what’s new
Who would’ve guessed this would be so good?
David Crosby (1941-) with the Roots, “Long Time Gone” (D. Crosby), live (TV show), 7/16/19
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
One-word review: Wow!
Lauryn Hill with The Roots, live, Philadelphia, 2012
what’s new
The Roots and Bilal, “It Ain’t Fair,” live (Tonight Show), 8/7/17
what’s new
an occasional series
The future of hip-hop?
Odd Future (with The Roots), “Sandwitches,” live (TV broadcast), 2/16/11
Vodpod videos no longer available.**********
lagniappe
reading table
The bad news is the ship hasn’t arrived;
the good news is it hasn’t left yet.—John Ashbery, “He Who Loves And Runs Away” (excerpt; Planisphere [2009])
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radio
WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University) will be playing the music of jazz violinist Billy Bang, who died Monday night, all day.
I could listen to this—just the drum track, even—all day.
Booker T. Jones with The Roots, “Everything Is Everything”
Live (recording studio), The Road From Memphis (5/11 release)
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lagniappe
reading table
spring peace—
after rain a gang war
garden sparrows
—Kobayashi Issa, 1795 (trans. David G. Lanoue)
(Want to improve your life immeasurably? For free? Without side effects? Sign up for Issa Haiku-a-Day. Your inbox never had it so good).
*****
Alcove
Is it possible that spring could be
once more approaching? We forget each time
what a mindless business it is, porous like sleep,
adrift on the horizon, refusing to take sides, “mugwump
of the final hour,” lest an agenda—horrors!—be imputed to it,
and the whole point of its being spring collapse
like a hole dug in sand. It’s breathy, though,
you have to say that for it.
And should further seasons coagulate
into years, like spilled, dried paint, why,
who’s to say we weren’t provident? We indeed
looked out for others as though they mattered, and they,
catching the spirit, came home with us, spent the night
in an alcove from which their breathing could be heard clearly.
But it’s not over yet. Terrible incidents happen
daily. That’s how we get around obstacles.
—John Ashbery (Planisphere [2009])
Happy (81st) Birthday, Ornette!
His sound—his whole approach (simple melodies, vocal phrasing, off-center intonation)—is drenched in the blues.
Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone) with The Roots
Live, London (Meltdown Festival), 2009
#1
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
#2
Vodpod videos no longer available.The tenor player at the end—that’s David Murray.
More Ornette? Here.
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lagniappe
radio
What am I listening to today?
That’s easy—WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University), where it’s all Ornette all day.
three takes
He’s the guy who, early in his career, while an arranger and producer for Curtom Records, brought Baby Huey & the Babysitters to the attention of Curtis Mayfield.
“Little Ghetto Boy” (Donny Hathaway)
take 1
John Legend & The Roots
Live (recording studio), 2010
*****
take 2
Live, New York, 9/23/10
Want more of John Legend & The Roots? Here.
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take 3
Donny Hathaway, live, 1972
*****
lagniappe
Donny Hathaway, “The Ghetto,” live, 1970s
*****
Donny Hathaway died in 1979 at the age of 33. He was a casualty of mental illness. Afflicted with severe chronic depression and ultimately diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he leapt to his death out of a New York City hotel room.
*****
Curtis Mayfield on Donny Hathaway:
To see him there in the studio at about 21 years old, directing all these real big session guys like he’d been doing it for years, was a tremendous sight to see. But he always believed in himself. He always believed in his talent. He wasn’t conceited about it, but he knew he could do anything these guys could do and almost certainly better. I’d have loved to sign him as artist, but it wasn’t to be.
*****
Bassist Christian McBride on Donny Hathaway:
You can tell that he listened to Stravinsky. He listened to Debussy. He was a musician who was the full 360-degree circle.
two takes
“Hard Times” (Curtis Mayfield)
John Legend & The Roots, live (recording studio), 2010
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Baby Huey & the Babysitters, 1971 (The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend, produced by Curtis Mayfield and released, posthumously [the singer died, at 26, in 1970], on Curtom Records)
I must have seen Baby Huey & the Babysitters at least a half-dozen times. In the late ’60s they played the Chicago area teen clubs. Tight rhythm section, punchy horns, soulful vocals—what could be, at 16, a finer date?
music clip of the day 