ghost of miles

Anybody heard from Catesta recently? I just noticed that he hasn’t posted in almost a year, and his last log-in was in February. Hope he’s OK and just taking a long break from the board.

I would wager Toronto hosting the Red Sox for the WC game. Did I already mention how crazy the NL WC game is likely to be? Either the Dodgers or the Giants facing off in a one-game win-or-go-home match against a team that likely finishes 15-20 games behind them.

I’m in! This is proving to be a good year for Lee Morgan fans.

How do we know it's not the fault of whatever special the Bluebird Cafe was serving up that night?

Best wishes, Allen, for your continuing resilience and strength, and for sustaining a recovery that enables you to keep carrying out what you love to do.

Up in memory of George Wein: Jazz From Storyville

Chico Hamilton was Arthur Lee’s uncle?! File under you-learn-something-new-every-day!

Re-airing this Night Lights show in honor of the centennial this week: A Different Journey: Chico Hamilton In The 1960s Very cool that you're doing such a far-reaching overview of his career, Ken!

We re-aired Jukebox Jazz this past week, and it remains archived for online listening.

A wonderful appreciation of Williams by Doreen St. Felix in the New Yorker: Remembering Michael K. Williams, Defender Of Black Fictions

Excellent article, Mark, with plenty of trademark punchy writing and succinctly detailed musical analysis—thanks much for sharing it here. DeVeaux’s The Birth Of Bebop was an eye-and-ear opening read for me when it came out, especially in regard to McGhee.

From the Remnick article (with bonus Monk anecdote!): Musicians were beginning to tune in. During a Thelonious Monk festival, one of the d.j.s went on about how Monk created art out of “wrong notes.” Monk, who rarely spoke to anyone, much less a college student, called the station and, on the air, declared, “The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.” In 1979, Schaap was at the center of a Miles Davis festival at a time when Davis was a near-recluse living off Riverside Drive. Davis started calling the station, dozens and dozens of calls—“mad, foul, strange calls,” Schaap recalled. Davis’s inimitable voice, low and sandpapery, was unnerving for Schaap. But then one day—“Friday, July 6, 1979”—his tone changed, and for nearly three hours the two men went over the details of “Agharta,” one of his later albums. Finally, after Schaap had clarified every spelling, every detail, Davis said, “You got it? Good. Now forget it. Play ‘Sketches of Spain’! Right now!”