Author Archives: john

I Remember Hubert Sumlin

Posted on January 20, 2012 by john

Hubert Sumlin died last month. He was Howlin’ Wolf’s guitarist from the time Wolf came to Chicago around 1954 to his last performances in the mid ’70s. Those twenty years on the road, in the clubs and on record are … Continue reading →

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Thank You Paul Motian.

Posted on November 22, 2011 by john

       My wife is a Scrabble fanatic. She’s very, very good. I tried, when we first started going out, playing with her a couple times. She whupped me so bad, I quit. In one of our only games, … Continue reading →

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Speaking of Trios:

Posted on November 8, 2011 by john

     I had never seen footage of Paul Motion playing with Bill Evans before (which doesn’t mean there isn’t any, I’m far from systematic about watching jazz videos). But it’s wonderful to see him, here with Chuck Israels in … Continue reading →

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Trio, Trios, Triest(e)

Posted on November 8, 2011 by john

     I’m deep in Trios lately. I’ve waited a long time to perform or record standards in a guitar-bass-drums trio setting, because those songs mean so much to me and are too often taken for granted, and because the … Continue reading →

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Tom Waits’ new album Bad As Me

Posted on October 26, 2011 by john

       Tom Waits’ new CD was released today. I play on two songs on disc two of the “Deluxe Edition”: She Stole The Blush and Tell Me. Much will be made of the famous names that show up … Continue reading →

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pierre boulez, pli selon pli, and me (part one)

Posted on October 12, 2011 by john

The link below is to a video of pli selon pli: Pierre Boulez conducting the EIC and Lucerne Festival Academy with Barbara Hannigan, soprano on September 27, 2011 at the Salle Pleyel. The performance will be available on the web … Continue reading →

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My problem.

Posted on September 28, 2011 by john

 from Janet Malcolm’s profile of photographer Thomas Struth in the current New Yorker:      ”Struth’s invisible cloth of obliviousness was as necessary to his art-making as the actual cloth he worked under. To enter the state of absorption in … Continue reading →

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A serious candidate for the most profound thing anyone ever said to me

Posted on September 27, 2011 by john

      When I was in high school, I had a music buddy whose name I have hopefully temporarily forgotten. We were only friends for about six months, so it’s not the worst sin that I can’t remember his … Continue reading →

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Sarah Wilson at Monterey podcast

Posted on September 22, 2011 by john

www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2011/09/21/140610964/monterey-jazz-2011-sarah-wilson-quintet    At the above link you can listen to the second set from the Monterey Jazz Festival. Sarah Wilson – trumptet and voice; Charles Burnham – amplified violin; John Schott – guitar; Jerome Harris – acoustic bass guitar; Matt Wilson – drums.

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Work!

Posted on September 21, 2011 by john

     …in the best sense of the word. Thursday, Friday and Saturday I played with a group Sarah Wilson put together, culminating in two sets at the Monterey Jazz Festival, taped for broadcast by NPR. I had been really, … Continue reading →

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