Budd

Today is the day for the perfection of ethics, for with it we we teach and guide unethical living beings and distantly depart from the hardships of evil worlds.

One year ago today, composer and musician Harold Budd died from the covids. Impermanence is swift. After suffering a stroke on November 11, Budd was undergoing therapy in a short-term rehabilitation facility when he contracted the illness. 

The picture above is Budd performing at the Church Street Church in Knoxville, Tennessee in March 2019 as part of that year's Big Ears Festival.  That's Budd seated in front behind an electric piano.  Harpist Mary Lattimore and other members of his ensemble for that day, including his son, Terrance, are behind him. It was a magical performance, and I got to see him perform again two days later. I also saw him the next morning at breakfast at my hotel, but didn't intrude on his privacy, because, well, privacy. That same year at Big Ears, I also got to see composer Alvin Lucier, who passed away a few days ago.

You may have heard Budd's music if you watched the heart-breaking HBO mini-series, I Know This Much Is True in 2020.  Budd's luminous soundtrack both underscored the themes of sorrow and loneliness that ran through the series as well as provided an emotional balm for the most wrenching scenes.