ghost of miles

Verrrry interesting, haven't heard this one before! Familiar with the song only because of the Gene Krupa/Anita O'Day studio version from around the same time.

Jim Bowden at the Athletic lists his ten biggest disappointments of the young season so far, and bad umpiring clocks in at number 3: 3. Umpires making headlines because of egregious mistakes We have never had a more talented group of umpires in the history of the game. Instant replay has been a huge success and evaluating umpires has never been more precise. That’s why it’s so disappointing that umpires Angel Hernandez and Hunter Wendelstedt stood out for all the wrong reasons in the season’s first month. First up was Hernandez, who on April 12 made a series of laughable calls behind the plate during an at-bat by Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning, Langford didn’t swing at single pitch from Astros righty J.P. France, watching all five he faced land significantly outside the strike zone. Ball 1 was in the dirt, Ball 2 was high and outside, “Ball 3” was way outside, “Ball 4” was farther outside and “Ball 5” was even farther outside. Hernandez called the last three strikes. Everyone misses calls, but not like this. Did Hernandez decide to let a rookie know who was boss, that he would decide the strike zone rather than go by the rule book? Who knows with Hernandez, who has a well-deserved reputation as one of the least accurate umpires of all time. This was a total embarrassment to the integrity of the sport, and why Hernandez hasn’t been fired or paid to go away is beyond me. Even worse than that was what took place during the Yankees-A’s game on Monday when Wendelstedt, the home plate umpire, ejected manager Aaron Boone because he heard a fan heckle him and thought it was Boone. TV cameras supported the account of Boone, who said he didn’t say anything to deserve the ejection. After the game, Wendelstedt doubled down on Boone’s ejection, saying, “Apparently what he said was there was a fan right above the dugout. This isn’t my first ejection. In the entirety of my career, I have never ejected a player or a manager for something a fan has said. I understand that’s going to be part of a story or something like that because that’s what Aaron was portraying. He’s the manager of the Yankees. So, he’s the one that had to go.” Wait, what? Now you’re accusing the manager of lying and you’re misrepresenting the situation? Apparently Wendelstedt didn’t know YES Network had a camera trained on Boone that showed he said nothing and another camera on the fan in the front row who made the comment. Wendelstedt should have been suspended and fined a day’s pay for this egregious mistake as well as his response. Three straight balls well out of the zone--certainly more than a ball's width--and Hernandez called them all strikes. No reason for this nonsense anymore, given the available technology. Some fans carried on when replay was introduced, saying it would slow down the game, erode the "romance" of legendary bad blown calls, etc. Instead we have a game today where egregious mistakes can be easily corrected, and a system in place that keeps the replay tactic from being overused. If some sort of modification, perhaps similar to Dan's suggested challenge approach, is necessary to bring robo-ump to use, then by all means implement it. I'm so sick of seeing numerous blown calls in games, and there's really no excuse for them continuing. I predict we'll have some form of robo-ump in the next couple of years.

You can say that again: Boone ejected for fan’s remark Ridiculous. One thing for the ump to initially think that Boone was defying him, another thing to double down on his mistake. Amusing there, but maddening in general. I’ve already seen waaaay too many badly-blown calls 20+ games into the season. The sooner we get robo-ump for balls and strikes, the better.

So very sad to hear this. Going to take awhile to process this one. Talked to him on the phone a few times and did a long interview with him for a Night Lights program—he was very supportive of the show in general. Hard to imagine what the jazz record landscape of the 1970s through the 2000s would look like without his presence. (Especially the Blue Note part.)

Juan Soto slashing .347/.468/.600 after 20 games. That’s a Ted Williams kinda line. His ABs are practically making Judge’s afterthoughts. He also seems totally amped to be playing in New York. Yankees won’t get a hometown discount when he hits free agency this winter, but it’s already clear that he’d be quite happy to continue with his present team. I still see Baltimore as the favorite to take the AL East—NY’s got depth issues and question marks with both its rotation and its bullpen that could really hold the team back if not resolved. A lot riding on Cole returning and (1) not hitting the IL again or needing TJS (2) pitching at or close to previous form. Rodon and Cortes have been inconsistent, Schmidt’s improved but seemingly still can’t go more than 5 innings, and Gil is walking too many batters. Stroman’s been the only truly solid starter so far.

