ghost of miles

With the Basie Roulette studio box and Jones-Lewis set on their way now, I’m down to one: the DeFranco-Clark set (which I have CD-Rs of, plus a Xerox of the booklet—but it’d be nice to actually have the set itself). Which set or sets, OOP or otherwise, do you keep an eye out for these days?

Thanks much to all who helped with this.

Yes--I went that route, but it wouldn't accept payment. Thank you, though! I think I've managed to wrangle the file I pulled off an ancient blog into decent enough shape to be presentable. (Doing a show about Eric Dolphy in 1963, which inspired the search. Still hoping/planning to do an entire Orchestra USA program at some point... I have a couple other titles on LP and the Weill tribute on CD, and will eventually pick up DEBUT as well.)

I meant "magic" in the sense of transcendental (to me) experiences. No Harry-Potter-hocus-pocus stuff, just the intensity of a certain kind of experience. Sitting in the Village Vanguard, for instance, feels "magical" to me because I've loved and listened to so many albums that were recorded there. To stand in the same space where Cafe Society was and talk to an audience about Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" there felt magical to me. A sense of psychic levitation, brought on by a sense of history, passion, reverence for artistic personalities, etc. Whatever I might call "magic" is still connected to work, effort, day-to-day humanity; but the resulting feeling is extraordinary, and does feel "magical" to me. And all four trips to NYC in the past 12 months have produced such feelings. "Magic" to me can also be anything you never thought possible that then becomes a reality--seeing the Stone Roses in Manchester, UK two summers ago, for instance. "Magic" didn't fly me there on the plane, and it was BillF's hospitality, rather than magic, that gave me a place to stay while I was in the city--but by God, seeing a band I'd loved for so many years taking the stage in front of 70,000 people in their hometown sure felt like "magic" to me--an elevation of everyday life.

Hello all--if *anybody* has a digital-file version of the John Lewis/Orchestra USA track "Milesign," could you PM me? I'm looking for it for a Night Lights show, and it does not appear to be legally available via download in the U.S. It's been reissued on the CD Debut Recordings. Thanks much in advance for any help that you might be able to provide! I've found a rather rough-sounding file on an antiquated website--if anybody has a cleaner version, would still be quite grateful to receive it.

Affordable housing is probably THE issue in NYC right now, which is why I mentioned it. I'm happy living where I do, even though it's starting to have its own issue--relatively speaking--with affordable housing. But damn, man, when I was there two weeks ago I saw Fred Hersch's trio with Miguel Zenon at the Village Vanguard on a Sunday night, then zipped over to Birdland to catch a late set from the Maria Schneider Orchestra--which meant I had to skip my previously-planned trip uptown to see Larry Willis and Steve Turre at Smoke. Monday night I went to Le Poisson Rouge in the Village to see Terri Lyne Carrington's new group Social Justice, Terence Blanchard's E-Collective, and the Bad Plus. Tuesday night there was a five-hour tribute concert to Roy Hargrove that featured the RH Factor, an elders group with Gary Bartz, George Cables, Ray Drummond and Jimmy Cobb, a small group that included Jeremy Pelt and Larry Willis (so I did get to see him after all!), vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Roberta Gambarini, Jon Batiste, Norah Jones, on and on... which meant I had to blow off seeing Bill Charlap's solo piano gig at the Jazz Standard. I'd wager there's no other city in the world where I could have seen all of those performers in three nights. Now yeah, the Internet is great, Chewy and others watched that Hargrove tribute concert streaming online, and that's awesome... but streaming still can't match for me seeing musicians like that in person. And I mean hell, Roy freakin' Haynes was sitting a few rows in front of me, wearing a cowboy hat! I could go on and on--well, I guess I already have... but it doesn't feel like a "frozen monument" to me. Every time I go there, it's magic. I'll see your Frank and raise you a George!

No, but I've read mention of it elsewhere--that Monk told him not to get it removed, that it was his "knowledge bump." Iirc Dolphy actually did have it removed, not long before he died.

Upping once again for Benny's 90th birthday today: The Benny Golson Songbook

Sonny Gray's issues stemmed from a number of factors--IMO the Yankees could use a better pitching coach, for starters (er, so to speak). But after having visited New York four times in the past 12 months, I agree completely with you, Brad. I've been to London and Berlin, which are both pretty mind-blowing in their own ways, but my love for NYC keeps growing with each trip. I just wish it were more affordable to live there.

👍

Well, we got James Paxton, who was probably the best starter available via free agency or trade. I would’ve been happy to see us land Corbin, but not at 6 yrs/$140 million. I agree, it’s an area for improvement, especially when our fifth starter is going to be a 39-yr-old guy with bad knees coming off heart surgery... good Lord! I was not a fan of resigning either Gardner or C.C. Montgomery may be back mid-year, but I’m not expecting much if anything from him this season. So right now the rotation stacks up as Severino, Paxton, Tanaka, Happ, and C.C. Somebody’s bound to hit the DL out of that group, and I’m not sure who’ll they’ll turn to when that happens.

We’re waiting for a leader. We’re waiting for Jim Sangrey. ✊

Ha! I wish re Harper. Why does NY need Harper when we’ve got Brett Gardner, Clint Frazier, and Jacobi Ellsbury? (insert multiple sarcasm emoticons) Unless Cashman and company have been playing a fiendishly insidious game, there is next to no chance that the Yankees will pursue Harper. I’d love to be proven wrong, but the Ellsbury and A-Rod contracts have evidently turned Hal Steinbrenner into an extremely gunshy guy when it comes to handing out longer deals. Never mind that both Harper and Machado are 26, five years younger than Ellsbury when he signed, and six years younger than A-Rod. If the Nats’ offer is no longer out there, then my best guess is Harper landing with the Phillies. He’s the guy I really wanted the Yankees to pursue, given Gardner’s decline, Frazier’s uncertainty, and Hicks’ age and impending free agency. Cashman likes to talk about how overstocked the outfield is, but when Judge went down last year we had Shane freakin’ Robinson (a name I’ll hopefully never see in a Yankee starting lineup again) playing waaaay too many games, until we traded for McCutchen. But now McCutchen’s gone as well. So yeah, I *dream* of Harper occupying a spot in the batting order between Judge and Stanton, but ain’t gonna happen.

Given the way the market's trending, that might be the best offer Bryce is going to get.

Wow... I assume this means they're most likely out of the ever-shrinking Bryce Harper sweepstakes? I've been thinking that Bryce should've bit at the 10-year, $300 million deal the Nationals offered him to stay in D.C.

Lunch with the man himself a couple of weeks ago during NYC's Jazz Congress, in the food court beneath Columbus Circle:

The ever-reputable Viper's Nest. I picked this up used a couple of years ago online for about $50, iirc--probably an overpay, especially since I think nearly all, if not all, of these broadcasts float around on the Internet in free streaming form. I just have a yen for late-1930s swing-era radio collections. I particularly like the live BG trio/quartet spotlights, and there are a few tunes that BG never commercially recorded as well. All six volumes of this particular set were also released individually.

I have not been an advocate for signing Machado, but the above scenario seems absolutely senseless to me given that NY could sign Machado instead.

A steal at that price.

This one's good for MLK Day as well:

Art Ensemble of Chicago, The Third Decade, from the new ECM box.