If you’re looking for sunshine, you’ll have to go elsewhere.
This is one of the saddest, darkest, most chilling things I know.
Nina Simone, “Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair”
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lagniappe
reading table
[L]ife needs a lot of imaginative fixing, since it regularly fails to provide us with wild adventure and comfortable closure. ‘In life,’ Proust wrote in a notebook, ‘novels don’t finish.'”
—Michael Wood, “At the Movies,” London Review of Books, 1/5/12
Yesterday we left off in 1977; let’s fast-forward 33 years.
Von Freeman (tenor saxophone), with Mike Allemana (guitar), Matt Ferguson (bass), Michael Raynor (drums); “Lester Leaps In,” live, Chicago (New Apartment Lounge, 75th St.), 2010
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This year, as I’ve mentioned before, Von was awarded, along with bassist Charlie Haden, singer Sheila Jordan, trumpeter Jimmy Owens, and drummer Jack DeJohnette, an NEA (National Endowment of the Arts) Jazz Masters Fellowship—“the highest honor that our nation bestows on jazz artists.” Here’s the NEA’s video tribute.
With voices like these who needs microphones?
Davis Sisters, “On the Right Road,” live (TV Broadcast), c. 1964
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my back pages
Thirty-five years ago tonight—how could I possibly begin a sentence “thirty-five years ago tonight” and be referring to something that happened when I was, at least nominally, an adult? Well, this actually happened that night so I guess it must be possible. On that cold, clear January night, at a small church thirty miles north of Chicago, Suzanne and I were married. Yes, there was music. Tenor saxophonist Von Freeman and pianist John Young (now gone) played before and after the ceremony. The processional was Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood,” played by Von alone. What did all this sound like? Thanks to my friend (and ace recording engineer) James C. Moore, these sounds can be heard, thirty-five years later, here (M4A—give it a few seconds).
passings
Etta James, singer, January 25, 1938-January 20, 2012
“I’d Rather Go Blind”
Live, Austin, Tx. (Austin City Limits), 2005
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Recording (1967)
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She was discovered, as a teenager, by yesterday’s featured artist; he produced her first record, which was a hit.
Etta James, “Roll With Me Henry” (AKA “The Wallflower”)
Produced by Johnny Otis, 1954
passings
Johnny Otis, December 28, 1921-January 17, 2012, singer, songwriter, piano player, bandleader, disc jockey, TV host, etc.
“Willie and the Hand Jive” (The Johnny Otis Show), c. late 1950s
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Genetically, I’m pure Greek. Psychologically, environmentally, culturally, by choice, I’m a member of the black community.
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Society wants to categorize everything, but to me it’s all African-American music. The music isn’t just the notes, it’s the culture—the way Grandma cooked, the way Grandpa told stories, the way the kids walked and talked.
Tim Hecker, “The Piano Drop” (Ravedeath, 1972), 2011*
The First MIT Baker House Piano Drop, 11/1972
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random thoughts
Suppose you had to assign a number: what percentage of your daily life do you understand?
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*One of the year’s top 10 albums—Ben Ratliff (New York Times).
He does covers, too.
“Pale Blue Eyes” (L. Reed)
Alejandro Escovedo, live, Paris, 2007
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Velvet Underground (The Velvet Underground, 1969)
keep on dancing
Theo Parrish (Detroit-based DJ/producer), live, Spain (Madrid), 2010
#1
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#2
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#3
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#4
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musical thoughts
[I]f you think about it, sound behaves a lot like sculpture except there’s a time limit. Look at that sculpture right there behind you. You look at it and there’s a front, a back, an up, a down, around and through. So you’re talking about volume. You’re talking about spatial relationships.
The thing about sound is that there is a beginning and there is usually an end, there’s a certain amount of space that it takes up, but the big difference is that all of that is merely alluded to. It’s not something that’s concretely in front of you. It’s fluid. You may hear a snare, but the way that it’s presented and the textures that it has, you can bring certain mental images to it. If you’re listening. If you’re listening.
A lot of times you’ll put something on and it’s just another track, but if you’re listening to it you can hear a lot of the nuances that are in there and really start to understand . . . start to really get your head around it . . .
Repetition kind of sets a certain mass in a song. That’s a constant, that’s something you can ‘see’ all the time. Then there’s little bits that come in and out and these changes that kinda shift on that pivot. If you think of it visually, sometimes you’re dealing with almost a mobile-like thing. This is where I go in my head sometimes. Mobile means shifting, spinning, all kinds of stuff.
If you look at it, it could almost be like sculpting air. It’s like you have all of these shapes . . . but you have to rely on a structure, but then again you really don’t have to. So your structure tends to be your time limit—how long your recording is from beginning to end. Anything that happens in that amount of time is on you. Totally up to your creativity.
The other night my son Alex took me—this was my Christmas present—to see this guy at a small concert hall on the north side of Chicago (Old Town School of Folk Music). We’d last seen him together 20 years ago, in 1992, at a little club not far from where we live (FitzGerald’s). Alex wasn’t even five years old. It was an early evening set, part of a big Fourth of July festival. The night was stormy. The power went out. He played by candlelight.
Alejandro Escovedo (1951-), singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader
“Anchor” (A. Escovedo & C. Prophet)
Live, Austin, Tx., 2010
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“Always a Friend” (A. Escovedo & C. Prophet)
Live (with Bruce Springsteen), Asbury Park, N.J., 2010
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“Tender Heart” & “Street Songs” (A. Escovedo & C. Prophet)
Live, Austin, Tx., 2010
gospel longa, politics brevis
These folks were singing long before Mitt, Newt, et al. hit town. And they’ll be singing long after they’re gone.
“If I Die Before I Wake,” Mt. Do-Well Baptist Church, McConnells, S.C.
Led by Brown’s Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, Chester, S.C.
music clip of the day 