only rock ’n’ roll
Del Shannon (1934-1990), “Runaway,” live (with Tom Petty, guitar; Phil Seymour, tambourine, et al.), 1978
alone
Ran Blake (1935-), pianist, composer, teacher, MacArthur “genius” grant winner
Above the Sadness (trailer), 2011
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Live, “Over the Rainbow,” Portugal (Lisbon), 2010
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Live (at home), 2001
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lagniappe
reading table
‘[L]ife holds thee; not thou it.’
—Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby Dick
passings
Bunny Rugs (AKA Bunny Clarke, William Clarke), singer
February 6, 1948-February 2, 2014
Live (with Sly & Robbie), “Revolution,” “Love Is Blind,” New York, 2013
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Live (with Third World), “Now That We Found Love,” Los Angeles, 2013
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Recording (Lee Perry, prod.), “Be Thankful,” 1975
Silver Quintette, “Sinner’s Crossroads” (1956)
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Bessemer Sunset Four, “I Feel Like My Time Ain’t Long” (1930)
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Dixie Hummingbirds, “Every Knee Surely Must Bow” (1946)
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Famous Davis Sisters, “I Want To Be More Like Jesus” (1957)
*****
What do these tracks have in common? All were featured the other night on Sinner’s Crossroads, arguably (to these ears, anyway) the best show on radio. It airs Thursday night, from 8 to 9 p.m. (EST), on mighty WFMU-FM. Not only can you hear it live; every show is archived and remains available on-line. To my mind there’s no better gateway to gospel music.
a gathering of birds
Evan Parker Quartet (EP, soprano saxophone; Peter Evans, trumpet; John Russell, guitar; John Edwards, bass), live, London, 2009
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music offers a way out of our little cluttered closet.
yesterday
Snowy fields, bare trees, big sky: as my son Luke, now twenty-two, drives us from a family gathering in Nebraska to his place in Kansas City, these are some of the sounds that fill the car.
Pusha T, “40 Acres” (feat. The Dream), 2013
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J. Cole, “Killers,” 2011
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Lil Wayne, “I Miss My Dawgs,” 2011
*****
taking a break
Back in a while.
alone
Mississippi Fred McDowell, “Wished I Was In Heaven Sitting Down”
Live, Mississippi (Como), 1959
sounds of Chicago
Michael Zerang and the Blue Lights (MZ, drums; Mars Williams, alto saxophone; Dave Rempis, baritone saxophone; Josh Berman, cornet; Kent Kessler, bass), live, Chicago (Hideout), 2013
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lagniappe
reading table
Now, in general, Stick to the boat, is your true motto in whaling; but cases will sometimes happen when Leap from the boat, is still better.
—Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby-Dick
Feeling glum?
No more.
Orphic Oxtra, live, Iceland (Reykjavik), 2011
“Kebab Diskó”
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“Orfeus Bekonovitsjí Polka!”
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“Viiinur”
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), Why Patterns?; California EAR Unit (Dorothy Stone, flute; Arthur Jarvinen, glockenspiel; Gaylord Mowrey, piano), 1991
His music makes so much use of space it seems to keep going even after the sounds have stopped.
music clip of the day 