La Bonne Cuisine

Music of Leonard Bernstein, Frank Zappa, Henry Mancini, T.J. Anderson and Taj Mahal. Songs about food, about eating, about being eaten, and of course music to eat by, for, and with. Bring your knife and fork!  

In this episode of American Highways, pianist Guy Livingston brings us a new episode about food, a seemingly inexhaustible subject, saucy and filling. Also a few stories about his grandmother, and her days in radio at Rockefeller Center.

How to listen: choose the buttons below for iTunes podcast or ConcertZender streaming. Or scroll down to the bottom of this page to use our built-in player.

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Playlist for American Highways #20

Theme Music :
Steve Reich. The Desert Music (1984)
First Movement (Fast).
Chorus of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas & William Carlos Williams.
Nonesuch Records 79101.

Henry Mancini
1. Breakfast At Tiffany’s
Conducted by Henry Mancini
RCA ND89905

Roberta Alexander: A Retrospective
Leonard Bernstein
La Bonne Cuisine:
2. Plum Pudding (0:52)
3. Ox-tails (1:04)
4. Tavouk Gueunkis (1:21)
5. Rabbit at Top Speed (1:14)
Roberta Alexander, vocals, Leonard Bernstein, piano.
ETC 1037

bg-radio-girl

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Leonard Bernstein
6. I Can Cook, Too
Adolph Green, Betty Comden, John Reardon, Leonard Bernstein & Nancy Walker
Masterworks Broadway rl45325 (8887500728250)

Okou
7. To the Bone
vocalist Tatiana Heinz; guitarist/banjoist Gilbert Trefzger (alias Okou)
CD – Az #5322947

Taj Mahal
8. Fishin’ Blues
Columbia 491692 2

Ben Houge
9. Creamy2+Drone

Stan Kenton
10. Shoo Fly Pie And Apple Pan Dowdy
Kings of Swing Vol 1, Disc 1.

Chris Minh Doky/Frasier theme-song
11. Tossed Salad & Scrambled Eggs
Chris Minh Doky, piano
Capitol Records emi 5425782

Salade nicoise -Fox

composer Donal Fox sent us this great photo of a salade niçoise he made for lunch a few days ago — “pepper crusted salmon instead of tuna, with honey vinaigrette dressing”

Don’t Panic! 60 Seconds for Piano
12. Watermelon Revisited (0:57) by TJ Anderson
13. Minute Rice (0:53) by Walter Haven
Guy Livingston, pianist
Wergo 6649-2

Robert Livingston Aldridge
Combo Platter:
14. Allness, Togetherness, Hold the Mayo (2:44)
15. for Me There’s No More Love, For You There’s No More Pumpkin Pie (4:43)
16. Wind, Women and Geopolitical Realities (4:21)
Eri Kaishima, Michaela Stapleton & Guillem Calvo.
CD Baby 0700115999779

Aaron Jay Kernis
Four Seasons of Futurist Cuisine: Le Quattro Stagioni Della Cucina Futurismo
17. Nocturnal Love Feast
Eberli Ensemble
World Class Recordings JDT 142

Howard Shore & Ornette Coleman
18. Naked Lunch
Howe Records HWR-1017

Frank Zappa
19. Call Any Vegetable
The Mothers of Invention
Zappa Records 0238352 CD

Video: Place Setting DJ

Links

article by Ben Houge about his work, with photos

fashion portrait of John Cage and his recipe ideas – plenty of mushrooms!

RadioGuyLive’s top forty list of music about eating and food! …with special thanks to conductor Bill Eddins and his facebook fan club for all their delicious suggestions.

John Cage Story 1

This summer I’m going to give a class in mushroom
identification at the New School for Social
Research. Actually, it’s five field trips, not
really a class at all. However, when I proposed it
to Dean Clara Mayer, though she was delighted with
the idea, she said, “I’ll have to let you know later
whether or not we’ll give it.” So she spoke to the
president who couldn’t see why there should be a
class in mushrooms at the New School. Next she spoke
to Professor MacIvor who lives in Piermont. She
said, “What do you think about our having a mushroom
class at the New School?” He said, “Fine idea.
Nothing more than mushroom identification develops
the powers of observation.” This remark was relayed
both to the president and to me. It served to get
the class into the catalogue and to verbalize for
me my present attitude towards music: it isn’t
useful, music isn’t, unless it develops our powers
of audition. But most musicians can’t hear a single
sound, they listen only to the relationship between
two or more sounds. Music for them has nothing to
do with their powers of audition, but only to do
with their powers of observing relationships. In
order to do this, they have to ignore all the crying
babies, fire engines, telephone bells, coughs, that
happen to occur during their auditions. Actually,
if you run into people who are really interested in
hearing sounds, you’re apt to find them fascinated
by the quiet ones. “Did you hear that?” they will
say.

John Cage Story 2

One   day                                   down   at
Black   Mountain   College,
David   Tudor
was   eating   his   lunch.

A   student   came   over   to
his   table   and   began   asking   him   questions.

David   Tudor
went   on   eating   his
lunch.

The
student
kept   on   asking   questions.

Finally
David   Tudor   looked   at   him   and   said,

“If   you   don’t   know,

why    do    you    ask?”

John Cage Story 3

At           Darmstadt
when           I           wasn’t           involved
with           music,
I           was
in           the           woods
looking           for
mushrooms.
One
day                                 while           I
was           gathering           some
Hypholomas                                 that
were           growing           around
a           stump                                 not
far           from           the
concert           hall,
a           lady
secretary                                  from
the           Ferienkurse           für
Neue           Musik

came           by           and           said,

“After           all,
Nature
is            better            than            Art.”

 

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