sounds of New York
Why not begin the week with sounds, unheralded in their time, that have proven timeless?
Jazz Composers Collective* plays Herbie Nichols (1919-1963), live, New York, 2019
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
*Frank Kimbrough (piano), Ron Horton (trumpet), Michael Blake (tenor saxophone), Ben Allison (bass), Michael Sarin (drums).
testify!
Rev. Al Green, “The Lord Will Make a Way” (T. A. Dorsey), live, Memphis (Full Gospel Tabernacle Church), 1983
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Commonplace miracle:
that so many commonplace miracles happen.An ordinary miracle:
in the dead of night
the barking of invisible dogs.One miracle out of many:
a small, airy cloud
yet it can block a large and heavy moon.Several miracles in one:
an alder tree reflected in the water,
and that it’s backwards left to right
and that it grows there, crown down
and never reaches the bottom,
even though the water is shallow.An everyday miracle:
winds weak to moderate
turning gusty in storms.First among equal miracles:
cows are cows.Second to none:
just this orchard
from just that seed.A miracle without a cape and top hat:
scattering white doves.A miracle, for what else could you call it:
today the sun rose at three-fourteen
and will set at eight-o-one.A miracle, less surprising than it should be:
even though the hand has fewer than six fingers,
it still has more than four.A miracle, just take a look around:
the world is everywhere.An additional miracle, as everything is additional:
the unthinkable
is thinkable.—Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012; MCOTD Hall of Fame), “Miracle Fair,” translated from Polish by Joanna Trzeciak
string quartet festival
day three
Mivos Quartet, Bronx Community College Online Concert Series, 11/30/20: Michaela Catranis, Luminous Animal (2020); Linda Caitlin Smith, String Quartet No. 6 (2013); George Lewis, String Quartet 2.5: “Playing with Seeds” (2017)
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
Old age is
a flight of small
cheeping birds
skimming
bare trees
above a snow glaze.—William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), from “To Waken an Old Lady”
string quartet festival
day two
JACK Quartet (with Conrad Tao, piano), Library of Congress Virtual Event, 12/3/2020*
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
*Program:
1. Rodericus (fl. late 14th century)/Christopher Otto, Angelorum psalat (c. 1390s).
2. Elliott Carter (1908-2012), Duo for Violin and Piano (1973-4).
3. Tyshawn Sorey, Everything Changes, Nothing Changes (2018).
4. Ruth Crawford [Seeger] (1901-1953), String Quartet 1931 (1931).
5. Tyshawn Sorey, For Conrad Tao (2020).
6. Elliott Carter (1908-2012), String Quartet no. 3 (1971).