ghost of miles

I bit on both the 6-CD Cutting Edge (great book and photos, just skimming through them so far) and the Live 1966 boxes, both found online at very good prices, and have started to dig into them. I'm still only three CDs into Through the Open Window, so I think I'm set for Dylan listening material for awhile!

Mark’s on the show again this afternoon to talk about “Best of the Best: Jazz From Detroit,” the documentary film adaptation of his book about Detroit jazz that’s showing Saturday at the IU Cinema in Bloomington. We’ll be playing lots of Detroit jazz as well by Kenny Burrell, Barry Harris, Ron Carter, Geri Allen, Bob Hurst and more. On WFIU from 3-5 p.m. EST, 103.7 FM in Bloomington, online at wfiu.org

I voted for him in that year's primary as well!

Hi Steve, yes, pretty sure it's the same recording that's on the Hep CD March of the Boyds 1945-48 that I have at home. I'll check when I'm back from work this evening.

The 2-CD highlights version of Through the Open Window and a review by a critic friend persuaded me to opt for the full-blown deluxe set: Just as Mark Lewisohn’s Beatles bio Tune In lit a deeper interest in their formative years for me, last year’s A Complete Unknown film stoked my interest in Dylan’s earliest years, so I’m really going to enjoy the deep dive that this set offers. I thought the 2-CD version would suffice, but it only whetted my appetite to hear and read even more. This is only the third deluxe bootleg box I’ve purchased, preceded by The Complete Basement Tapes and the Rolling Thunder Revue set. I’ll probably eventually pick up the expanded Cutting Edge collection as well. On the fence about the full-blown 1966 Live leviathan.

Knockout version of “Begin the Beguine” by Boyd Raeburn’s band near the end of disc 3 (arrangement by Johnny Richards). Also recently encountered big-band singer Dorothy Claire on a new CD of Glenn Miller’s Chesterfield broadcasts and was pleasantly surprised to hear her again on the V-disc set with Raeburn’s orchestra. She did a stint with Bob Crosby in 1939 but doesn’t appear on the Crosby Mosaic, which omits most of that band’s vocal sides (but does include a couple of vocals from Teddy Grace, another lesser-known fave of mine among swing-era singers).

I was going to mention Off The Record, but then realized that it is (or was) an imprint of Archeophone. Apologies if the initial post was a bit vague. Certainly labels such as Mosaic, Nessa, and Hep fit the definition, in terms of being small operations devoted to specialized jazz reissues and releases--it's just that their longevity and extensive catalogues almost make them "too big to be boutique" at this point. This is my anecdotal sense as well. There will be exceptions, of course (a few years ago it seemed a # of musicians in the improvisatory/avant-garde community were exploring a renewed interest in hot jazz of the 1920s), and young dancers often seek out music from the swing era. But once the living generations of artists and their fanbases are gone, the interest in the music seems to decline even more.

Discussion of an upcoming Julius Hemphill reissue put me in mind of International Phonograph Inc, which then put me in mind of Mighty Quinn, both of which put out some beautifully-done, labor-of-love releases. What are some of your favorite boutique labels and reissues?

I just realized that the International Phonograph reissue of this came out *15* years ago. Damn, time doesn't fly, it's more like now you see it, now you don't.

Hear, hear! Five days till pitchers and catchers report.

My guess is that they've distilled Tiberi's original 86-CD-R transfer stash to something in the neighborhood of 4-8 CDs for general release? And I'd also imagine that modern audio clean-up technology has made whatever they're going to put out more listenable, as opposed to what was available in 2000 when the transfers were originally made. This is a really big deal--the Tiberi tapes have been akin to Dean Benedetti's Charlie Parker recordings for Coltrane fans.

Scene from "The Pine Barrens," now with laugh track:

The V-eagle has landed! Love hearing a disc's worth of Woody right out of the gate. If Mosaic goofed on disc 5, I assume they'll send out replacement copies, as they have in the past when similar mistakes or omissions were made.

I have a copy of the massive History of European Jazz book on the way and am eager to look for further discussion of the artists featured on SJ 18 (which has superb annotations in and of itself). Thinking about brewing up a Night Lights episode devoted to this release. Current listening--this early-1960s end-of-a-love-affair concept album, the last of Nat King Cole's four collaborations with arranger Gordon Jenkins:

So glad that set made it into existence. Right now—such a great entry in a great series: