ghost of miles

Disc 1. Fantasy did a really nice job with their label-overview sets (Debut, Prestige, and this one—and they also curated an excellent multi-label West Coast Jazz collection).

Same here—I watched every year as a kid, even though it was a miserable era for American League fans (iirc the NL won about a dozen years in a row, until the 1983 Fred Lynn grand-slam game). Nowadays, as I continue to downscale my following of sports in general (pretty much MLB only), I welcome the break from paying daily attention to baseball.

Not all of them jazz, but this still felt like the right sub-forum for a thread. Intended as a sort of sidebar to the NY Times’ larger and more general list: 14 best music books of the 21st century

I’ve read six and marked 28 as want-to-reads. Problem is I still have way too many books from the 20th century (and a few from the 19th) that I still need to read. Anybody on the board figured out a way to stop time yet? NYT 100 best books of the 21st century

I noted his strong followup start after his win against the Yankees. Boston has certainly played its way back into contention in the AL East. Hoping against hope that the Yanks finish today with a road sweep of Baltimore, but not optimistic with Rodon on the mound. Plus the Orioles are due, having lost five in a row.

Disc 2.

… listening tonight to the June 27, 1945 session from this set (C13 on disc 9), with Guarnieri and Buck Clayton and Denzil Best. What a date! It’s going to send me back to the Byas-Clayton small group sides made with Basie several years prior. Grateful to Loren Schoenberg for the reminder of the latter in his notes, which are superlative as always.

Dan smiles last and smiles biggest! The Miracle of the Rice was apparently only a one-day pause of the ongoing demise that is midsummer Yankee baseball this year. (Feeling more and more like 2022… it’s deja vu all over again, folks!) On a broader topic, what’s everybody hoping/looking for come the trading deadline? Are any significant players likely to move?

I’ll see Dan’s Saturday-morning smile and raise him my Saturday-evening smile 😉 after a Yankee rookie who grew up a Yankee fan in Massachusetts (and who as a little boy scrawled “Yankees rule” on the Pesky Pole at Fenway) blew away Friday night’s bad vibes with a three-home run outburst against the surging BoSox. 🤩 AL East has certainly gotten more interesting, with the Yankees’ 5-15 stinker of a stretch going into yesterday’s game, Baltimore slipping into the division lead but not capitalizing as much as they could have on NY’s miserable run, and Boston coming on strong. I still see the O’s as ultimately taking the Eastern crown, but the other four division teams are all in the wild-card hunt—even the struggling Jays and Rays. Anyway, Bos-NY rubber match tonight, with a faltering Luis Gil on the mound for NY—he’s gone from looking like Bob Gibson in 1968 to Carlos Rodon in 2023. (And 2024 Carlos Rodon has begun to look a lot like 2023 Carlos Rodon as well. 🤦‍♂️) NY has dropped five of its last six series and split the other one… will Boston extend our woes and induce another Gould smile, or will my face be lighting up with a grin as big and goofy as Ben Rice’s? On another note, I’ve followed the Astros’ return from the dead with displeasure. Jsngry, what are the chances of the Rangers turning their season around?

Several underway, all of a historical nature:

Concur about how good the sound is, though I’m just a few tracks into disc 1. I haven’t listened to any of this music in quite awhile (other than the occasional single piece) and it’s really enjoyable to begin revisiting it this evening. Blue Note Hall of Famers abound on these dates too… interesting and possibly valid what Blumenthal says about Hutcherson’s choice of instrument accounting for an underestimation of Hutch’s 1960s Blue Note legacy as a leader. And so glad that Cuscuna shepherded The Kicker into the market back in 1999 and into this box set as well. Yes, Henderson dominates the proceedings (I can imagine worse things) and the date doesn’t really showcase BH as a leader making his debut. Still, to hear more of Joe H and company here in this particular period is a joy. Looking forward to the previously unreleased stuff to come as I go deeper into the set. Nice to have this to listen to on the holiday eve.

Looks like my copy will be landing late tomorrow, just in time for the Fourth (and just as I’m about to wrap up my second tour of the Byas set). Really looking forward to revisiting Hutcherson’s 1960s Blue Note run… haven’t listened to most of those albums in quite awhile.

I like this one (set to dad hat style in navy): Blue Note Records baseball cap

Got an email from a Night Lights listener chastising me for my pronunciation of the Concord label name. NY Times (albeit from 2009) says we’re both right: Concord pronunciation (And yes, regional pronunciation of the New Hampshire and California towns—the latter the source of the record label’s name—is the same as “conquered.” But I have never heard the record label name itself pronounced that way.)

An early favorite from when I was first getting into jazz.

Via the booklet for the box set of Davis' Prestige quintet recordings: In his liner notes to Steamin', Joe Goldberg wrote that many listeners initially felt that the quintet was comprised of "a trumpet player who could play only in the middle register and fluffed half his notes; an out-of-tune tenor player; a cocktail pianist; a drummer who played so loud that nobody else could be heard; and a teenage bassist."

Picked up this Verve Elite used at my local record store yesterday. Turns out today is Mr. Smith’s birthday!