Sunday, October 11th
testify!
Vernard Johnson (1948-, alto saxophone), “Only What You Do for Christ Will Last,” live, published 2014
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Tag: Vernard Johnson
2020
Sunday, August 9th
back to church
Vernard Johnson (alto saxophone), live, Texas (Roanoke), 2008
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lagniappe
random sights
this morning, Chicago (Columbus Park)
*****
reading table
At the ancient pond
a frog jumps into
the sound of water—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), translated from Japanese by Sam Hamill
2020
Sunday, March 8th
testify!
Vernard Johnson (alto saxophone, vocals), live, Fort Worth, Tx.
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill
2016
Sunday, June 26th
two takes
“Never Grow Old,” AKA “Where We’ll Never Grow Old” (James C. Moore)
Aretha Franklin, live, Detroit, 1996
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Vernard Johnson, live, 1973
2015
Sunday, April 26th
More of Vernard Johnson.
Live, Roanoke, Tx.
*****
“What Is This,” live (Something’s Got a Hold on Me), Little Rock, Ark., 1981
*****
“I’ve Decided To Make Jesus My Choice,” The Gospel Saxophone of Vernard Johnson, 1974
2015
Sunday, April 19th
In forty years this guy has let me down not once.
Vernard Johnson, “Only What You Do for Christ Will Last,” live
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lagniappe
random thoughts
Blessed to be awakened, again, by birds.
2012
Sunday, 10/28/12
Nearly forty years have passed since I first heard him; still I can’t get enough.
Vernard Johnson, “Amazing Grace,” live, Memphis, 1988
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lagniappe
reading table
Life tears us apart, but through those wounds, if we have tended them, love may enter us.
—Christian Wiman, “Mortify Our Wolves,” The American Scholar, Autumn, 2012
2011
Sunday, 7/3/11
This guy I can’t get enough of.
Vernard Johnson, “Don’t Wait ’Til The Battle Is Over, Shout Now!”; live, TV broadcast (Bobby Jones Gospel)
Vodpod videos no longer available.Time for just one note? 6:23.
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lagniappe
art beat
Lee Friedlander, Cherry Blossom Time in Japan (2006)
*****
reading table
Yesterday, opening my Emily Dickinson collection (The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by R. W. Franklin) at random, I came upon this.
We do not play on Graves —
Because there isn’t Room —
Besides — it isn’t even — it slants
And People come —And put a Flower on it —
And hang their faces so —
We’re fearing that their Hearts will drop —
And crush our pretty play —And so we move as far
As Enemies — away —
Just looking round to see how far
It is — Occasionally ——Emily Dickinson (#599)
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*****
listening room: what’s playing
• Echocord Jubilee Comp. (Echocord)
• Art Ensemble of Chicago, Full Force (ECM)
• Art Ensemble of Chicago, Urban Bushmen (ECM)
• Paul Motian (with Lee Konitz, soprano & alto saxophones; Joe Lovano, tenor saxophone; Bill Frisell, guitar; Charlie Haden, bass), On Broadway Vol. 3 (Winter & Winter)
• Rebirth Brass Band, Feel Like Funkin’ It Up (Rounder)
• Marc Ribot, Silent Movies (Pi Recordings)
• Wadada Leo Smith, Kabell Years: 1971-1979 (Tzadik)
• Charles “Baron” Mingus, West Coast, 1945-49 (Uptown Jazz)
• John Alexander’s Sterling Jubilee Singers, Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb (New World Records)
• Rev. Johnny L. Jones, The Hurricane That Hit Atlanta (Dust-to-Digital)
• Elliott Carter, composer; Ursula Oppens, piano; Oppens Plays Carter (Cedille)
• Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, composers; Maurizio Pollini, piano, piano works (Schoenberg), Variations Op. 27 (Webern) (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Morton Feldman, For Bunita Marcus, Stephane Ginsburgh, piano (Sub Rosa)
• WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University)
—Bird Flight (Phil Schaap, jazz [Charlie Parker])
—Traditions in Swing (Phil Schaap, jazz)
—Daybreak Express (Various, jazz)
—Out to Lunch (Various, jazz)
—Jazz Profiles (Various, jazz)
—Jazz Alternatives (Various, jazz)
—Morning Classical (Various, classical)
—Afternoon New Music (Various, classical and hard-to-peg)
—Eastern Standard Time (Carter Van Pelt, Jamaican music)
• WFMU-FM
—Mudd Up! (DJ/Rupture, “new bass and beats”)
—Sinner’s Crossroads (Kevin Nutt, gospel)
—Give The Drummer Some (Doug Schulkind, sui generis)
—Downtown Soulville with Mr. Fine Wine (soul)
2011
Sunday, 3/6/11
I wouldn’t mind dying if I knew my funeral would sound like this.
Vernard Johnson (alto saxophone), “Goin’ Up Yonder,” “Amazing Grace,” live (service for alto saxophonist Philip Slack [begins at 2:50]), 1/09 (from the forthcoming documentary Walk With Me)
Vodpod videos no longer available.More? Here.
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lagniappe
radio
Greatest radio station on the planet? WFMU-FM, home of the wonderful Sinner’s Crossroads (“[s]cratchy vanity 45s, pilfered field recordings, muddy off-the-radio sounds, homemade congregational tapes and vintage commercial gospel throw-downs; a little preachin’, a little salvation, a little audio tomfoolery”), is a contender. They’re currently in the midst of their annual fundraiser, offering great DJ-crafted premiums. What better way to get rid of that extra dough that’s just taking up space?
*****
art beat
American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White
Art Institute of Chicago (through 5/15/11)
Berenice Abbott, Church of God, New York (Harlem), 1936
