ghost of miles

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

Jesus holiday sighting! https://x.com/JomboyMedia/status/1774495730255970434?s=20

Yankees sweep Houston 4-0 on the road to start off 2024. Juan Soto’s line through first four games: 9-17, 1 double, 1 HR, 4 RBI (including two game-winners), .529 BA, .600 OBP, .765 slugging, 1.365 OPS. And he looks absolutely overjoyed to be playing for NY. Definitely worth the haul of pitchers we gave up to get him… already seems like a night-and-day difference between 2023 and this year’s team. Judge off to a terrible start and both Yankee and Astros fans in game threads were arguing that Houston should have IBB’d Soto to face Judge instead… which sounds insane, but frankly might not have been a bad idea. Instead Soto hit a 3-2 opposite-field single off Hader for the go-ahead run. (Hader then struck out Judge to end the inning.) I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a single player have the broad kind of impact that Soto’s having on the Yankees so far… his presence and energy is infectious and seems to be affecting the entire batting order in a positive way. Still concerned about the pitching depth and players staying healthy, but couldn’t ask for a better beginning to the season.