Up 7, left at 8. Therapy. Lunch. Worked at Schomburg from 12-7. Started reading a paper on pictorial representation by a philosopher I’ve arranged to trade drafts with. Saw a program of Anthony Coleman’s chamber music at the Stone - solo and duo string pieces, a sax/drums/piano[and organ] trio, and a piano/accordion/violin trio he wrote for his 60th b-day. Particularly like the last 2, made up of short sections that accrete into something larger w/o straining for development. Made my 15 min. “charts” quota before the concert started, by writing in the time signature changes and most of the chords for “Untimely Beggar” (from memory, yet). Listened to some Verlaines on the way home. Read a few pages of Shepard and Wick, but I’m bogged down. Home, lights out 12:30.
june 17
Late start. Maybe 40 min. on horn chart in late am; book work 3-7 at Lincoln Center. Read Ron Padgett’s very short book Among the Blacks (a translation of the Roussel story, an unguarded essay on RP’s own experience of race, and an afterword; the diptych organization has something to do in my mind with his poem “Tulsa.” Talked to Laura about rehearsal schedule on the way home. Played through “Daisy Bell,” “Pebble on the Beach,” other 19th c. songs. Read about 10 p. of Paul Steinbeck, A Message to Our Folks, a seriously researched history/analysis of the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Looks great - learned in the first pages that Malachi Favors’s parents and uncle were part of one the founding family of the Church of God In Christ in Chicago (the sanctified denomination that produced Sister Rosetta). No other significant reading/listening - online too much overall.
jun 16
Up 8. Got out a little after 9:30, took an annoyingly long time to get a bagel at a bakery en route to subway. Worked maybe 90 min. at Spacious (trying to cut down section overall, but fit in discussion of “You’re Not the Only Pebble On the Beach.”) before knocking off and calling my dad for Father’s Day. Bree met me at MoMa across the street, so I could show her the Lincoln Kirsten show - she was taken, as I expected, w/ the ballet designs, which I looked at longer this time. Good thing we went - last day open before renovations until November. Civilized early dinner at Le Bonne Soupe - about as much as I mean to spend for the next couple weeks. Home at 7 or so, put in some time on the horn chart — might just be a day or two of adjusting/editing before I can (a) send it off to The Scene Is Now horns to check over, and (b) turn to “Untimely Beggar.” Went out and finished reading, or whatever you call it, Space. I don’t know if the order is chronological, but the book’s movement seems to be from 2 sections fairly dense-sounding and -looking poems to a breakdown into “elements” (lots of articles and particles, + the sequence w/ “ounce code orange” and the like), and finally an attempt to build something back up from same — though the last long poem, “AD,” doesn’t quite sustain itself, and ends by falling back on devices from earlier in the book (inc. partial words, which aren’t precisely nonsense; presumably, the intended effect is for the omissions to focus attention on the phonic and graphemic qualities of the remainder). All necessary steps in the larger arc of CC’s work. Had no stomach for Shepard and Wick today - they’re on Lacan.
june 15
Up 6, again at 9:30. Watched an episode of The Dick Van Dyke, and a Barney Miller wherein the precinct arrests a Weather Undergroundish “radical” (who the FBI no longer cares about, well into the 70s). Put in some time on the horn chart - more or less got the shout-chorus ending down. Can’t remember quite when I got out of the house, but spent about 90 min. on the book at Spacious (longer if they didn’t close at 5 on weekends), and headed to Brooklyn. Bought a few things at Record City in Flatbush: 7” of The Neighborhoods’ “Prettiest Girl”; Mel Powell 10”; split LP reissue of King Pleasure and Annie Ross (vocalese, inc. Ross’s orig. version of “Twisted”); LP of 1944 recordings by Cootie Williams w/ Bud Powell, Pearl Bailey, and others, inc. his recording of “‘Round Midnight” and some lesser known Arlen-Koehler tunes; a Mighty Sparrow album; Brian Auger Genesis (w/ Julie Driscoll, inc. their hit version of “Season of the Witch”); a Pilgrim Travelers reissue on Specialty; and (the most expensive item), a bizarre 1971 LP called Sing Me a Song of Songmy, ft. Freddie Hubbard but composed by one Ilhan Mimaroglu, apparently including settings of texts by Arabic poets, Kierkegaard, and Che! If that’s not enough: Kenny Barron on piano and Arif Mardin on Hammond! Walked over to the Owl to hear Wendy Eisenberg. Solo gtr/vocal set - delicate but technical songs, w/ occasional references to bossa/jazz harmony but also a lot of thoughtfully dissonant voicings; she called the lyrics “vulnerable,” which is fair. Pretty taken with the material and presentation — a lot to chew on musically, but little pretense: Don’t want to make facile comparisons. Introduced myself and talked briefly later in the evening; we’ve corresponded a bit. Stayed for a set by a electric piano/bass/drums trio calling itself Resort Music; original jazz-I-guess? compositions, sensitive drummer but something music-department about it all. After another break, some of the same musicians and others came back, w/ vocalist/lyricist, for a set of songs that had moments but felt even more collegiate - reminded me of an absurdist Pomona band called Mendicant Sauciers, though these folks were more accomplished. Ben Goldberg, who I assume was some of the members’ teacher, sat in on clarinet on the last song. Another long train ride home; lights out after 1 am.
june 14
Up briefly at 6, again at 9, Bree already out. Found a couple of quotations/citations I’d been looking for, re the McLennan interview. When Bree came back, helped send photos to marble company re replacing step for the building. Worked on the horn chart for about 30 min. Left at 2, called my dad before 3-5 rehearsal at Euphoria w/ Dave Schramm and band. I have a better grip on some songs than others, but good progress at all - didn’t embarrass myself. Lunch at Hill Country. Worked at Birch Coffee ‘till they closed at 8. Read Shepard and Wick on the way back. At home, watched a Doris Day movie (Tea For Two, David Butler 1950), read two of the more cryptic Greene stories. Lights out midnight.