ghost of miles

That's great news, Chris!

Thanks as well--sounds like an interesting approach!

So I think both Early and Blumenthal's source may be Miles himself, via his autobiography. (Sorry to kick that particular hornet's nest!) Here are several references from the 1990 paperback edition: pg. 256: "Hank Mobley left the band in 1961 and I replaced him for a hot minute with a guy named Rocky Boyd, but he didn't work out either." pg. 257: "In 1962, J.J. Johnson was available, and Sonny Rollins came back and made some gigs, so I got a real good sextet together with Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, and myself, and we went out on the road. We played Chicago--this was the middle of May--and we went through East St. Louis to see my father. He wasn't feeling too good. Frances had come out with us to see her parents in Chicago, so she was with us, too." (Note: the Losin passage quoted above doesn't mention this May 1962 Chicago gig, but it would seem to line up between the April NYC Village Vanguard dates and the late May performances at the Mardi Gras in Kansas City. In his autobiography Miles mentions playing Kansas City after the Chicago gig and the visit to his father in East St. Louis) pg. 261: "We finished playing Chicago in December 1962--myself, Wynton, Paul, J.J., and Jimmy Cobb; Jimmy Heath came in for one gig taking the place of Sonny Rollins, who left again to form his own group and to go back and woodshed some more. I think it was around this time that he was supposed to be heard practicing on the Brooklyn Bridge high up in the girders; at least that's what everyone was saying. Everybody except me and Jimmy Cobb were talking about leaving the band either to make some more money or to go out on their own to play their own music. The rhythm section wanted to work as a trio led by Wynton, and J.J. wanted to stay around L.A. because he could make a lot of money doing studio gigs and be home with his family. That left just Jimmy Cobb and me, and that wasn't enough to make a band." Well, OK, that last passage--pace Miles' "Brooklyn Bridge" remark (and yes, I know it was actually the Williamsburg Bridge), Sonny was already a full year back from his sabbatical by the end of 1962. Given how busy he seems to have been with his already-formed quartet that year, it's hard for me to imagine him doing any kind of multi-gig stint with Miles. So is Miles confusing Sonny R in his memory with Sonny Stitt? That also seems like quite a stretch, and a perusal of the booklet for the Sonny Stitt Roost Mosaic box, which spends some time discussing Stitt's activities in 1962, makes no mention of his playing with Miles. But Larry has a friend who recalls seeing Stitt and J.J. with Miles at the Sutherlin--ostensibly this beginning-of-1963 booking that Losin mentions, and to which Miles is apparently referring to as having taken place in December 1962? So maybe it was indeed Sonny Stitt, and Miles was misremembering (or the much-maligned Mr. Troupe got them mixed up... check the transcripts, right? ) Or maybe Sonny R did pop in for a "hot minute" and then popped right back out. I don't have any Sonny R biographies, and iirc there isn't really a good one available, is there? Miles' remark about Sonny R forming his own group could be a reference to the quartet with Don Cherry, which supplanted the 1962 quartet with Jim Hall, so I suppose that could be added to any case to be made for Rollins' actually having made some 1962 appearances with Davis. >>A two-week engagement at Chicago's Sutherland Lounge, January 30-February 10 (Wednesday-Sunday) was followed by the sudden departure of Wynton Kelly and Paul Chambers.<< Anyway, that's my further jazz-detective contribution to this puzzle. Obviously it would be great if any of us knew Sonny well enough to give him a ring and ask!

I've figured out something else about this whole query, but it may only muddy the waters even more. In the meantime, any idea of when/where this photo of Miles and Sonny Rollins was taken? ...and here's a whole series of photos of Miles, Hank, J.J. and the trio at the Birdhouse in Chicago, September 1961 (dated by Laird Scott, apparently, who took the photos, so I presume that's accurate): Miles Davis Sextet at the Birdhouse, September 1961 One sample:

It only goes through May of 1961--I have it at the office and checked earlier today, though I didn't give it a thorough reading... was just disappointed that it stopped at May.

Here’s something better: Tense North Carolina protest turns emotional as police kneel before demonstrators

Dude spoke or tweeted 16,241 false or misleading claims in his first three years in office. Whatever the veracity of his tweet about NYC, he’s a serial liar, and the worst possible person to have “in charge” right now. If he deploys the military to my hometown (about an hour’s drive from where I live) I’ll be taking to the streets there myself. Seriously. I’ve had it with this march-to-fascism bullshit. Thank you for this invaluable perspective. I naively never expected to see this kind of thing come down in modern-day America.

OK, I think I’ve found my source, though I did read the Early book while I was working on that show. On pg 43 of the booklet to Sony’s Seven Steps box set, Bob Blumenthal writes, “Sonny Stitt filled the slot in the closing months of 1960, playing tenor and alto saxes, then Hank Mobley, Rocky Boyd, and even Sonny Rollins (as he worked his way back from a two-year performing sabbatical).” Blumenthal’s notes are dated May 2004, so I suppose it’s possible that he’s basing that statement on Early’s book—though Early makes no reference to Sonny’s sabbatical. And Jsngry’s speculation that it may have been a one or two-time thing certainly merits consideration as a plausible explanation for such accounts.

