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The guitarist and singer Amadou Bagayoko of the Malian music duo Amadou & Mariam has died aged 70 after an illness, his family said, paying tribute to the Grammy-nominated blind musician. More from the Guardian here: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/apr/05/amadou-bagayoko-of-music-duo-amadou-and-mariam-dies-aged-70 Just by coincidence, I have been listening to a fair bit of Amadou & Mariam lately, as Apple Music/iTunes has 5 volumes of their recordings on the Maikano label. I also have been planning on picking this up from Bandcamp but was waiting for the next Bandcamp Friday (which is apparently in May): https://afrosunnyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/le-couple-aveugle-du-mali-amadou-bagayoko-et-mariam-doumbia-le-couple-aveugle-du-mali-amadou-bagayoko-et-mariam-doumbia-vol-5 (I am not sure how much is not covered in the 5 volumes on iTunes, but I will likely buy the digital version anyway, as it is easier for me to listen to Bandcamp rather than iTunes at work.) Sadly, I never was able to see them live. I am not sure how often they toured North America.

I did see La Strada. Wow, that was depressing. I was almost wondering if I wandered into a Bergman film by mistake. 😉 I didn't manage to see Mickey 17 for a variety of reasons, but I will probably manage it tomorrow. I just saw The Royal Tenenbaums for the first time. Definitely a very strong movie.

Not sure when it was added, but I see Apple Music now has Filet of Soul and Las Vegas available.

Rereading Lafcadio's Adventures by Gide. (And yes I did go out of my way to get the edition with the cover by Gorey...) After this, probably State of Grace by Joy Williams and then Lampedusa's The Leopard, which I have not managed to get around to before now.

Back from seeing Gary Smulyan at the Rex with Neil Swainson and Terry Clarke. Lot of fun and generally high energy, esp. the final song of the last set. Small chance I would go tomorrow which is the the land night of their mini-residency. If transit cooperates, I'm a bit more likely to go Sun. evening to see Frank Botos, Kirk McDonald and Lorne Lofsky.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I've seen trailers for it, but it just isn't grabbing me. I am going to try to catch Mickey 17 this weekend, and perhaps Fellini's La Strada on Monday.

Just had the opportunity to see Rashomon on the big screen. I had seen it before but certainly a film that merits repeat viewings! In April, I will be seeing Yojimbo at the same theatre. Sadly last week was The Seven Samurai, but I just couldn't spare the time... Will try to make it on the next go-around.

I saw Anora a bit over a week ago (right before the Oscars in fact). I enjoyed it for the most part, though I struggle to see how it was best picture for all of 2024! Just back from seeing Guidance by Pat Mills. This screening brought together the director and most of the cast, which was pretty cool. Such a weird movie. Next weekend I am going to try to squeeze in Mickey 17.

Kind of kicking myself for missing Friday. It wasn't entirely my fault. My main computer broke down, and then I was traveling pretty much all day (without a laptop!) and I was working pretty much right up until the last minute when I headed out to catch the bus (about 8:45 am). Oh well. Maybe they have one next month.

Last Thurs, Don Byron with Michael Occhipinti on guitar. The best song was Michael's composition "Go Fly a Kite," though they also did a Nirvana cover. I believe it was Lithium. That really got the crowd at the Rex going. I did manage to get to the Women from Space event with Myra Melford, Ingrid Laubrock and Lesley Mok last night. Sadly I did not enjoy this at all, as it seems like particularly pointless free jazz noodling that didn't cohere at all for me. I left after 40 minutes. I will have to stop going to free jazz shows, as I never enjoy them. Next week Gary Smulyan is at the Rex, backed by Neil Swainson and Terry Clarke (no piano or guitar in the mix). This should be interesting, and I'll make it over once or maybe twice. I don't think I've ever seen Smulyan live.

It is confusing -- quite a few (though not all) of the other Buckner and Tate and even Lafitte sessions were reissued, and often on the Definitive Sessions (which is great from my perspective), but I'm not seeing these Midnight Slows recordings reissued in any form. I may be wrong of course, but I might end up ordering a few. I just wish shipping LPs wasn't so crazy expensive these days. ☹️

Highjacking this thread a bit. It seems to me that a fair bit of material on Black and Blue label has been available at iTunes and elsewhere as the Black and Blue Definitive Sessions, but there seems to be a lot still unavailable (though often available on CD -- go figure). I'm probably going to pick up Stéphane Grappelli/Hank Jones London Meeting and am deciding on a few others. Anyway, I am trying to understand the Midnight Slows series, there are nine or so volumes, and they certainly look like they are compilations but then only one line-up is ever listed, so maybe not? This is Midnight Slows Vol. 2 (It surely doesn't help matters that Midnight Slows Vol. 1 and 2 seem to be identical!)

I saw that Fresh Sounds has a new 2-fer of Luis Rivera - Filet of Soul and Las Vegas. https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/luis-rivera-albums/57469-filet-of-soul-las-vegas-2-lp-on-1-cd.html I'm not familiar with either of these and wondering if people had opinions, particularly on Las Vegas, which apparently features Barney Kessel! Archive.org does have Filet of Soul and some tracks sounded pretty good and others were a bit cheesy. I'm worried that the Las Vegas will fall more into the latter category, so I thought I would try to more digging before ordering a copy (esp. as shipping to Canada is still quite high...). Thanks in advance.

Long day at the movies today. The Revue (in Toronto) was showing Linklater's Before Trilogy all in one day. I decided to take the plunge. Very interesting. I think of all of them, I liked the second, Before Sunset, the best.

It was Bandcamp Friday, so I picked up a few things that I had been eying, mostly world music: Ayinde Bakare And His Orchestra – Live The Highlife, Dar Disku by Dar Disku, Mosawi Swiri by Maalem Houssam Guinia, Flashpoints and Undercurrents by John Surman and Emily Remler Cookin' at the Queens. Will consider Berne/Rainey Yikes Too! for next Bandcamp Friday.