SOUNDTRACK: LIZZ WRIGHT-Tiny Desk Concert #116 (March 14, 2011).
Lizz Wright is a gospel singer with a lovely voice. For some reason she only has two songs here (the editing makes it seem like she does at least one more).
I don’t know Wright at all, but the blurb gives context: Raised on church music in Georgia, Wright is well-versed in the freedom songs of Sweet Honey in the Rock, without whom none of the music here would exist; “I Remember, I Believe” is by that group’s leader, the great Bernice Johnson Reagon, whose daughter Toshi Reagon (Wright’s best friend) co-wrote “Hit the Ground.”
“Hit the Ground” is upbeat and lively. Whereas “I Remember, I Believe” is far more powerful, but much slower.
Sadly for me, I don’t really like gospel music, especially the slower songs like the second one here. So I didn’t love this Tiny Desk, but I can certainly appreciate how good a singer she is.
[READ: January 15, 2015] “Williamsburg Bridge”
I don’t know anything else by John Edgar Wideman, so I didn’t really know what to expect with this story.
I certainly did not expect a long (rather dull) story about a man on the Williamsburg Bridge contemplating suicide.
There were some beautiful passages and phrasings here, especially the reflections on Sonny Rollins, but man, this thing just seemed to go on and on. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 