I have become a later life fan of The Cure. Songs of a Lost World is beautiful.
I lose all my life like this
Reflecting time and memories
And all for fear of what I’ll find
If I just stop and empty out my mind
Of all the ghosts and all the dreams
All I hold to in belief
That all I ever am
Is somehow never quite all I am now
—from All I Ever Am
This clip has over 40 million views so It would seem I am late to discover it.
Blown away by the talent and the humanity on display here.
This scene was formative for me. The foreshadowing was palpable, but the scene really hit home after you finished the film. Frankie Valli singing in such a sweet and innocent way…oof.
De Niro, Walken, Cazale.
I found this gem yesterday, buried on Disc 9 of the Bill Evans Complete Riverside Recordings. Zoot Sims is inspired. Jim Hall on guitar, Ron Carter on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums. Tracked it down on YouTube. Perfect for a Sunday morning.
Bill Evans (1929-1980)
It’s been forty-four years since Bill Evans passed. Would it be naive to think in all that time there has been no one to surpass him in the art of jazz piano improvisation? We have seen Keith Jarrett’s improvisational virtuosity and McCoy Tyner’s muscular strides through a set of chord changes. We’ve seen more structurally cerebral players manipulate and experiment with the limits of aural legitimacy, testing out what our ears and brains are willing process as music. Countless great players deserving of our attention.
But for sheer lyricism? As I listen to Evans this morning, I have the sensation that his exploration of melody will leave me deeply satisfied. As if he were saying, “This is a beautiful melody. Let me show you the possibilities it contains while still letting it remain itself. That will be my gift.”
Happy Birthday to the great Art Pepper. (1925-1982)
Here he is on his signature tune Straight Life.
What a gift to start the day this way. Listening to the solo performances from Bill Evans Complete Riverside Recordings.
The finest combination of beauty and genius.
For this morning’s ear bath.
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire and Live at Yale in 1973. Formative for me.
Today’s playlist is going to move in and out of music by Nate Smith, Chris Potter, Dave Holland, and many of the musicians in that universe.
Guaranteed fresh.
I love everything about this, including the audacious/ambitious scope of it.
Samara Joy is a wonder. A fearless singer. Here she is owning Lush Life.
Marking my birthday by getting back on my rowing machine for the first time in a long while. Listening to Anna Tivel.
A cold walk in the dark tonight.
At home today it was obscure Chet Baker and then a few hours of this Joe Henderson treasure.
Out walking I took MBV to try and stave off the cold.
But I should have taken…
Because I ran across…
Let My People Go – Archie Shepp & Jason Moran
Today’s Bandcamp purchase. One of my favorite tenor players and since I did not know about this album (released this month) a big fat fantastic surprise for me.
Isfahan is beautiful but definitely not Johnny Hodges’s interpretation. You can listen to it here for free before you purchase it.
As the ice builds up on my windows this morning, I’m enjoying this beautiful recording. A gem you may have missed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FqKjk7ZLio
A Popeye sort of day today. Here’s a favorite that all you old Jersey rockers might know. Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes…
Blue Diamonds – The Long Winters
The way it works is all the cool kids know about it before it’s even released…
Then everybody else finds out about it. Then there is the cool kid backlash because it’s old news. Then seven years later I trip over it because I’m looking for some geeky code snippet or something.
Here’s “Blue Diamonds” by The Long Winters.
Get it here:
When I Pretend to Fall
The bad axe.
I’m supposed to be a big jazz fan but I realized today I don’t have a single jazz track on my PMP and it’s been that way for a while. Seems like my brain just wants as much pure shred as I can feed it. Jack White just killing ‘Death Letter.’ SRV bringing it in waves on ‘Can I Have A Talk With You.’ (Speaking of which, if you haven’t seen this Son House video, it’s Bad Ass.)
So one thing leads to another and it’s Son Seals. The Bad Axe.
Southside Johnny - I Don’t Want To Go Home. One of my all time favorites.
Facebook is an environment that promotes brevity if not succinctness, and the preferred method of quick self-expression would appear to be the top five list, followed closely by brief questionnaires that quickly associate us with some cultural icon representing our true self. “If this were a parallel fantasy-adventure life you would be Gandalf!”
