music clip of the day

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Tag: WKCR

2015

Monday, April 6th

Need a jolt?

Felipe Lara (1979-), Corde Vocale (2006)
Mivos Quartet, live (studio performance), New York, 2013

This I listened to for the first time yesterday. Then I listened again. And again.

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lagniappe

radio

Tuesday is the centennial of Billie Holiday’s birth and WKCR (Columbia University) is celebrating in the best possible way, featuring her music all day tomorrow and, because twenty-four hours just aren’t enough, the next day too.

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taking a break

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

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2014

Monday, December 22nd

genius at play

Henry Threadgill (alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader) leading a master class (excerpt), Big Indian, N.Y. (Creative Music Studio), 2014

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More.

Henry Threadgill and His Very Very Circus, “Too Much Sugar for a Dime,” live, New York, c. 1993

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Today Henry, who’s been lifting my spirits for over three decades, enters the MCOTD Hall of Fame, joining tenor saxophonist Von Freeman, trumpeter Lester Bowie, poets John Berryman, William Bronk, and Wislawa Szymborska, and gospel singer Dorothy Love Coates.

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lagniappe

art beat: more from Friday at the Art Institute of Chicago

Claude Monet (1840-1926), Irises (1914/17)

202092_3185807

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radio

One of my favorite musical events begins tonight: the annual Bach Festival on WKCR (Columbia University), which runs through midnight New Year’s Eve.

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2014

Saturday, July 12th

passings

Charlie Haden, bassist, composer, bandleader, August 6, 1937-July 11, 2014

Old and New Dreams (Charlie Haden, bass; Ed Blackwell, drums; Dewey Redman, tenor saxophone; Don Cherry, pocket trumpet), “Happy House” (O. Coleman), live, Norway (Molde Jazz Festival), 1979

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lagniappe

radio

Thank God, once again, for college radio. Beginning tomorrow at 2 p.m. (EST), WKCR (Columbia University) will air a memorial broadcast. Two hours? Three? Nope. They’ll be playing Haden’s music, continuously, until 9 p.m.—Monday.

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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

Tuesday, April 29th

Happy (115th) Birthday, Duke!

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, April 29, 1899-May 24, 1974
pianist, composer, bandleader

“Black Beauty,” 1928


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“C Jam Blues,” 1942


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“Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,” 1943


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lagniappe

radio

WKCR (Columbia University): all Duke, all day.

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2014

Tuesday, April 22nd

Happy (92nd) Birthday, Mingus!

Charles Mingus, bassist, composer, bandleader
April 22, 1922-January 5, 1979

Charles Mingus Quintet (CM, bass; Eric Dolphy, alto saxophone; Booker Ervin, tenor saxophone; Ted Curson, trumpet; Dannie Richmond, drums) with guest Bud Powell (piano), “I’ll Remember April” (G. de Paul, P. Johnston, D. Raye), live, France (Antibes Jazz Festival), 1960

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lagniappe

radio

WKCR (Columbia University): all Mingus, all day.

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2014

Monday, March 10th

serendipity

This I bumped into yesterday, while taking a break from work (murder case, tax stuff, etc.). I found it enthralling—maybe you will too.

Okkyung Lee (cello), live, Ireland (Cork), 2012

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lagniappe

radio

Today, on the heels of yesterday’s celebration of Ornette Coleman, WKCR (Columbia University) is hosting yet another birthday marathon—this one for jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, born on this date in 1903.

Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra (with Bix Beiderbecke [1903-1931], cornet), “I’m Coming Virginia” (1927)

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