ghost of miles

Disc 1!

The Johnson household welcomed a new addition to its Mosaic family at 7:05 this evening. Paul Desmond The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings, weighs approximately three pounds and has a healthy cry that oddly sounds like a dry martini. Father and set are resting comfortably in the front room next to the stereo.

Wow! I have a CD-R copy that I dubbed off WFIU's vinyl years ago, but I'l be springing for this reissue, no doubt. Great news--thanks for the heads-up!

Some hopeful news on the vaccine front.

We re-aired From Naptown To Paris: Wes Montgomery Live this past week, and it remains archived for online listening.

So damn good:

Right, that's why I said "these days." I love some of those earlier vocalist sets (the O'Day and the Bailey in particular, and have all of the others mentioned). It just seems that in recent years Mosaic's shied away from doing them at all, most likely for concern over how well (or not) they would sell. I'd love some kind of Lee Wiley collection, for instance... but don't know what the market for a Lee Wiley Mosaic would be in 2020.

Trying to think of the last Mosaic set to feature a vocalist... Ella with Chick Webb? The Crosby? They don’t seem too inclined to pursue such sets these days. (I’m not counting the previous and forthcoming Armstrong sets.) That said, yeah, I’d still be in for just about any kind of Betty Carter collection.

Wow. That just all sounds insane, in terms of practical implementation. I admire their trying to come up with a way of playing that significantly reduces the risks, and who knows... maybe MLB could make it work. Color me pessimistic for now. Could be quite a boon for stolen bases if holding runners on is discouraged or outright forbidden.

Don’t know if it’s on Spotify, but Katzman fans might want to track down and check out this live date recorded at Keystone Korner around 1980: Lee Katzman Quartet: Naptown Reunion ... today is Katzman’s birthday, btw. Chicago-born and grew up in Indianapolis, so he’s a name that comes up among the small coterie of Indiana jazz history devotees.

Was just now perusing the daily email of jazz birthdays that a listserv member sends out each morning, and there you were—not far below Woody Herman. Happy birthday, with much appreciation as always for your commentary here and your writings elsewhere.

That was the case with mine when I first received the email, but by the next morning it was working.

Fascinating background to all of this, Mark--thanks so much. I'll have to take that Baker's set out for a fresh listen... I remember being excited about it when it came out and playing it several times (including on my old WFHB radio show), but it's been a long time... though maybe I had it out for one of your Btown visits?

It’s fascinating to me to trace his evolution, playing with a number of big bands in the 1940s (including a notable stretch with Kenton) while also being a part of the mid-40s 52nd St bebop scene, then settling in Los Angeles in 1951 going on to do all the “Shelly Manne and His Men” West Coast recordings, not to mention the My Fair Lady trio album, and of course the Blackhawk quintet outings. Good Lord! And Larry Kart has made a strong case on this board for some of his later 1960s albums. I thought about trying to do a career-spanning show, but the 1950s alone give me plenty to chew on.

Doing some preparatory work for a June Night Lights show about Manne’s 1950s recordings and wanted to recommend the chapters about him in both Ted Gioia’s West Coast Jazz and Burt Korall’s Drummin’ Men: The Bebop Years. A really remarkable artist who, as Lazaro notes above, doesn’t get as much attention today, historically speaking, as he should. Next month marks his centenary, so hopefully he’ll merit some writeups in the online jazz media. (Print is on pause right now, at least in the case of JazzTimes; not sure about DownBeat.)

Speaking of the Beatles... Astrid Kirchherr dies, age 81 ... she took the now-legendary photos of the group in Hamburg when they were a five-piece and got engaged to then-bassist Stu Sutcliffe.

Baseball columnist David Lennon has several tweets up about the COVID-19 protocol that MLB's developing. This answers, for better or worse, one question that I had: Manfred told CNN last night that a player testing positive will not result in all those exposed being quarantined. MLB can’t do that because it would shut down team and wreck season. CDC guidelines suggest 14 days quarantine for those with known exposure to prevent the spread. Manfred on positive tests and quarantine Some of the responses to that tweet raise valid skepticism about whether or not this is going to work. Manfred lays out coronavirus plan for MLB

Dexter Gordon on trumpeter Woody Shaw: “The thing about Woods is he’s done his homework. He’s hip to Louis Armstrong, plays intervals, and runs backwards so to speak... Woods covers the whole spectrum.” (quoted in the booklet for the Mosaic Columbia set)

One of the earliest ones I picked up (my very first was the Andrew Hill 1963-66 Blue Note... want to revisit that as well), and man, do I love it even more . Woody Shaw in the mid-1970s to early 1980s...

I was or thought I was part of the second wave of purchases, so pleasantly surprised to get a shipping notice this afternoon. Doug Ramsey did the notes for this set, is that correct?

... from the unjustly-overlooked Black, Brown And Beatles?

Posted this in the Covid poll thread, but it’s highly pertinent to MLB/sports discussion as well. If one guy in South Korea infect as many as 80 people in a single outing, how does that portend for large groups of athletes playing or practicing together every day? South Korean case shows the dangers of reopening Starting to look like herd-immunity-or-bust until we get a vaccine. Which means a hell of a lot more sickness and death... but also means there’s no good reason to put people and players in harm’s way for the sake of entertaining the masses. I miss baseball, but I don’t want people potentially suffering long-term organ damage or dying to bring it about. There’s plenty enough of that going on just at the day-to-day getting-by level of life right now.