October

29/10/2023: BBNG & Charlotte Day Wilson ⋅ Sleeper

Bad Bad Not Good (BBNG) is an instrumental jazz hip-hop band, but they do frequently collaborate with singers/rappers to produce songs with vocals.

Up here is their most recent example (at the time of writing) in collaboration with Charlotte Day Wilson. She has also appeared in the song "In Your Eyes" from BBNG's album, IV. At the same time, BBNG has appeared in "I Can Only Whisper" from her debut album, Alpha.

15/10/2023: Pharoah Sanders ⋅ Kazuko

I don't know what it is with people using Japanese in their music titles, but I'm all for it... I mean, it gives me more to talk about over here, but first! Pharoah Sanders was a brilliant saxophonist (the part at 4:13 gives me chills), he sadly passed away quite recently (September 2022).

The footage here comes from a 2007 DVD "Pharoah Sanders - Live in San Fransisco", but it was recorded during July of 1982 at an abandoned tunnel somewhere in the Marin Headlands. They performed the song Kazuko (from Sanders' "Journey to the One" album).

The guy next to him is Paul Arslanian playing the harmonium.

Now for the Japanese. The kanji for "Kazuko" is 和子 and it is used as a feminine Japanese name. It is composed of 和 (wa) meaning peace - as in the word 平和 (heiwa) - and 子 (ko) meaning child. Thus, Kazuko has the implied meaning "Peace Child", which is the alternative name this song is sometimes referred by.

The album version of Kazuko is quite different from this one. Notably it uses the japanese instrument, koto, for the background.