ghost of miles

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?