Miles Davis Quintet (MD, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Tony Williams, drums), “I Fall In Love Too Easily,” live, Germany (Karlsruhe), 1967
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads(Kevin Nutt, gospel) —Give the Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis, Web only)
—Lamin’s Show (sui generis)
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads(Kevin Nutt, gospel) —Give the Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis, Web only)
—Daniel Blumin
—Cherry Blossom Clinic (Terre T, rock, etc.)
—Antique Phonograph Music Program (MAC, “78s and cylinders . . . played on actual period reproducing devices”)
—HotRod (“Shamanic vibrational love frequencies for the infinite mind,” Web only)
• WHPK-FM(broadcasting from University of Chicago)
Miles Davis Quintet (MD, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Tony Williams, drums), “Footprints” (W. Shorter), live, Sweden, 1967
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Time for just one note? 3:34. (Shorter’s entire solo is a marvel [1:54-3:54]: it’s as intimate and delicate as a dream.)
Who else (besides, of course, Bob Dylan) has played so many different roles so brilliantly?
Miles Davis (with Robben Ford & guest Carlos Santana, guitars), “Burn”
Live, Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, 6/15/86
Listen to stuff long enough and it changes—or you do, anyway. Once I might have faulted this for being repetitive. But that’s a bit like faulting roast beef for being meat. Of course it’s repetitive. That’s part of what makes it soar.
• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Morning Classical (Various)
—Amazing Grace (Various)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads(Kevin Nutt, gospel)
—Give The Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis)
—Fool’s Paradise (Rex, sui generis)
—Transpacific Sound Paradise (Rob Weisberg, “popular and unpopular music from around the world”)
I live in Dakhla [in Western Sahara]. There are other groups in the area, but Group Doueh is the main group for this area. We are the most in demand group for weddings and parties.
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The power of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar is something that is inspirational on so many levels.
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The main group is myself on guitar and tinidit. My wife Halima and friend Bashiri are the vocalists. My son Jamal is the keyboardist. There are also many percussionists that play with us from time to time. Also other singers will perform with us depending on who is available for certain weddings or parties.
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For many years, most of our material was recorded on cassette. I have had many cassette recorders, some two-track, four-track and eight-track models. Now I am able to record digitally to a 16-track model. I am always experimenting to get the best situation. We always record at home and we record all of our performances.
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[T]here really is no [music] industry [in Western Sahara]. I am an industry unto myself. I record music and have two shops that sell music to the community. Most of the recordings are done at home in makeshift studios, and cassettes or CDs are sold throughout the region.
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Paul Cezanne, The Bay of Marselleilles, Seen From L’Estaque, c. 1885
The greatest jazz musicians—Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Von Freeman, et al.—can be identified by just one note. Cezanne’s that way, too. His blues are all his own.
Johnny Cash, “Ain’t No Grave,” 2003 (recorded), 2010 (released)
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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lagniappe
The Johnny Cash Project is a global collective art project, and we would love for you to participate. Through this website, we invite you to share your vision of Johnny Cash, as he lives on in your mind’s eye. Working with a single image as a template, and using a custom drawing tool, you’ll create a unique and personal portrait of Johnny. Your work will then be combined with art from participants around the world, and integrated into a collective whole: a music video for “Ain’t No Grave,” rising from a sea of one-of-a-kind portraits.
Strung together and played in sequence over the song, the portraits will create a moving, ever evolving homage to this beloved musical icon. What’s more, as new people discover and contribute to the project, this living portrait will continue to transform and grow, so it’s virtually never the same video twice.
Ain’t No Grave is Johnny’s final studio recording. The album and its title track deal heavily with themes of mortality, resurrection, and everlasting life. The Johnny Cash Project pays tribute to these themes. Through the love and contributions of the people around the world that Johnny has touched so deeply, he appears once again before us.
The Johnny Cash Project is a visual testament to how the Man in Black lives on—not just through his vast musical legacy, but in the hearts and minds of all of us around the world he has touched with his talent, his passion, and his indomitable spirit. It is this spirit that is the lifeblood of The Johnny Cash Project. Thank you for helping Johnny’s spirit soar once more. God bless.
—New Orleans restaurateur Provino Mosca, quoted in Calvin Trillin, U.S. Journal, “No Daily Specials,” New Yorker, 11/22/10
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radio
Happy Birthday, Hawk!
Today, Coleman Hawkins’ (106th) birthday, the folks at WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University) are celebrating in their usual way—playing his music all day (and then some [’til 9:30 a.m. tomorrow]).
With John Coltrane (saxophone), Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums), Gil Evans Orchestra; live (TV Broadcast), 1959
*****
Take 2
With Wayne Shorter (saxophone), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass), Tony Williams (drums); live (TV broadcast), 1964
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lagniappe
[Many admirers of Kind of Blue] are forced to reach back before the modern era to find its measure. Drummer Elvin Jones hears the same timeless sublimity and depth of feeling ‘in some of the movements of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, or when I hear Pablo Casals play unaccompanied cello.’ ‘It’s like listening to Tosca, says pianist/singer Shirley Horn. ‘ You know, you always cry, or at least I do.’
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Quincy Jones: ‘That will always be my music, man. I play Kind of Blue every day—it’s my orange juice. It still sounds like it was made yesterday.’
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Chick Corea: ‘It’s one thing to just play a tune, or play a program of music, but it’s another thing to practically create a new language of music, which is what Kind of Blue did.’
—Ashley Kahn, Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece (2000)
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