From the bleak mid-winter of our souls, we emerge into hope. When we hope, we look to the future, as we wish it to be. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day,…
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Value for Thursday of Week 25 in the season of Ripening
Being Versatile
Versatility is the ability to do many different – a wide variety of – things.
- After having played serious drama for so long, I needed to scratch the itch of versatility. [attributed to Noah Wyle]
- I love ensemble pieces, I love being a part of the entire tapestry of a piece, but I think character actors do have a lot more fun, and there’s a versatility involved that’s challenging and fun, to come up to speed and do what’s required of you. [attrributed to Mark Hamill]
- I like to do new things, so I always take on roles that I feel will keep me on my toes. I never want to pigeon myself, so I always like to surprise myself. I believe in versatility and so I would play anything as long as it was a challenge. [Archie Panjabi]
The ability to do one task well is valuable. The step beyond that, into excellence, is characterized by the ability to perform many tasks well – to contribute to the whole in whatever may be needed.
Real
True Narratives
Noël Coward is an exemplar of versatility: "Success came easily in at least three ways. It came early . . . It came fluidly . . . And - most remarkably of all - success came in a dizzying array of disciplines."
- Barry Day, ed., The Noël Coward Reader (Knopf, 2010).
- Barry Day, ed., The Letters of Noël Coward (Knopf, 2007).
- Philip Hoare, Noël Coward: A Biography (Simon & Schuster, 1996).
- Graham Payn, My Life with Noël Coward (Applause Books, 2000).
Other versatile figures:
- Rüdiger Safranski, Goethe: Life As a Work of Art (trans. David Dolienmayer) (Liveright Publications, 2017). “He built roads. He oversaw mines. He shrank the deficit.”
Technical and Analytical Readings
Photographs
Documentary and Educational Films
Imaginary
Fictional Narratives
Novels and stories:
- Nana Nkweti, Walking on Cowrie Shells: Stories (Graywolf Press, 2021): “Nkweti writes across multiple genres including science fiction, young adult literature, literary fiction and suspense, showcasing a host of voices . . .”
Poetry
Music: Composers, artists, and major works
Trumpeter, conductor and music educator-ambassador Wynton Marsalis has excelled at both jazz and classical music, and trumpet/cornet showpieces. His extensive set of releases includes a plethora of jazz albums (including swing, big band, and bebop), blues albums, “classical” albums from the baroque and modern eras, showpiece albums, religious albums, and his own compositions (follow the links for representative examples). He has performed live at the House of Tribes, at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1989, at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1982, at Lincoln Center for many years, and in Marciac in 2022. He has championed such icons as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk and Dave Brubeck. He has used music to advocate for democracy, and the oppressed. He is a leading jazz educator, having provided extensive commentary on Ken Burns’ series on jazz. He maintains that “Jazz Can Change Your Life”.
Blues artist Rory Block demonstrates her versatility by adjusting her styles to emulate other great blues artists.
- “Blues Walkin’ Like a Man: A Tribute to Son House” (2008) (54’)
- “Shake ‘Em On Down: A Tribute to Mississippi Fred McDowell” (2011) (50’)
- “I Belong to the Band: A Tribute to Rev. Gary Davis” (2012) (50’)
- “Avalon: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt” (2013) (50’)
- “Hard Luck Child: A Tribute to Skip James” (2014) (46’)
- “Keepin’ Outta Trouble: A Tribute to Bukka White” (2016) (43’)
- “A Woman’s Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith” (2018) (44’)
Here is a collection of albums illustrating the emotive versatility of the many kinds of fiddles, only a few of which are represented here:
- Jouhiorkesteri, “Nikodemus” (2006) (45’) – Finnish bowed lyre: celebratory, from Finland;
- Kayhan Kalhor & Ali Akbar Moradi, “In the Mirror of the Sky” (2004) (49’) – Persian spike fiddle and plucked tanbur: haunting, from Persia (hear also Kalhor’s playlists);
- Sakar Khan, “At Home” (mix) – bowed kamancha: personal and intimate, from India;
- Ram Narayan, “The Art of the Sarangi” (2017) (64’) – sarangi: evocative and intellectual, from India (hear also Narayan’s playlists);
- Raushan Orazbaeva, “Akku” (2003) (48’) – two-stringed kobyz: contemplative, from Kazakhstan;
- Stelios Petrakis, “The Art of the Lyra” (2015) (64’) – Cretan lyra: steeped in tradition, from Crete, off Greece (hear also Petrakis’ playlists);
- Yu Hong Mei, “Erhu Chant” (2007) (61’) – erhu: dreamlike, from China;
- “The Art of the Gadulka” (2012) (69’) – gadulka: purposeful, from Bulgaria.
Peter Ostroushko demonstrated versatility in another way on “The Mando Chronicles” (2012) (212’): “The three all-acoustic CDs contain four sections divided into Folk, Old World, Classical, and South American. As you would expect, the Americana includes Bluegrass (joined by Norman Blake!), but there's some ragtime and even a few cuts of mid-20th century jazz, with Texas Swing legend Johnny Gimble (recorded in Waco, TX). The Old World includes a healthy dose of Ukrainian from Ostorushko's own genealogical heritage, French Musette, Italian, and an array of Irish tunes. The Classical includes transcriptions of Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, an original tune, and the South American section four Brazilian Choros and a Puerto Rican waltz.”
