Joe

I might liken it more to Geoff Dyer's BUT BEAUTIFUL* because of some shared premises (real musicians, real occurrences), but I'd like to think that this book has more Zabor-like than Dyer-like moments. For sure. It's just not fabulist in the way that THE BEAR COMES HOME is. * A book that was published a couple of years after I began my working on this in earnest and very nearly caused so much agony / agonizing that I abandoned my project (for the first time... but that its own long story).

Thanks all, and deeply. I will be happy to send updates as we get closer to November 1. You can find the book on Goodreads, if you use that service: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22886178-crepuscule-w-nellie. Copies will be available directly from the publisher as well as (ulp!) Amazon. I am also working directly with independent bookstores whenever and wherever possible. I will try and maintain a list of where the book should be available for purchase on my website. Best, JM

Greetings all. I've been hesitant to publicize the following, and for a true bunch of complicated (and probably over-thought as well as overwrought) reasons. But having reminded myself recently of the generosity of the community here, and of the fact that I've now been able to call myself your neighbor, at least in a virtual sense, for over 15 years (!), I finally feel comfortable with this news with you. On November 1, Jaded Ibis Press will be publishing my debut novel, Crepuscule W/ Nellie. As you might imagine from its title, the novel does in fact have much to do with Thelonious Monk. I.e., the novel's narrative's circulate around him and his cabaret card-less years in the 50s, but, in more importantly, the novel is only about Monk inasmuch as he was a presence in the life of two fascinating women: his wife Nellie, and his patron / confidante the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter. You can learn more about the novel, read some rather embarrassingly approbative blurbs for it, and find links to excerpts from the book at my personal website here: http://www.slowstudies.net/jmilazzo/crepuscule-w-nellie/. Crepuscule W/ Nellie is not historical fiction in the conventional sense of the term. However, it is novel that knows it is work of fiction and never pretends to be anything other than that. Much in the book is imagined (the origins of its composition predating Robin D.G. Kelley's scholarship); perhaps it can be described as a kind of improvisation on the speculations, rumors and myths that have hovered around these three figures. It is therefore a book that, because it is rather concerned with notions of truth and authenticity (among other themes) is often loose in its accuracy. I.e., if you don't want to read something that ignores, fuzzies up and / or flat contradicts known facts about Monk's life, this may not be a book that rewards your attentions. Now that I've issued those caveat emptors... my publisher has provided me with a PDF of the advance reader's copy (ARC) of the novel, and I would be happy to make that file available to any Organissimo member interested in poring over one. If so, please just PM me. I'm less concerned with sales than with having readers, and I can't think of readership I respect more than this board. Thanks all for putting up with this pitch. Best, JM

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I forgot about Al Wilson's role in the band. A sad loss; 1970 was a terrible year. http://www.dkulczyk.com/2012/05/30/bob-the-bear-hite-an-unstoppable-party-machine/

Never warmed (pun only begrudingly intended) to Canned Heat, but major respect to vocalist / flautist / harmonica player Bob Hite, a major collector and contributor to blues musicology. Billy Storm, now... the deeper you go into the discography, the more Lynchian (David) it gets... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmfOCiCssH0

Psychodrama! And sort of the Maleficent to Roy Orbison's Sleeping Beauty.

I'm not a huge Chick Corea fan, but I've always loved the solo he builds on "Y Todavia La Quiero" from Joe Henderson's RELAXIN' AT CAMARILLO. Amina Claudine Myers plays a helluva [i believe this is the preferred spelling] solo on the title track to Frank Lowe's EXOTIC HEARTBREAK. Dick Twardzik, "Sad Walk" and "Pomp," Chet Baker's 1955 Paris recordings.

Richly deserved. That Rick Lowe is also on this year's list of recipients makes my heart feel good. If you don't know about the Project Row Houses in Houston or his Trans.lation: Vickery Meadow commission here in Dallas, well, they are public art projects worth knowing about. http://projectrowhouses.org/ http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2013/october/can-art-transform-vickery-meadow?single=1

This whole series, but especially this volume:

About time! Let us hope Milestone's Clarke Project continues to make her films more widely available.

Bill Harris was "da bomb." Sounds wonderful on the (overlooked, underrated, nearly invisible it seems) EX-HERMANITES date on Mode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2PhNgQz7oc http://www.amazon.com/The-Ex-Hermanites-Bill-Harris/dp/B00005K9WP#

Oliver Nelson's Moodsville date -- NOCTURNE, with Lem Winchester, Richard Wyands, George Duvivier and Roy Haynes -- is another favorite. Sometimes the Moodsville dates can be a little too snoozy, but: 1) we're still talking Oliver Nelson here ; 2) consider that rhythm section; 3) Winchester had a wonderful rapport with Nelson, but this is their final recorded meeting, so there's a bittersweet quality to this date akin to what I feel when I listen to Sonny Clark's LEAPIN' AND LOPIN'. More thoughts here: http://www.bagatellen.com/?p=322

Agree with Larry... you can't go wrong with that Webster Young record, mostly because Quinichette just brings it on every tune. All of George Wallington's Prestige records are worth hearing, especially the early trios and live Cafe Bohemia date with the Byrd - McLean line-up (originally issued on Status, though, so maybe it doesn't quite qualify?) Some nice Phil Woods to be heard on THE NEW YORK SCENE. Also, a little bit more buttoned-down that I would like (more Dave Burns, please), but the James Moody small group records merit some attention, as Moody was trying something different in terms of balancing arrangements and "blowing"...

