ghost of miles

No surprise here—police unions have stifled reform in many cities. And look no further than the NYCPD’s violent and insubordinate behavior for an example of a belligerent police force in a city largely under Democratic governing. That dude is not going to change. You’re a leader, you know how important the tone of leadership is. The systemic problems certainly existed long before he took office and go all the way back to the origins of this country, but you seriously think he hasn’t made the situation worse? Hell, just look at Kroll in Minneapolis, the guy who called the state’s AG a “terrorist,” has white-nationalist ties, and was photographed with DT at a rally—and who’s said “Obama put the handcuffs on cops, DT took them off and let us put them on criminals again.” WTF? And btw there’s an answer to your previous remark—after Michael Brown and Ferguson, the Obama DOJ worked with a number of problematic police departments to establish federal consent decrees that were intended to help PDs establish better and fairer policing policies, strategies, and rules/guidelines. Guess what happened when DT and crew came in? They threw that all out. Not saying that that would have solved all problems, or that there’s any magical or easy solution to fixing all of this. But it seems to me that some of your criticism is misdirected.

They didn’t resign from the police force, unfortunately. They just resigned from the emergency response team. But yeah, point # ad infinitum against the “few bad apples”’argument. There are a lot of inherent and systemic issues with policing culture in this country. Excellent NY Times opinion piece, btw: The police are rioting. We need to talk about it.

Very disturbing “resolution” to that story. Nixonian is bang-on correct. Is G. Gordon Liddy still around? Surprised he hasn’t gotten a call-up for the current crew in charge.

Yet more WTF: Law enforcement seizes masks meant to protect anti-racist protesters from Covid-19 1. On what possible legal grounds could such a shipment be seized? 2. How did law enforcement even know about the contents of this shipment? There is a lot of weird and troubling stuff going on right now that is reminiscent of an authoritarian police state, as opposed to the country that we’re supposed to be. Maybe there’s some “explanation” for this story; I’d sure like to hear it.

Just reading about the impact of those two 1960s Robert Johnson releases on Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, via Patrick Humphries' uneven but generally entertaining Rolling Stones 69. Which is why this particular title is spinning right now:

Turns out they’re federal prison riot teams. Double WTF.

Yep, just read about it in the NY Times.

Very cool! I've always wanted to ride with an engineer on a freight train... and as a kid thought being a crewman in a caboose would be a really cool job. (My father, who is a great lover of trains, dampened that career desire by correctly assessing that caboose crews and cabooses in general were on the way out.) My girlfriend and I have been talking for the past couple of years about taking the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle as part of a vacation in the Northwest. Hoping to do that either next summer or the summer after.

WTF? Via Josh Marshall: The last 48 hours have seen multiple press reports of people who appear to be federal law enforcement patrolling in the vicinity of the White House, refusing to identify who they are or what agency they represent. According to a report this afternoon from Garrett Haake of NBC News federal law enforcement officers of some kind pushed the crowd perimeter back from the White House but refused to identify themselves, what agency they represented and had removed all insignia or name plates that might identify them.

Yep--Josh Marshall posted a skeptical piece about this study not too long ago, citing some of the same issues that the Guardian article elaborates on.

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.