ghost of miles

The U.S. is on pace to hit 100,000 coronavirus deaths by Monday. Happy Memorial Day.

Much-deserved would be a severe understatement.

Upping in honor of Mark's book having just been named "Best Book About Jazz" for the Jazz Journalists Association's 2020 awards: Made In Detroit: Jazz From The Motor City, Part 1 Made In Detroit: Jazz From The Motor City, Part 2

The Jazz West Coast listserv’s daily jazz birthday roundup reminds me that it’s that time of year again. Happy birthday with gratitude as always for all the work you’ve done over the years to document and help create the music, and for enabling us to hear it. Thanks for caring so much, and for doing everything with the highest degree of intelligence and integrity, and with the utmost respect for the artists. Appreciation, finally, for all of your astute comments and contributions to this forum over the years, grounded in deep personal experience and historical knowledge of the music. A life well lived and keep living it! Now can I get a 25% discount on all future Nessa orders?

Bought this as part of an online bargain blowout sale several years ago, but haven't gotten around to listening to it yet... will definitely check it out with this rec from you, Jim.

Today's classic-jazz show highlighted Woody Shaw's 1978 album Rosewood, plus music featuring saxophonists Sonny Fortune and Gregory Herbert in honor of their respective birthdays: Woody Shaw, Sonny Fortune, Gregory Herbert on "Just You And Me"

Jazz From Detroit has been named "Best Book of the Year About Jazz" in the 2020 Jazz Journalists Association awards.

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.)