like nobody else
Roscoe Mitchell (1940-, alto and soprano saxophone, composition) with Hugh Ragin (trumpet), Tyshawn Sorey (trombone), live, New York, 2015
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lagniappe
art beat: Museum of Modern Art, New York, 3/6/20
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), Chateau Noir (1903-04)
old school
Soul Stirrers (feat. R.H. Harris), “Canaan Land,” 1947
Ever tire of the 21st century?
Me, too.
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), The Bathers, 1899/1904
This I could listen to all day.
John Cage (1912-1992), Dream (1948)
Anton Batagov (1965-, piano), live, Moscow, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Museum of Modern Art (New York)
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), Pines and Rocks, c. 1897
alone
John Cage (1912-1992), In a Landscape (1948)
Anton Batagov (1965-, piano), live, Moscow, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Paul Cezanne, The Bay of Marseilles, Seen From L’Estaque, c. 1885
This, too, I never tire of.
tonight in Chicago
This guy will be playing two sets—one by himself, the other with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz and drummer Frank Rosaly—at the Hideout.
James Falzone (clarinet), live, New Haven, 2014
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago (lunch hour)
Paul Cezanne, The Bay of Marseilles, Seen From L’Estaque, c. 1885
No stage. No microphone. Just heart.
Evangelist Mary Brown and the Spiritual Singers, “I’ll Fly Away,” live, North Carolina (Plymouth, pop. ~4,000), 2011
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lagniappe
art beat: Thursday at the Art Institute of Chicago (after meeting with a client at the nearby federal jail)
Paul Cezanne, The Bay of Marseilles, Seen From L’Estaque, c. 1885
If a stranger, standing next to me in front of this painting, leaned over and whispered, “There’s no better place to be on the planet,” I wouldn’t disagree.
People talk about getting enough of this or that in their daily diet. But what about beauty? There’s an epidemic, unreported by TV, radio, newspapers, of beauty malnutrition.
Lou Harrison (1917-2003), Threnody for Carlos Chavez (1978); William Winant Percussion Group with David Abel (viola), live, Berkeley, Calif., 2010
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lagniappe
art beat: Friday at the Art Institute of Chicago (while waiting for the jury to return a verdict in a trial involving an alleged conspiracy to steal millions of dollars of diamonds)
Paul Cezanne, The Bay of Marseilles, Seen From L’Estaque, c. 1885
The Heart asks Pleasure – first –
—Emily Dickinson (588, excerpt)
Steve Reich, Bang on a Can All-Stars (Robert Black, bass; David Cossin, drums; Evan Ziporyn, piano; Bryce Dessner & Derek Johnson, guitars)
Rehearsal, 2×5 (S. Reich), 2009
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lagniappe
art beat: Art Institute of Chicago
A sea of Cezanne’s blues surrounds The Bay of Marselleilles, Seen From L’Estaque (4/18/11).
Here’s what’s on its left.
Paul Cezanne, Madame Cezanne in a Yellow Chair, 1888-90
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Here’s what’s on its right.
Paul Cezanne, The Basket of Apples, c. 1893
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And here’s what’s on the adjacent wall.
Paul Cezanne, Harlequin, 1888-90
(on loan from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
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I still work with difficulty, but I seem to get along. That is the important thing to me. Sensations form the foundation of my work, and they are imperishable, I think. Moreover, I am getting rid of that devil who, as you know, used to stand behind me and forced me at will to “imitate”; he’s not even dangerous any more.
—Paul Cezanne (last letter to his son Paul, dated October 15, 1906, a week before his death; quoted in Ambroise Vollard, Cezanne)
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Art ______ of Chicago
In the department of duh, after decades of going there and decades of listening to them, I’ve just noticed the verbal similarity between the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
can’t wait
(an occasional series)
Group Doueh, Chicago (Old Town School of Folk Music), 6/26/11
Live, Europe, 2009
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Doueh (guitar), Tony Allen (drums)
Live, rehearsal, Western Sahara (Dakhla), 2010
More Group Doueh? Here. More Tony Allen? Here.
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lagniappe
I live in Dakhla [in Western Sahara]. There are other groups in the area, but Group Doueh is the main group for this area. We are the most in demand group for weddings and parties.
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The power of Jimi Hendrix’s guitar is something that is inspirational on so many levels.
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The main group is myself on guitar and tinidit. My wife Halima and friend Bashiri are the vocalists. My son Jamal is the keyboardist. There are also many percussionists that play with us from time to time. Also other singers will perform with us depending on who is available for certain weddings or parties.
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For many years, most of our material was recorded on cassette. I have had many cassette recorders, some two-track, four-track and eight-track models. Now I am able to record digitally to a 16-track model. I am always experimenting to get the best situation. We always record at home and we record all of our performances.
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[T]here really is no [music] industry [in Western Sahara]. I am an industry unto myself. I record music and have two shops that sell music to the community. Most of the recordings are done at home in makeshift studios, and cassettes or CDs are sold throughout the region.
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art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Paul Cezanne, The Bay of Marselleilles, Seen From L’Estaque, c. 1885
The greatest jazz musicians—Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Von Freeman, et al.—can be identified by just one note. Cezanne’s that way, too. His blues are all his own.
energy + delicacy = kinetic beauty
Rashied Ali, drums
Don Cherry, pocket trumpet
James Blood Ulmer, guitar
Live (TV broadcast, Sweden), 1978
Vodpod videos no longer available.More Don Cherry? Here.
I interviewed Rashied in 2008 just before he died, and he showed me this clip on his Mac. He was psyched that it was up on YouTube.
—YouTube comment
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lagniappe
art beat
Paul Cezanne, Study of Trees (c. 1904)
Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
music clip of the day 