Monday, February 26, 2007

while I watch the snow melt...

A brief update today- I'm hoping to post some useful thoughts about music for the upcoming gig tomorrow. In the meantime...

Last evening was spent in the pleasant company of the Bad Plus. (Thanks again, Ethan) It was a good time and a great crowd. I can't add much to my previous review, except:

Ethan's suit was great - he looked really dapper.
I heard the now (nearly) legendary "Tom Sawyer" and "Teen Spirit" covers. I liked the Nirvana a lot, but I'm afraid I still can't stand Rush, despite Dave King's recent defense of the band in their blog.
That said, David King is all that and a bag of Tostitos Scoops!

Mwanji, don't go! Okay go- everyone deserves a vacation. He leaves us an intriguing postcard- an interview with Ken Vandermark. I plead ignorance on Vandermark's music- another gig prevented me from seeing his recent Boston hit.

Wiki seems to be the theme of the week- check out Darcy's exploration of musicology, conservopedia style. Sigh, when did conservatism become an intellectual vacuum. It wasn't always so. And the overtly political blog in Darcy's two blog household is featured prominently on Salon today, as Lindsay Beyerstein expains why she didn't take a job with John Edwards' campaign.

I've been entranced lately by several performances from David Sanborn's late, great NightMusic show on Youtube. If you go to Youtube and search "NightMusic" (one word), you get some great stuff, all over the map musically. Some of my favorites:

Miles playing Hannibal. I'm not 100% sure, but it sure looks and sounds like Marcus Miller on bass.
Pharoah Sanders playing Thembi.
Charlie Haden and the Liberation Music Band: Sandino and the ANC anthem. I actually like Makada's solo more here than on the album, though no one comes close to touching Dewey's energy here.
Tim Berne and band. This comes recommended by Ethan. And check out Joey Baron's glasses!
The great Leonard Cohen. and againwith the equally great Sonny Rollins. I love Sonny's solo (the one inside the tune here. Such an unlikely, and effective, pairing. (Thanks to Dominique Eade for pointing me to this one.)
Abbey Lincoln sings First Song. The albm this is from, "The World is Falling Down", was my introduction to Abbey, and it may not be her best, but it's my favorite. God she sings this song beautifully. And possibly the best Sanborn solo I've ever heard.

Other suggestions are appreciated.

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