Kevin Sun

I counted: Stevie made three jokes about blindness at Tuesday's show. I won't proceed to make one here. It's been a fine week to hear music in Boston. On Tuesday night, Stevie Wonder graced the crowd that flocked to TD Garden with his presence, performing the entirety of Songs in the Key of Life , plus the obligatory "Superstition" encore. I had already heard about the show from friends in New York and Washington D.C.; as one friend memorably noted, "How is it possible for someone to sound as good at age 64 as they did at 24?" The answer is, of course, to be Stevie Wonder. And it's true: Stevie brought the house down. Generations of Americans were dancing in the aisles to "Sir Duke" like they were hearing it for the first time, and to hear that voice ... oh, man.  During the show, though, I couldn't help but think about the readings we'd discussed in Vijay Iyer's graduate seminar earlier that day. The week's readings ...

Disclaimer: I'm a Stevie Wonder fan, and I just wrote a five page paper on Innervisions  for an African-American Studies class that surveys black American popular music from the '40s to the present. Being familiar with Wonder's melodic prowess, particularly on his various harmonica solos, and his harmonic sophistication ( e.g. , the harmonies on "Too High"!), I wasn't especially surprised to hear from a friend that Stevie often plays "Giant Steps" in concert. I was surprised, though, to hear how quickly Stevie takes the tune in a live recording from 2002 called Night School: An Evening with Stanley Clark & Friends . Stevie and Regina Carter play through the head together and Stevie takes two choruses at this burning tempo: As a break from studying, I thought I'd transcribe some Stevie and check out what he was up to. Here's the transcription: * * * * * In other news, I've added an Upcoming page to the blog. I'll...