Ornette and Haden SOAPSUDS SOAPSUDS George Lewis' HOMAGE TO CHARLES PARKER... a "Penguin crown" record, and everyone plays wonderfully on it, but, IMO Douglas Ewart's improvising here is heroic

Swingville indeed. Soft spots for Budd Johnson's LET'S SWING, the Shorty Baker - Doc Cheatham date, and Hal Singer's BLUE STOMPIN'.

The label is very, very above board and those who are due royalties will get theirs. It is I'm sure an expensive set to produce. It looks good but more importantly it sounds as much like you're "there" as an early Blue Note, some of the recent Nessa CDs, or Shellac's At Action Park. Can't stress that rare feeling enough. As for the video footage, it is included on a download card. Actually I wish it'd been included on a DVD but that's my only gripe. The Taylor is good but not great, I agree. The NYAQ is essential. They hopefully will be doing some Bill Dixon stuff down the line, in full accord with the estate. Thanks for that info. I'm OK with having mixed feelings, but I appreciate being more informed in my confusion! Would gladly go hungry for Frank Lowe. Just maybe not this month.

The crank in me wants to say, "A musician of Frank Lowe's caliber deserves better than this consumer object fetishization" but the fan in me wants to say, "You could afford it if you give up a few lunches out this month..." I'd glady send these guys $20 - $25 bucks for FLACs and a PDF booklet. Also, as noted by others, more important to me these days than packaging, bonuses, super-high-bit-BluRay-definition mastering is actual transparency from the issuing body itself. Does this price really reflect a need of the part of the label to recover production costs and pay those who need to be paid? Will Frank Lowe's estate, or jazz musicians in general, be among those? I know; hardly anyone does this, but its not a new idea... JCOA / NMDS anyone?

Another "up" for that Hal McKusick record. Ditto the A. K. Salim and Don Friedman, which are about as far out as Prestige (hell, anybody, almost) ever got. A few more: Jaki Byard, HERE'S JAKI and HI-FLY (trios) Teddy Charles, COLLABORATION: WEST and EVOLUTION (early experiments in modality, serial composition and other avant-garde techniques; for my $$, the best pure playing by Short Rogers to be heard) Jerome Richardson, ROAMIN' WITH RICHARDSON (featuring a beautiful, beautiful rendition of "Warm Valley," featuring JR on baritone sax) Dizzy Reece, ASIA MINOR (the equal, easily, of any of his BN dates) On the Coltrane side of things... LUSH LIFE is, in one sense, a miscellany / complete grab-bag, and the trio tracks with Earl May (did he ever sound better?) and AT are a reclamation project (according to the liner notes, they rolled tape even though the piano player failed to show), but what a perfectly sequenced LP it is. Still, IMO, some of Trane's best ballad playing. Walt Dickerson, of course, is perennially underrated. Not throwing shade on Bobby Hutcherson, but Walt went there first, and then some. Teo Macero and The Prestige Jazz Quartet (and the lone Prestige Jazz Quartet album at that, which sports a killer version of "Friday the 13th")

Goodness, so many choices! Though there are distinct "periods" when it comes to Prestige's output (Weinstock, Edwards, Schiltten, etc.) Three to begin: Zoot Sims / Pepper Adams, ENCOUNTER (though I have a vague sense that this was a licensed session [?]) Bobby Timmons, THE SOUL MAN (quartet with Wayne Shorter, 1966) Gil Melle, GIL'S GUESTS

I like the Xanadu dates as well... TRUE BLUE and SILVER BLUE, both of which pair Dex with Al Cohn. Check out their unaccompanied rendition of "On the Trail"... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E-eeliLxT8

Thanks; adding this to my "to-read" list. Purchased a Kindle version of the Beckett; it was 99 cents, for heaven's sake. Not that reading poetry on the Kindle is a pleasant experience, but... will report back once I've had more time to glance into its "pages."

I was born old. But I will enjoy my Douglas Adams birthday. It's good to be the answer (if not The Answer; all props to Mr. Iverson), even if only for a short while.

Has anyone here read Lee Underwood's BLUE MELODY? Interesting to note that Underwood is credited with co-writing Paul Horn's biography as well (INSIDE), which I have read. Also, if I'm not mistaken, this is the same Larry Beckett who collaborated with Buckley on his lyrics (HAPPY/SAD through STARSAILOR, at least).