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Amanda Shires: Nobody's Girl

Odin LP 18 - The Norwegian Radio Big Band Meets Bob Florence - rec. 1986 - Liberty LPR 3380 (FSR reissue 1985) - Bob Florence Big Band " Here And Now" - rec. 1964 -

I'd need to see an apples to apples comparison of Steinbrenner era Yankee payrolls vs the other teams in the league at the time. Otherwise its just a facile point of reference. Did the article even mention LA's local rights deal? All of this was foretold when they signed it at the height of the "buy up every sporting event broadcast/cable right NOW!" era.

From The Athletic. Today's Dodgers make the George Steinbrenner-era Yankees seem like penny-pinchers: "Nobody spends money quite like the Dodgers. Their latest luxury spend: outfielder Kyle Tucker, who signed a four-year, $240 million deal, with opt-outs after Years 2 and 3. With deferrals ($30 million over the final three years), his “luxury tax” salary for 2026 is $57.1 million. At roughly $90 million over the highest luxury tax bracket threshold, L.A. will be paying a 110 percent tax on Tucker’s contract. I did the math … That’s $119.91 million out of pocket just in 2026. According to FanGraphs’ projected 2026 payrolls, that’s more than 11 teams will pay their entire roster. L.A. will also forfeit four of its top six draft picks. It seems it's stopped worrying about any coming “cliff.” Since November 2023, per Spotrac, there have been 29 nine-digit contracts/extensions in baseball — about one per team. Tucker is the Dodgers’ sixth after Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and the Tyler Glasnow and Will Smith extensions. Sixteen teams have not handed out any such contract over that time. The Dodgers currently have eight players projected to make more than $20 million per year in 2026. That’s (obviously) the most, with the Yankees, Mets and Phillies at six each. Eight teams (Pirates, Cardinals, Reds, Nationals, Marlins, White Sox, Twins, Rays) have zero such players. Five teams (Rockies, A’s, Mariners, Guardians, Orioles) have one." Of course the Dodgers have the right, under current rules, to spend like this if they're willing to pay the luxury taxes cited above. And I'm no fan of a salary cap--that's not about reducing fiscal inequality among teams (fiscal inequality as a general value, last time I checked, is something tycoon owners have no problem with at all), it's about controlling player salaries. And yes, the Dodgers have done other things to create their present prowess in addition to exorbitant spending. But if you want to hate a team that goes out and buys any player it wants, hard to beat L.A. in that category these days.

The Tucson Jazz Festival is underway. Friday night we went to The Century Room (a wonderful jazz club) and heard Anot Cohen and her trio. Tomorrow evening we go to The Century Room to hear Terell Stafford and his group.

One of my absolute faves . . .

Keith Jarrett, Changeless Part of this record was recorded at a Dallas concert by the trio, the only time I ever saw Keith Jarrett live.

On this MLK Jr Day in the United States, let us go back to when the holiday was established, from the Phil Schaap Jazz Collection at Vanderbilt. In this broadcast of Out to Lunch (January 19, 2015), Phil confuses the year, guessing that it was 1980 or 1981 and that it was for the Federal or NY State establishment of the holiday. But it was October 20, 1983 that President Reagan announced that he would sign the bill, November 2 was the signing ceremony, and the Federal Holiday went into effect in 1986 (If you're wondering, NY State followed the feds lead and adopted the holiday in 1984). So this would have in all likelihood been October 20 or November 2, 1983, or else the first actual celebration in 1986 (and I don't think Jabbo Smith was still performing at the West End by then). Anyway ... let's let Phil set the stage: "Now it really is a moment in which he needs to make a statement and what Jabbo Smith did was he took the spiritual, "Marching with the King" or Marching for the King" the king being our lord, and turned it into marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Singing the spirituals lyrics, faking words that he couldn't really articulate, and yes also creating stanzas that were Martin Luther King Jr. specific, and he turned the West End into a parade. And I don't know how many of you listening even remember the uptown home for swing as it was sometimes called. Last year its remnants were completely gutted and it now no longer has any connection, physical remnant connection to what had been there for so many years, but it was a good place. And there were these two long aisles that went back towards the bar in the rear, and there was a long sort of like family style table that was in between the two, and Jabbo got us parading." Schaap ID's Percy France and Shelton Gary by their playing, and thinks Jim Roberts was the pianist.

Bump. $100 plus media mail.

Price reduced. Here is a nice copy of the recent Who Are You Super Deluxe box set at about half of the new price because this copy is missing the book. It has everything else - CDs, blu-ray, outer box. But no book. The Who – Who Are You 2025 Super Deluxe box set (7 CD/1 Blu-ray), missing book. It contains all 8 discs and the slipcover that holds them, plus the outer slipcover. Missing the book. All is in NM condition - the outer box is still in original shrink wrap with hype sticker attached but the shrink wrap has been opened on side edge to be able to retrieve contents. https://www.discogs.com/release/35497960-The-Who-Who-Are-You $63 (+ $7 media mail shipping) U.S. shipping only. Pay pal friends/family

Last night, Jonathan Fisher Quartet at the Balcony Club (Shelley Carrol/Peter Rioux/Andrew Griffith).

Wednesday - Jenny Scheinman All Species Parade

Chimera: Michael Bisio on bass, Timothy Hill on guitar and vocals, Iva Bittova on violin and vocal and Steve Gorn on clarinet and flutes. At the Lace Mill, Kingston, NY

👍👍- both ...

Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette “Tribute” ECM 2 cd set, disc 1 500×500 30.9 KB