Tuesday, November 28th
what’s new
Björk, “Blissing Me,” 11/16/17
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lagniappe
reading table
Mortality is fatal
Gentility is fine
Rascality, heroic
Insolvency, sublime—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 2 (Franklin), excerpt
what’s new
Björk, “Blissing Me,” 11/16/17
**********
lagniappe
reading table
Mortality is fatal
Gentility is fine
Rascality, heroic
Insolvency, sublime—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), 2 (Franklin), excerpt
what’s new
Talib Kweli, “Traveling Light” (feat. Anderson .Paak), 11/17/17
passings
Warren “Pete” Moore, singer (The Miracles, bass), songwriter, vocal arranger, producer, November 19, 1937-November 19, 2017
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (WPM, far left)
“Tracks of My Tears” (S. Robinson, P. Moore, M. Tarplin), 1965
***
“Ooo Baby Baby” (S. Robinson, P. Moore), 1965
*****
Jon Hendricks, singer, songwriter, September 16, 1921-November 22, 2017
Lambert, Hendricks & Ross (JH scats first), “Airegin” (S. Rollins), live, Newport, R.I., 1960
*****
Tommy Keene, singer, songwriter, guitarist, June 30, 1958-November 22, 2017
Live, New York, 1986
trumpet festival
day four
Miles Davis (with Bob Berg, saxophones; John Scofield, guitar; Robert Irving III, keyboards; Darryl Jones, bass; Al Foster, drums; Steve Thornton, percussion), live, Switzerland (Montreux), 1984
trumpet festival
day three
Lester Bowie (1941-1999), trumpeter—and so much more*
Lester Bowie Brass & Steel Band, live, Italy (Umbria), 1996
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lagniappe
reading table
Together, We All Go out under the Cypress Trees in the Chou Family Burial Grounds by T’ao Ch’ien (AKA T’ao Yuan-Ming), 365-427 A.D. (translated from Chinese by David Hinton)
Today’s skies are perfect for a clear
flute and singing koto. And touchedthis deeply by those laid under these
cypress trees, how could we neglect joy?Clear songs drift away anew. Emerald wine
starts pious faces smiling. Not knowingwhat tomorrow brings, it’s exquisite
exhausting whatever I feel here and now.
*****
Happy Thanksgiving!
This holiday, recovering from pneumonia, I’m more thankful than ever for family, for art, for poetry and, yes, for music.
*****
*Lester is a member of the MCOTD Hall of fame, along with saxophonists Von Freeman and Henry Threadgill; drummer Hamid Drake; gospel singer Dorothy Love Coates; composer Morton Feldman; poets John Berryman, William Bronk, and Wislawa Szymborska; and photographer Helen Levitt.
trumpet festival
day two
Peter Evans (trumpet) & Cory Smythe (piano), International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), live, New York, 2014
#1
#2
#3
#4
trumpet festival
day one
Jaimie Branch’s Fly or Die (JB, trumpet; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Ajemian, bass; Chad Taylor, drums), live, Toronto, 5/6/17
“theme 1,” “. . . meanwhile,” “theme 2”
***
“theme nothing”
passings
Muhal Richard Abrams, September 19, 1930-October 29, 2017, pianist, composer, cofounder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), educator—and arguably one of the most influential figures in American music of the last 50 years
Solo, “Improvisation for John,” New York, 2016
*****
Quintet (MRA, piano; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; Bryan Carrott, vibraphone; Leonard E. Jones, bass; Reggie Nicholson, drums), Italy (Milan), 2016
#1
#2
#3
#4
*****
With bassist Malachi Favors (1927-2004), Sightsong, 1976
*****
Talking, 2016
Was popular music, some of it, anyway, better then—or is any inclination in that direction simply a matter of nostalgia?
Otis Redding (1941-1967), “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” (O. Redding, S. Cropper), rec. 1967 (official video)
Taking another break. Still flu-beaten. At times like these, I’m especially grateful to be in a long marriage (41 years, January). (I’m also grateful, when my wife is ill, to be able to care for her.) Back before long, I hope.