Miles at the Plugged Nickel and the Art Pepper and Coltrane at the Village Vanguard sets immediately came to mind, plus the Mosaic Select of Dexter Gordon at the Keystone. Wildcard offering: Dave Douglas Live at Jazz Standard.

It’s easy for me to stay in a Philips/RCA default for listening to Nina Simone. This new set is reminding me of how much I enjoy the Colpix sides too, previously heard via that 2-CD anthology that Rhino put out a long time ago:

The Jazz Monk: Thomas Merton aired again last week and remains archived for online listening.

This morning:

It was a very good set! A mix of Parker, Coltrane and Hart or Iverson originals, with George Cables in attendance. Walter Smith III on sax, who often played on Wednesday nights at the Blockhouse here in Bloomington when he was on IU’s faculty… such a great guy as well as saxophonist. Chatted with Ethan Iverson a bit before and after the set. I always love going to the Vanguard. The following night I went to a very different kind of concert—Liam Gallagher/John Squire at the newly-reopened Brooklyn Paramount. I’m a huge Stone Roses/Squire fan and there are precious few opportunities to see him live, esp stateside. It was also a great show!

Catching Billy Hart’s first season at the Village Vanguard this evening.

Hep put out such great stuff. And a Thelma Carpenter track, what a find! Alastair must have corrected it in a later run... I just checked my copy and it's listed. Going to revisit later this evening, so thanks much for posting it.

The TJS plague continues apace: nugget & G @jayhaykid Shane Bieber - Tommy John Eury Pérez - TJ Felix Bautista - TJ Lucas Giolito - TJ Shane McClanahan - TJ Jacob deGrom - TJ Sandy Alcantara - TJ Walker Buehler - returning from TJ Robbie Ray - returning from TJ Dustin May - returning from TJ Gerrit Cole - elbow inflammation Spencer Strider - MRI on elbow Kyle Bradish - sprained elbow Not great! 11:28 AM • Apr 6. 2024 • 781.2K • twitter.com

MLB Most Called Strikes Below Strike Zone Since 2017 489 Aaron Judge 368 Xander Bogaerts 365 Josh Bell 343 Paul Goldschmidt 340 Manny Machado

Nate Chinen’s WRTI obit.

Hey, I’m all in favor of robo-umping balls and strikes. Judge was called out Tuesday night on a pitch six inches below his knees, and he routinely leads the league in the unfortunate category of balls-called-strikes. The odds were good that we were going to get that last out anyway—Arizona had to send up a pitcher to hit after Boone IBB’d the previous batter, because they were out of position players. Can’t say I expected a Cole-less NY to open 6-1 on the road against Houston and the defending NL champs—it’s a sweet start for sure, but I’m not going to get too heady about it. The team’s definitely showing some great potential. Jsngry, how are you feeling about the Rangers so far? How well positioned are they to defend their title?

A name I was always happy to see among an album’s personnel. Pulling Kwanza (The First) off the shelf right now for a memorial listen. Thanks for letting us know, Mark.

Hank Shteamer review

An excellent Hank Shteamer review.

Expanded 2021 reissue:

I didn’t mention it in this thread’s post, but the Night Lights show includes a broadcast with Billy Eckstine’s big band, sides made with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker (among them the first waxed version of “A Night in Tunisia,” aka “Interlude”), live performances at New York City’s Town Hall (featuring Lester Young on one song), recordings for the Musicraft label, and several of the Columbia sides with Miles that you mention.

Night Lights observed the occasion: Sassy First Soars: Sarah Vaughan in the 1940s

Night Lights celebrated the Sarah Vaughan centennial last week with a show devoted to her 1940s recordings, including a broadcast with Billy Eckstine’s big band, sides made with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker (among them the first waxed version of “A Night in Tunisia,” aka “Interlude”), live performances at New York City’s Town Hall (featuring Lester Young on one song), recordings for the Musicraft label, and her first outings for Columbia, with a young Miles Davis on trumpet: Sassy First Soars: Sarah Vaughan in the 1940s