In March of 1977, when he was 49 and I was 24 (and newly married),
my father died of a brain tumor; at his funeral, this filled the air.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, “Amazing Grace” (with “Nearer My God To Thee”)
Vodpod videos no longer available.More?
Here (Grandpa Elliott).
And here (Aaron Neville).
three takes
I’ve got a band you should listen to . . .
—my (23-year-old) son Alex
Smith Westerns, “Tonight”
Live, Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania), 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Live, Chicago, 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Recording (Smith Westerns), 2009
Vodpod videos no longer available.Here. And here. And here. And here.
And here.
fringe dress festival (cont’d)
Wanda Jackson, live (TV broadcast [Town Hall Party]), 1958
Vodpod videos no longer available.Music, like people, comes in all kinds. Some is easy to embrace, some thorny. I wouldn’t want to live without either.
Milton Babbitt, May 10, 1916-January 29, 2011
About Time, Alan Feinberg, piano
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
String Quartet No. 2, Composers Quartet
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lagniappe
His music can be playful, too.
Semi-Simple Variations, The Bad Plus
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
If you know anybody who knows more popular music of the ’20s or ’30s than I do, I want to know who it is. I grew up playing every kind of music in the world, and I know more pop music from the ’20s and ’30s, it’s because of where I grew up. We had to imitate Jan Garber one night; we had to imitate Jean Goldkette the next night. We heard everything from the radio; we had to do it all by ear. We took down their arrangements; we stole their arrangements; we transcribed them, approximately. We played them for a country club dance one night and for a high school dance the next.
How many musicians are so at home, and give so much pleasure,
in so many styles?
Marc Ribot, guitar
Border Music, with David Hidalgo (Los Lobos, Latin Playboys)
Live (with Anthony Coleman, organ; Brad Jones, bass; Cougar Estrada, drums; Fabian Hevia, percussion), Australia (Sydney), 6/2/10
“Choserita Plena” (Marc Ribot)
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“Chinese Surprize” (David Hidalgo)
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
Live (with Rob Burger, keyboards; Greg Cohen, bass; Cougar Estrada, drums; with guests Juan Medrano Cotito, cajon, and Hugo Bravo, congas),
Germany, 11/10/09
I can’t make up my mind about the Internet.
Does it make it possible, with simply a click, to travel anywhere in the world?
Or is it just a vast collection of electronic wallpaper?
Are these the right questions?
Baloji, “Tout Ceci Ne Vous Rendra Pas le Congo” (Hotel Impala), 2007
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lagniappe
radio
Having just completed two days of trumpeter Roy Eldridge’s music, WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University) begins a 24-hour Memorial Broadcast honoring composer Milton Babbitt, who passed away Saturday at the age of 94.
Roy Eldridge, January 30, 1911-February 26, 1989
No you, no me.
“I Can’t Get Started,” live (TV broadcast), 1958
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“After You’ve Gone,” 1937
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“Wabash Stomp,” 1937
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
“Let Me Off Uptown” (Gene Krupa Orchestra with Anita O’Day), 1942
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lagniappe
radio Roy Eldridge
WKCR-FM’s centennial birthday celebration, mentioned yesterday, continues until midnight.
They don’t just sing about—they take you on—a journey.
“Heavenly Home (Got to Take a Journey),” live, Langrun Branch Baptist Church, York, South Carolina
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lagniappe
Happy (100th) Birthday, Roy!
For two full days—all day today and tomorrow—WCKR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University) celebrates the birthday of trumpeter Roy Eldridge. (I’m listening as I type this—delicious!)
replay: clips too good for just one day
I’ve tried listening to his recordings while doing something else, but that hasn’t worked. Whatever else I was doing, I just put aside. If it was nighttime, I turned off the light. Some music occupies every available inch of space—there isn’t room for anything else.
Alfred Cortot: Frederic Chopin, “Farewell” (Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 69, No. 1 [excerpt]); Robert Schumann, “Der Dichter Spricht” (Op. 15, No. 13 in G major [excerpt])
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lagniappe
Cortot looked for the opium in music.
—Daniel Barenboim
(Originally posted 7/13/10.)
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If you want to stay right where you are, don’t even bother with this clip. But if, instead, you’d like to go somewhere you may never have been before, well, this might be just the ticket.
Gyorgy Ligeti (1923-2006), Three Etudes, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
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lagniappe
I listen to all kinds of music—new music, old music, music of my colleagues, everything.
—Gyorgy Ligeti (whose influences included not only the usual suspects [Chopin, Debussy, et al.] but also Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans and the Rainforest Pygmies and fractal geometry)
(Originally posted 10/6/09.)
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Want a break from music that’s busy, busy, busy, busy, busy?
Try this.
Here, it seems, almost nothing happens at all.
Morton Feldman (1926-1987), Intermission 6 (1953)/Clint Davis, piano, live, Lexington, Kentucky, 2009
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lagniappe
To almost everyone’s surprise but his own, he [Morton Feldman] turned out to be one of the major composers of the twentieth century, a sovereign artist who opened up vast, quiet, agonizingly beautiful worlds of sound . . . . In the noisiest century in history, Feldman chose to be glacially slow and snowily soft.—Alex Ross
*****
Earlier in my life there seemed to be unlimited possibilities, but my mind was closed. Now, years later and with an open mind, possibilities no longer interest me. I seem content to be continually rearranging the same furniture in the same room.—Morton Feldman
(Originally posted 11/7/09.)
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mail, etc.
Congratulations on your 500th post. I don’t know how you do it but I’m definitely looking forward to receiving your next 500 posts. Thanks for exposing me to so many great artists. Keep the music coming and thanks for what you do.
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Lovely [Gulda/Mozart clip].
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The Sonny Rollins clip was amazing and amazing doesn’t do it justice!
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Oh, my goodness—and in such distinguished company as well! Thank you so much, Richard.
All best,
David [Kirby]
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Richard McLeese checked in with some nice memories about Son Seals. Click here to enjoy them yourself, including a couple of great videos.
Today MCOTD celebrates its 500th post. When this started, I thought I might eventually run out of material. But what I’ve found is the opposite: the more you hear, the more there is to hear.
Percy Sledge, “When A Man Loves A Woman,” live (TV broadcast), c. 1966
Vodpod videos no longer available.
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lagniappe
reading table
Haiku
That was fast.
I mean life.—Ron Padgett
music clip of the day 