Great multi-instrumentalists include:
- Prince was proficient at vocals, guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, clarinet, drums, percussion, saxophone, harmonica and Linn Drum. Here is a link to his releases.
- Sufjan Stevens is proficient at vocals, guitar, bass guitar, banjo, piano, xylophone, vibraphone, English Horn, oboe, drums, recorder and theremin. Here is a link to his releases.
- John Entwistle was proficient at bass guitar, french horn, vocals, keyboards, trumpet, double bass, guitar, harmonica, jaw harp and bugle. Here is a link to his playlists.
- P.J. Harvey is proficient at vocals, guitar, bass, piano, organ, keyboards, autoharp, saxophone, trumpet, cello, violin, harmonica and percussion. Here is a link to her releases.
- Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown Massacre is proficient at guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, sitar, tambura, moog synthesizer, mellotron, piano, accordion, organ, drums, cello, koto, samisen, mandolin, lute, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, harmonica and flute. Here is a link to his/their releases.
- Mick Harvey is proficient at vocals, guitar, bass, piano, organ, synthesizer, xylophone, glockenspiel, harmonica, drums and percussion. Here is a link to his releases.
- Trent Reznor is proficient at vocals, guitar, piano, mellotron, synthesizer, keyboards, bass, saxophone, cello, double bass, drums, tuba, sousaphone, pan flute, harmonium, swarmatron, harpsichord, marimba, sampler, vibraphone and programming. Here is a link to his playlists.
- Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead is proficient at guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, piano, synthesiser, viola, drums, percussion, glockenspiel, ondes Martenot, sampler, Mellotron, banjo, organ, celesta, accordion, harmonica and recorder. Here is a link to his playlists.
- Mike Oldfield is proficient at guitar, keyboards, percussion, vocals, bass guitar, glockenspiel, mandolin, banjo and tubular bells. Here is a link to his releases.
- Curtis Mayfield was proficient at vocals, guitar, bass, piano, saxophone and drums. Here is a link to his releases.
- Todd Rundgren is proficient at vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, saxophone and theremin. Here is a link to his playlists.
- Billie Joe Armstrong is proficient at vocals, guitar, piano, drums, percussion, saxophone, harmonica, mandolin, bass and violin. Here is a link to his playlists.
- Ben Moody is proficient at guitar, vocals, bass, piano, drums and percussion. Here is a link to his playlists.
- Roxy Coss plays several instruments in the saxophone and clarinet families. Here is a link to her playlists.
Albums:
- Pharoah Sanders, “Thembi” (1970) (42’): “. . . it's rare to have this many different sides of Sanders coexisting in one place . . .”
- Polish String Quartet Berlin, “Bolko von Hochberg” (2025) (79’) displays an emotional versatility across the two string quartets and one piano quintet on the disc. After exploring these ups and downs, Fanfare reviewer Jerry Dubins concludes: “There’s no letup of the emotional turbulence in the finale. Repeatedly, Hochberg tries to break free from the minor-key portent of doom by shifting to the major, but it’s futile. Each major-key cadence is overtaken and canceled out by the next onslaught. Nor is there any last-minute reprieve. There’s not to be a hopeful or happy ending to this voyage of the damned.”
- Cerys Hafana, “Angel” (2025) (47’): “Hafana's music manages to be immersed in and informed by Welsh harp traditions but also embraces minimalism, jazz, the avant-garde and, particularly on the track ‘Angel,’ contemporary Breton folk styles. Hafana says: ‘on this album I wanted to try to push the musical limits more than I have previously, and to swing between the extremes of dynamics and texture as much as is possible on the instruments at my disposal. Lots of the writing also draws from contemporary Breton folk music with its driving and repetitive dance rhythms, more sparse, contemporary styles of composing and improvising, and some brief moments of very Welsh and traditional harp playing and unaccompanied singing.’”
- Linda May Han Oh, “Strange Heavens” (2025) (48’): “The comparison of a familiar hell to a strange heaven drives Australian-born bassist and composer Linda May Han Oh’s thinking . . .” “The music resists categorization—shifting effortlessly from tender lyricism to electrifying intensity. It’s emotional, urgent, and unapologetically vulnerable, channeling both power and fragility in equal measure.”
- Meerenai Shim, “The Audacity” (2025) (57’): On this album, Shim plays all of the following instruments: “piccolo, flute, alto flute, bass flute, contrabass flute, piano, drums, cello, Otamatone”. “The Audacity showcases an enormous range of flutist Meerenai Shim's musicality, from her principal role as soloist, to other duties as producer, curator, and occasional multi-instrumentalist. Aesthetically expansive, and memorably polystylistic, the compositions featured on the album inhabit emotional worlds that stretch from earnest introspection to pure playfulness.”
- Neil Ardley, “Kaleidoscope of Rainbows” (1975) (78’): “. . . the music wanders from gentle melody and rhythm to some startling wind passages, with ‘Rainbow Three’ toying with rock passages, ‘Rainbow Five’ nodding towards tribal percussives, and ‘Rainbow Six’ tinkling with almost pastoral serenity.” It is distinctly a product of the 1970s.
Music: songs and other short pieces
Visual Arts
Film and Stage
- Kind Hearts and Coronets: Alec Guinness plays eight roles
