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Tag: Sun Ra

2018

Tuesday, March 20th

spring!

Blossom Dearie (1924-2009; vocals, piano), “They Say It’s Spring” (M. Clark, B. Haymes), 1958


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Bob Dorough (1923-; vocals, piano), “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” (T. Wolf, F. Landesman), 1997


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Sun Ra Arkestra (SR, 1914-1993, piano; June Tyson, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, et al.), “Springtime Again” (S. Ra), live, Rome, 1980

 

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lagniappe

reading table

First day of spring—
I keep thinking about
the end of autumn.

—Matsuo Basho, 1644-1694 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)

 

The lights are going out
in the doll shops—
spring rain.

—Yosa Buson, 1716-1784 (translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)

 

Not very anxious
to bloom,
my plum tree.

—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1827 (translated from Japanese byRobert Hass)

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2017

Friday, April 28th

spring!

Blossom Dearie (1924-2009; vocals, piano), “They Say It’s Spring” (M. Clark, B. Haymes), 1958


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Bob Dorough (1923-; vocals, piano), “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” (T. Wolf, F. Landesman), 1997


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Sun Ra Arkestra (SR, 1914-1993), piano; June Tyson, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, et al.), “Springtime Again” (S. Ra), live, Rome, 1980


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lagniappe

random sights

this morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)

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2014

Tuesday, June 3rd

two takes

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), Prelude in C-sharp minor

Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano roll


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Sun Ra (1914-1993), recording, 1980


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found words

Potentially fatal
dangers lurk in
your backyard

—AOL

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taking a break

I’m taking some time off—back in a while.

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2014

Saturday, May 24th

more

Sun Ra & His Arkestra (with John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, et al.), “Take the ‘A’ Train” (B. Strayhorn), live, Switzerland (Montreux Jazz Festival), 1976

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2014

Thursday, May 22nd

Happy (100th) Birthday, Sonny!

Sun Ra (AKA Herman “Sonny” Blount), May 22, 1914-May 30, 1993, keyboard player, composer, bandleader, singular spirit

Today, celebrating his centennial, we revisit a few favorites.

Sun Ra All Stars (SR, keyboards; Don Cherry, pocket trumpet, vocals; Lester Bowie, trumpet; Archie Shepp, tenor saxophone, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone; Marshall Allen, alto saxophone, percussion; Philly Joe Jones, drums; Clifford Jarvis, drums; Famadou Don Moye, drums, percussion), live, Germany (Berlin), 1983


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Sun Ra & His Arkestra, live, Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, 1974


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Sun Ra Arkestra (SR, piano; June Tyson, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, et al.), “Springtime Again,” live, Rome, 1980


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Sun Ra (piano) & Walt Dickerson (vibraphone), “Astro” (Visions, 1978)


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lagniappe

radio

WKCR (Columbia University): Sun Ra all day—tomorrow, too.

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2014

Thursday, March 20th

spring!

Bob Dorough (1923-; vocals, piano), “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most” (T. Wolf, F. Landesman), 1997


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Blossom Dearie (1924-2009; vocals, piano), “They Say It’s Spring” (M. Clark, B. Haymes), 1958


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Sun Ra Arkestra (SR [1914-1993], piano; June Tyson, vocals; John Gilmore, tenor saxophone, et al.), “Springtime Again” (S. Ra), live, Rome, 1980


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lagniappe

reading table

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King,
But God be with the Clown—
Who ponders this tremendous scene—
This whole Experiment of Green—
As if it were his own!

—Emily Dickinson (1830-1886; Franklin #1356)

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spring rain—
the uneaten ducks
are quacking

—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828; translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)

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2014

Wednesday, February 19th

sounds of Chicago

Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things (MR, drums; Jason Roebke, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tim Haldeman, tenor saxophone), “Wilbur’s Tune,” live, Paris, 2010

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Mike Reed’s Myth/Science Assembly (MR, drums; Tomas Fujiwara, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Ingrid Laubrock, tenor saxophone; Taylor Ho Bynum, trumpet; Mary Halvorson, guitar; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Nick Butcher, electronics), live (rearranging a found Sun Ra fragment [excerpt]), Chicago (Chicago Jazz Festival), 2011

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Mike Reed’s Loose Assembly (MR, drums; Josh Abrams, bass; Greg Ward, alto saxophone; Tomeka Reid, cello; Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone), live (studio performance), Chicago, c. 2009

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If other Chicago musicians are “busy,” what’s Mike Reed? In addition to leading various groups, he owns and operates Constellation, a performing arts center. Then there’s the Pitchfork Music Festival, which this summer will feature, over the course of three days, Beck, Giorgio Moroder, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, et al. He books and produces it.

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2013

Friday, July 12th

D’Angelo (with Questlove, drums; Pino Palladino, bass; Kuumba Frank Lacy, trombone, trumpet; Chalmers “Spanky” Alford, guitar; Anthony Hamilton, vocals, et al.), live, Switzerland (Montreux Jazz Festival), 2000


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musical thoughts

No stage anywhere in the world can compare with the one that exists in the imagination. Where else can you find Jimi Hendrix jamming with Miles Davis? Sam Cooke singing with Smokey Robinson? Sly Stone taking everybody higher with Sun Ra?

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Happy Birthday, Suzanne!

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2013

Tuesday, 1/22/13

soundtrack of a marriage

On my first date with Suzanne, in 1974, we went to Chicago’s Jazz Showcase (then upstairs on Lincoln, just south of Fullerton), where we saw Sun Ra & His Arkestra. With a start like that, how could one ever go wrong? When we got married, on this date in 1977, Von Freeman played at the wedding, with pianist John Young. Years later John told me: “When I marry ’em, they stay married.”

Sun Ra & His Arkestra, live, Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, 1974

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Von Freeman, live (with John Young, piano), “Remember,” Chicago (Jazz Showcase), New Year’s Eve 1983 (according to the clip) or 1979 (according to NPR)

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Want to hear what Von and John sounded like on that cold, snowy night thirty-six years ago, at a church north of Chicago? Here (give it a few seconds). As you’ll hear, they played before, during (the processional was Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood”), and after the ceremony.

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2012

Thursday, 2/23/12

street music

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, New York, 2007

#1 (“Ballicki Bone”)

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#2

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#3

The horn players—all eight of them—are sons of Sun Ra Arkestra trumpeter and AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) cofounder Phil Cohran.

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