ghost of miles

At this past January's Jazz Congress in NYC the keynote speaker was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose passion for jazz is well-known. Baseball player Bernie Williams and basketball player Wayman Tisdale are fan-musicians who've even recorded albums. What other athletes, past and present, have had a love for the music?

Hey Stefan, a plug for my home team, which is not even close to 24/7 jazz, but here's what we have: Monday-Thursday: Just You And Me from 3-5 p.m. EST. This is a live local program that I host, with new releases on Mondays, classic jazz on Tuesdays, live recordings and jazz requests on Wednesdays, and Indiana jazz (both past and present--so JJ, Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard etc along with modern-day Indianapolis, IU Bloomington, and other state artists, or artists who are coming through the state) on Thursdays. On Fridays Brother William Morris switches things up in the same time slot with The Soul Kitchen. You can stream WFIU1 live here: WFIU On Friday nights my colleague Mark Chilla hosts an excellent jazz-vocal program called Afterglow from 8-9 p.m. It's pre-recorded and syndicated (WDCB-Chicago recently added it to their schedule, airing it on Wednesday evenings from 7-8 p.m. CST just before their broadcast of Night Lights), and, like Night Lights, made available for on-demand online listening as well: Afterglow Night Lights We also carry WFMT's Jazz Network Friday evenings from 10 p.m. till 2 a.m. and Saturdays from midnight-2 a.m. (the latter is preceded by another two-hour episode of Brother William's Soul Kitchen), but the above are our unique-to-WFIU jazz offerings. And don't forget our own Lazaro Vega's Blue Lake Radio! There's also Seattle's KNKX, Portland's KMHD, Chicago's WDCB, and the Bay Area's KCSM, just off the top of my head.

Same here, Felser. I remember about 20 years ago when my (now-ex) wife commented that the song is creepy. And I don't much care for most of the performances of it anyway, with the exception of Louis Jordan and Ella Fitzgerald. But yeah, as jazz director at my station I'm not going to forbid the other two jazz/soul programmers to play it or anything like that, but I stopped playing it on any of my shows a few years ago. Not judging other people who continue to enjoy the song, but it's not something that I myself feel cool about putting on the air.

I just got to say hello to Ahmad Jamal on the telephone! (I was calling him to set up a recorded interview for a scholar friend.) I told him how much I and many others appreciate his music... he sounded quite gracious and affable, and younger than 88. Anyway, that's my jazz fanboy moment for the day.

The Celtics seem to have finally found their groove, and the “Time Lord” (Robert Williams #44) had five blocks tonight to add to the fun of an eighth straight victory.

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Me too! I’ve recently picked up the expanded 2-CD reissues of their first two albums and in fact am listening to this one right now:

Up in memory: Jazz Her Way: Nancy Wilson In The 1960s Sad news to wake up to as we head into the weekend.

Miles emerges from his grave, muttering, "You silly *&#%@&$%ers"?

Did Mostly Other People Do The Killing ever give a live performance of their infamous Kind Of Blue recreation?

Not originally written or recorded by him, obviously, but Indianapolis saxophonist Rob Dixon usually performs A Love Supreme in its entirety each January at the Jazz Kitchen.

Mine arrived today—sounds and looks like another keeper as I near the end of disc 1. Grateful to Dan for the tip, Tom for the excellent service, and Bob Sunenblick’s son for ushering this project to completion.

Mosaic update that just went out: Complete Woody Herman Decca, Mars, MGM Sessions (1943-54) Upcoming Release Update: March 2019 When it comes to Woody Herman we've covered the full blooming of the First Herd (on Columbia), the Second Herd (on Columbia and Capitol) and the Third Herd also on Capitol. His magnificent Herd of the mid-1960s was the subject of a Mosaic Select. We continue the bands legacy this coming Spring with The Complete Woody Herman Decca, Mars and MGM Sessions (1943-1954) where we'll explore the very beginnings of the First Herd and much of the Third. Delving into the Decca vaults we've been able to uncover some previously unissued gems on Decca lacquers and some rarities that only were released for radio station play only on 16" transcription discs - the well-known World Program Service recordings. Getting these 16 inchers in mint shape has had us pitch a far and wide net in the sea of collectors worldwide and I'm very happy with the results. In addition, there has been much in the way of correcting dates and personnel for these 1943-1944 sessions and with the assistance of those at the Library Of Congress (where the Decca masters are held) we are just about ready to transfer these sessions. The famous 1946 Carnegie Hall concert has been re-issued many times but thanks to a tip from broadcaster and collector Patrick Goodhope, we may have a nugget in a set of Armed Forces Radio Service discs that may have superior sound from this concert. If this doesn't prove fruitful, we are prepared to make the '46 better sounding than ever. With the very start of the 1951 New Year, Woody went to MGM records with his Third Herd and set out, as many bands did during the earliest 1950s, to bring back dancing to big bands. But this wasn't only a watered down dance band playing standards. Much maligned through the years, the Third Herd (and later the New Third Herd) continued with some fine Ralph Burns arrangements peppered with those by Shorty Rogers, Gene Roland, Nat Pierce and others. Thanks to the Universal Music archivists we have uncovered a number of tape sources including some session reels which might give us more unissued material. It's a long, tedious process to get these reels, arrange for studio time and begin auditioning for the best sound. Thankfully many of these MGM sides and ones made for Woody's label, Mars, have been issued on vinyl promotional copies and the sound is spectacular. All of this material has been carefully researched and lovingly told by composer, arranger, author, historian Jeff Sultanof who has recently sent me a first draft of the notes. They do not disappoint and Jeff's uncovering of who the arrangers are and of dissecting these arrangements are done with great detail. I am also finding some glorious images for the booklet from various collections including the Ray Avery archives. A handful of images come from the exact sessions as well. They'll be more to report after the holiday season but so far it looks like another "must have". Scott Wenzel

Coates Jr. was also an early influence on Keith Jarrett. I'm still thinking Ibn Ali for my original query, especially after I came across a reference to him in a Tyner interview several days ago.

New Night Lights show in honor of his 80th birthday: Tyner Time: McCoy Tyner's Blue Note Years Fantastic deep dive from Ethan Iverson: McCoy Tyner's Revolution

Posting this brand-new Night Lights program in honor of Mr. Tyner's 80th birthday today: Tyner Time: McCoy Tyner's Blue Note Years The show focuses exclusively on his leader dates for Blue Note from 1967 to 1970.

SPECIAL FEATURES New high definition digital transfer made from 35 mm film elements restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with MGM Studios, with funding provided by the Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition New audio commentary featuring critic Gary Giddins Excerpt from a 1966 audio interview with director Stanley Kubrick Television interview from 1979 with star Kirk Douglas New video interviews with Kubrick’s longtime executive producer Jan Harlan, Paths of Glory producer James B. Harris, and actress Christiane Kubrick French television piece about a real-life World War I execution that partly inspired the film Theatrical trailer PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film scholar James Naremore

I’d be astonished if such an exchange ever came to pass. Meantime, Brian Cashman is out there dissing any need for Harper because we already have Brett Gardner, Jacobi Ellsbury, and Clint Frazier. Yes, you heard that right, sports fans.

Interesting video opinion piece from Ted Gioia (even though I’m a 20th-century curmudgeon and dislike no-print-version-option things like this):

One of my favorite films of all-time. I have the Criterion DVD and just watched it again not too long ago.

Thirty-plus years on, I still love this album. Part of an incredible run for this band that began with 1984's Zen Arcade:

Thank you, Bill! Hope all's well over the Manchester way.