never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor; Hidemi Suzuki (cello), live, Netherlands (Amsterdam), 2017
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lagniappe
radio
Speaking of “never enough,” the annual Bach Festival on WKCR-FM (Columbia University)—one of my favorite musical events of the year—runs through midnight New Year’s Eve.
Happy (124th) Birthday, Duke!
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, April 29, 1899-May 24, 1974, pianist, composer, bandleader
“Black Beauty” (D. Ellington), two takes
Solo piano, rec. 1928 (New York)
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With his orchestra, rec. 1960 (Los Angeles)
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lagniappe
radio
All Duke, all day: WKCR-FM (Columbia University).
never enough
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Piano Partita No. 2 in C minor: Martha Argerich (1941-, piano), live, Germany (Görlitz Synagogue, Lausitz Festival), 10/13/20
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lagniappe
radio
Again it comes, one of my favorite musical events of the year: all Bach, all the time, until 11:59 p.m., December 31st—Bachfest 2022, WKCR (Columbia University).
like nothing else
“Old Man Dancing” (Carla Bley, 1936-): Chet Doxas (clarinet, tenor saxophone), Carla Bley (piano), Karen Mantler (keyboard), Steve Swallow (bass), 2020
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
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reading table
This is the point in prefaces where I customarily say something nice about my wife. This time, however, I can’t think of anything that even comes anywhere near doing her justice. Her name is Susan Patek Booth.
Berkeley, California
May 3, 1997—Stephen Booth (1933-2020), from Precious Nonsense: The Gettysburg Address, Ben Jonson’s Epitaphs on His Children, and Twelfth Night (1998)
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radio
Today, Thelonious Monk’s birthday, it’s all Monk, all day at WKCR (Columbia University).
Tonight, at 1 a.m. (EST), one of the year’s great musical events begins: the annual Bach Festival—now in its 40th year—broadcast on WKCR-FM (Columbia University). All Bach, all the time, until midnight New Year’s Eve. Hope, beauty, inspiration: they aren’t luxuries; they’re necessities.
Johann Sebastian Bach, Mass in B minor (excerpt, “Dona nobis pacem”); Berlin Philharmonic (Ton Koopman, cond.) with RIAS Chamber Choir (Justin Doyle, chorus master), live, Berlin, 10/28/17
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Johann Sebastian Bach, Cello Suite No. 6 in D major; Mischa Maisky (cello), live
MCOTD Hall of Fame
William Parker’s In Order To Survive (WP, bass, composition; Hamid Drake, drums, MCOTD Hall of Fame;* Lewis Barnes, trumpet; Rob Brown, alto saxophone; Cooper-Moore, piano), “Criminals in the White House,” live, New York, 2013
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radio
Today—his birthday—it’s all Ornette Coleman all day on WKCR-FM (Columbia University).
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*With saxophonists Von Freeman and Henry Threadgill; trumpeter Lester Bowie; gospel singer Dorothy Love Coates; composer Morton Feldman; poets John Berryman, William Bronk, and Wislawa Szymborska; and photographer Helen Levitt.
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Partita in A minor for Solo Flute; Sandra Miller (flute), live, New York, 2013
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lagniappe
radio
Bach Festival, WKCR-FM (see 12/22/16 post): Day Nine (alas, the last).
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reading table
The only response
to a child’s grave is
to lie down before it and play dead—Bill Knott (1940-2014)
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Cello Suite No. 6 in D major, excerpt (Sarabande); Paolo Pandolfo, viola da gamba
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lagniappe
radio
Bach Festival, WKCR-FM (see 12/22/16 post): Day Seven.
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random sights
this morning, Oak Park, Ill.
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Goldberg Variations (excerpt); Glenn Gould (1932-1982), piano, live (studio performance), 1981
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lagniappe
radio
Bach Festival, WKCR-FM (see 12/22/16 post): Day Six.
more
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007), cello
If I had to list a dozen recordings I couldn’t live without, surely a set of Bach’s cello suites would be among them. I first heard them in the early ’70s, when I was in college—and I’ve been living with them ever since.
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lagniappe
radio
Bach Festival, WKCR-FM (see yesterday’s post): Day One.
music clip of the day 