tonight
I’ll be at the Hideout, a small club on Chicago’s northwest side, seeing this Ethiopian dancer, this baritone saxophonist, and an array of other dancers and musicians.
Melaku Belay (dance), Ken Vandermark (baritone saxophone), Joe McPhee (alto saxophone), Milwaukee, 6/22/13
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lagniappe
reading table
wind blowing
paper fans rustling
rustling—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), 1823 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
passings
Bobby “Blue” Bland, singer, January 27, 1930-June 23, 2013
“I’ll Take Care Of You,” 1959
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“I Pity The Fool,” 1961
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“That’s The Way Love Is,” 1963
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“Call On Me,” 1962
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“Ain’t Nothing You Can Do,” 1964
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“Turn On Your Love Light,” 1961
two takes
“A House Is Not A Home” (B. Bacharach & H. David)
Luther Vandross (1951-2005), live, 1988
*****
Ronald Isley (1941-) & Burt Bacharach, TV show, 2004
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lagniappe
reading table
This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to Me –—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), #519 (excerpt)
Stevie testifies.
Stevie Wonder, “I Won’t Complain,” Luther Vandross’s funeral, New York (The Riverside Church), 2005
(Originally posted 10/11/09.)
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lagniappe
reading table
I hear new news every day, and those ordinary rumours of war, plagues, fires, inundations, thefts, murders, massacres, meteors, comets, spectrums, prodigies, apparitions, of towns taken, cities besieged in France, Germany, Turkey, Persia, Poland, &c., daily musters and preparations, and such like, which these tempestuous times afford, battles fought, so many men slain, monomachies, shipwrecks, piracies and sea-fights; peace, leagues, stratagems, and fresh alarms. A vast confusion of vows, wishes, actions, edicts, petitions, lawsuits, pleas, laws, proclamations, complaints, grievances are daily brought to our ears.
—Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621)
If I had a dollar for every guitar player I’ve ever heard who had an original sound and approach, I probably couldn’t afford dinner.
David Fiuczynski Group,* live, New York, 2010
#1
#2
#3
*DF, guitar; Rudresh Mahanthappa, alto saxophone; John Medeski, keyboards; David Ginyard, bass; Skoota Warner, drums.
old school
The Miracles (AKA, beginning in 1965, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles), live (TV shows), 1960s
“You Really Got A Hold On Me”
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“Ooo Baby Baby” (AKA “Ooh Baby Baby”)
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lagniappe
reading table
As life proceeds, and the long journey is recognised for what it is, the look that is cast back unconsciously falsifies. That there were winters is a fact which is discarded, seemingly forgotten. And the longing for more summer, more life, intensifies as the dark days wear on, as if light and life have become interchangeable, as perhaps they are.
—Anita Brookner, Dolly
In a world this fast what you need, sometimes, is something this slow.
Shirley Horn (1934-2005), “Summer (Estate)” (B. Martino & B. Brighetti), live, Switzerland (Bern), 1990
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Space is a valuable commodity in music. Too many musicians rush through everything with too many notes. I need time to take the picture. A ballad should be a ballad. It’s important to understand what the song is saying, and learn how to tell the story. It takes time. I can’t rush it. I really can’t rush it.
*****
art beat: more from the other day at the Art Institute of Chicago
Statuette of a Female Figure
Cycladic, probably from the island of Keros
Early Bronze Age, 2600/2400 B.C.
serendipity
Last night, while I was doing some law work, these guys—I’d never heard of them before—jumped out of the radio.*
Los Pirañas, “Bambo Ha Muerto Devorado Por El Pecado (Version Alterna),” live, Colombia (Bogotá), 2011
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lagniappe
reading table
I am not poor, I am not rich, nothing’s here but nothing’s lacking, I have little, I want nothing: all my treasure is in Minerva’s tower.
—Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621)
*****
*Give the Drummer Some (WFMU-FM [Give the Drummer Radio Stream] Tues., 6-7 p.m.; Fri., 9 a.m.-noon [EST]).
two takes
Music for Airports, “1/1” (B. Eno, R. Davies, R. Wyatt)
Bang on a Can All-Stars, live, Düsseldorf Airport (Germany), 2011
*****
Brian Eno, recording, 1978
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago (while waiting for the jury in my federal bribery-conspiracy trial to return a verdict, which, alas, they did)
Bowl, 150/50 B.C.
Greek, Hellenistic, Eastern Mediterranean
Glass, mosaic technique
last night
He opened his show, at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, with this.
Daniel Lanois, “The Maker” (D. Lanois), live, Toronto, 2012*
*With James Wilson (bass), Brian Blade (drums).
music clip of the day 