Thankful I am, two days before Thanksgiving, for things that sound unlike anything I’ve ever heard before.
Horatiu Radulescu (1942-2008), String Quartet No. 5 (“before the universe was born”); JACK Quartet, live, Los Angeles, 2011
Why not begin the week with something beautiful?
John Cage (1912-1992), In a Landscape (1948); Shira Legmann (piano), live, Boston
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lagniappe
reading table
Winter garden,
the moon thinned to a thread,
insects singing.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694; translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
Back to church.
Whitney Houston (1963-2012), “God Will Take Care of You,” live (11:35-16:35), Evangelical Fellowship Church (Dr. Fred Jenkins Jr.), Pleasantville, N.J., 1998
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, 1980
never enough
Sometimes, it seems, nothing is more precious than clarity.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Partita No. 2 in C minor
Tatiana Nikolayeva (1924-1993), piano
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lagniappe
reading table
The hill I see
Every day
Is holy—Samuel Menashe (1925-2011)
Insomniacs of generations past could never have imagined a world where an unwelcome awakening would yield a jewel like this.
Four Tet (AKA Kieran Hebden), live, Paris, 11/1/14
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lagniappe
found words
Don’t Postpone Joy!
—album title (Joe McPhee Survival Unit III)
alone
Masayoshi Fujita, “Snow Storm,” 2012
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lagniappe
reading table
early winter seclusion—
whose thin smoke
over there?—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
tonight in Chicago
These guys will be playing at Constellation.
Frode Gjerstad Trio (FG, reeds; Jon Rune Strøm, bass; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums)
Live, Poland (Poznan), 2012
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Live, New York, 2012
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lagniappe
random thoughts
What’s surprising isn’t that we die: it’s that we live.
four takes
“Lulu’s Back In Town” (A. Dubin, H. Warren)
Fats Waller (studio recording), 1935
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Art Tatum (live), 1935
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Thelonious Monk (live, Paris; Charlie Rouse [tenor saxophone], Larry Gales [bass], Ben Riley [drums]), 1966
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Jason Moran (live, New York [East Village apt.]), 2011
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, c. 1940
sounds of Niger
Group Inerane, live, Scotland (Glasgow), 2011
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday afternoon, Rito y Recuerdo: Day of the Dead, National Museum of Mexican Art (1852 W. 19th St., Chicago; through December 14th)
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onstage: last night, Happy Days (Samuel Beckett), Theatre Y (2649 N. Francisco Ave., Chicago; through November 23rd)
Sometimes I hear sounds. But not often. They are a boon, sounds are a boon, they help me . . . through the day. The old style! Yes, those are happy days, when there are sounds. When I hear sounds.
—Winnie
Before Jerry Lee, before Little Richard, there was . . .
Arizona Dranes (c. 1891-1963), “My Soul Is a Witness for the Lord,” 1926
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lagniappe
art beat
Danny Lyon (1942-), Albany, Ga. (Shiloh Baptist Church), 1962
music clip of the day 