This may have been my source, but I honestly can't remember--and even so, this could be wrong and certainly doesn't settle the question. From Gerald Early's 2001 book Miles Davis And American Culture (pg. 123): >>Between 1960 and 1962, Miles tried different combinations of musicians in his working band, all fine musicians and some even great. But soon the band became like a turnstile, with players like Sonny Stitt, Hank Mobley, Sonny Rollins, George Coleman, Frank Strozier, J.J. Johnson, Jimmy Heath, Victor Feldman, Frank Butler, and Harold Mabern moving in and out of it.<< Might be one for Mike F.'s listserv. I have to do my live show in half an hour, but I'll try to dig a little deeper on this after work this evening.

Larry's referring to the early 1960s, after Hank Mobley departed from the group. EDIT: yikes. Your post, Larry, triggered a faint sign of recognition on my part, and I went back to the script for the "Miles Between" Night Lights show that we just re-aired this past week. I make reference in that post to Rollins briefly playing with Miles after returning from his sabbatical. I originally put the show together several years ago and will have to dig into my notes to see if I can find what source I used for that statement. If it proves to be inaccurate or unverifiable, I'll remove the reference.

The biggest hothead in the world is currently in charge. And last night they teargassed peaceful protesters and shot rubber bullets at them so that he could have a photo-op in front of a church. One of the teargassed was a priest from that very church, who was also removed from the property. How f'd up is that? In a long, long list of very f'd-up shit that's been pulled. George Will of all people, Mr. leading-light-of-the-Reagan-Revolution, just published a piece for the Washington Post that I guess I won't link to, since it's overtly political--but the gist of it is that this guy and all those who've enabled him need to go.

Once more around the broadcasting circuit last week for Miles Between: Miles Davis 1961-63.

A member of the Jazz West Coast listserv is reporting that Lennie Niehaus has passed away at the age of 91.

That is usually the case, yes. Excited for you to hear this set! I may be doing a Night Lights drawn from it for Hank's 90th birthday next month.

I've heard a few stories about the hazards of riding with Indiana bandleader and saxophonist Al Cobine. Trumpeter Dominic Spera told me that they were once en route to a gig somewhere in a blinding snowstorm, and that the road began to seem strangely bumpy. Domininc or one of the other passengers was able to discern through the enveloping whiteness that Al had at some point left the road and was now traveling along a riverbed that ran beside it. "Al, we're driving in a riverbed!" they informed him. Al said, "Oh, whoops--no problem!" and swerved his vehicle back up onto the roadway.

An O-member who shares the same city as me, by any chance?

Re the Mercury compilation, it’s Hoagy Carmichael’s “Washboard Blues” (from the Truck Parkham duo session that Chuck mentions) and I just played it on the radio last week—it jumped out at me while I was listening to the Mercury set (The Mercury Records Jazz Story, well worth checking out). Several months ago a friend who’s doing some collection downsizing gave me his vinyl ediion of the Hodes Mosaic Blue Note set... man, is it good! Great notes by Dan Morgenstern as well. I’d already heard quite a few of the masters via the also-excellent Hot Jazz on Blue Note box-set (another buy-it-if-you-see-it item), but it’s great to hear all of Hodes’ Blue Note material presented in Mosaic fashion. Developing a whole new appreciation for Hodes as a pianist.

Not sure about hardcovers in general, but the relaunched Modern Library series uses glue bindings for its hardbacks. Also not a fan of the olive-green jackets they adopted for the contemporary volumes.

I don't think they've done The Sun Also Rises, but for single works (as well as story collections) I'm a big fan of the modern-day Everyman series, which often includes an in-depth introductory essay. Sewn bindings, too, which I much prefer to glue (see the contemporary Modern Library series--I *love* the original Modern Library series and have about 200 volumes from it, but not a fan of the relaunched version). Everyman does some author omnibus editions as well, but they're generally not as geared towards the more completist approach that LOA often employs.

Not sure. I can't recall--are you a member of that FB Goodman group? If not, you should be! Loren's always posting interesting recordings + commentary there.

ejp626's response is on-target, I'd say--I know in the case of Fitzgerald it's been an estate issue. With copyright going back 95 years on works published before 1978, a lot of mid-to-late 1920s material will be coming into the public domain in the next few years. Here's a rundown on copyright from a Stanford.edu site: For works published after 1977, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years... All works published in the United States before 1924 are in the public domain (as of Dec 2019, when this article was posted). Works published after 1923, but before 1978 are protected for 95 years from the date of publication. If the work was created, but not published, before 1978, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. Copyright basics So I'd say there's a good chance we'll see a second Fitzgerald volume in the not-too-distant future that would include Gatsby, The Vegetable (FSF's flop play which I still have yet to read) and All The Sad Young Men, plus other short stories from the 1923-late 20s period. Or maybe they can reach a deal with the estate and publish all of the remaining novels (Gatsby, Tender Is The Night, and The Last Tycoon) plus The Vegetable in one volume, and all of the 1923-1940 short stories in another. It'll be interesting to see how they compile his writings; there's quite a lot of excellent non-fiction for them to draw on as well. LOA definitely wants to do more Fitzgerald; I had some correspondence several years back with the guy who edited the first volume, and he indicated that it was a matter of estate/public domain issues holding them back. Re Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises is due to fall into the public domain next year, so the EH estate probably figured they might as well sign off on an LOA volume that includes pretty much everything leading up to it.