ghost of miles

Great comeback by the Yankees tonight, and a real see-saw win by Boston over the Marlins. And I think this Pinstripe Alley writer has it right: It sounds like Aaron Judge won't be back anytime soon. On a more positive note (from a NY perspective), Gary Sanchez is looking very good in his minor-league rehab assignment so far and should be back with the team in a matter of days.

Ricky Riccardi put up a post on Facebook a couple of days ago that seems to indicate the Louis Armstrong 1950s Columbia set planning is proceeding apace... said they hope to make an announcement by the end of this year. But that's one I'm sure they feel more confident about in terms of ultimate overall sales.

Last week's Night Lights program, broadcast in honor of the Bernstein centennial, is up for online listening: Jazz Side Story: Jazz And Leonard Bernstein

There have been some recent, or relatively recent, tributes to Weather Report and other fusion repertoire, done in an acoustic setting: the first disc of Gerry Gibbs' Weather Or Not and Rez Abbasi's Intents And Purposes come to mind. I'm sure there are others; but the ones I mentioned seem to focus more on Joe Z and Jaco's compositions, which might help underscore the notion that Wayne's Weather Report output is not given the attention it deserves.

That's an excellent idea for a show--I'd love to see the playlist you came up with. I ended up framing the show pretty much in terms of pre-1970. As for Weather Report, I think WR and fusion in general have been "hip" for a good 10 years now, if not longer, at least with younger jazz musicians and listeners, as well as those who were clued in in the first place and never went away. Funny how ears (and more superficial pillars of attitudes) change over time.

They're going to press it--here's the latest: New Woody Herman Release Thanks very much to everyone who has preordered this set! We needed about 700 orders so we wouldn't be underwater on this and we are getting close to the mark. We have decided to move ahead with the project and are targeting an end of year release date/early 2019. We regret any pressure or inconvenience that this may have caused you in your purchasing decisions. In the future we may be able to release sets that we know will have strong market appeal and will not have to go this route. But there are also others that we are considering that jazz fans may want but have more limited market demand. This type of of marketing certainly is not where we want to be, but this is the only way we could figure out how to proceed. Thank you for your support and understanding and we are trying to keep the flame burning. Michael & Scott

I made a new friend at the JazzWeek conference a couple of weeks ago who lives in the Bay area and is a huge A's fan, goes to games all the time as his primary means of unwinding from a stressful job. He's absolutely in love with this year's team.

Me four. Excellent article, thanks for writing it (and thanks to the New Yorker for publishing it, online or otherwise). I did a Night Lights show about 1964 last year that we have yet to post online; this article is a spur to me to finally get it published. Criminally, I did not include Shorter, but this may be rectified in an upcoming program that will focus exclusively on Blue Note's output for that same year. Previous (at this point rather ancient) Night Lights show about him (which quotes our own Mr. Kart): The Wayne Shorter Songbook

Many thanks for listening--that's somewhat how I intended it.

Yep, Jazz Concert No. 2 1937-38, released to capitalize on the popularity of the first issue of the 1938 Carnegie Hall concert, I believe. Subsequently reissued on CD as Benny Goodman On The Air: 1937-38. Though there were evidently subsequent LP releases in the 1950s? Or was it all one "deluxe" multi-LP set? Here's Loren Schoenberg's anecdote about learning there was much more in the Savory collection: Schoenberg had long been an admirer of the five Benny Goodman LPs Savory had released in the 1950s, discs he viewed as the gold standard in recording quality—“much better than the studio recordings,” he tells me, “and much better even than the famous Benny Goodman Carnegie Hall concerts.” Upon meeting Savory in person, Schoenberg posed him a single question: “How did you pick the best of everything you had?” Schoenberg wryly recounted Savory’s response: “I didn’t pick the best of everything I had. I picked the best of what was in the first box!” Read more: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-countless-hours-live-jazz-was-saved-obscurity-180961213/#81yU31R9EG8kHtzk.99

Yankees sweep the O's! Catching Boston is still a pipe-dream, especially with a tough West Coast road series against the A's and Mariners coming up--and even though we'll have both Didi and Gary Sanchez back for that, who knows what we get out of Sanchez for the rest of 2018, given his long layoff and his mediocre performance to date this year. At least word has it he's lost some weight and looks to be in better shape coming off the DL. Judge still has no specific return date and will almost assuredly not be hitting with his usual power whenever he does come back (it takes a long time for power hitters to regain full strength after a fractured-wrist injury). Hopefully our bullpen depth can cover for Chapman's absence too; it held up OK last night, albeit against the Orioles, not exactly a Boston or Houston-caliber team. And of course there's NY's new, not-so-secret sign system:

Not related directly to Lee’s latest movie, which I have not seen, but I’m sorry I missed the opportunity to meet this gentleman when he recently played at the Bloomington Boogies festival (I was out of town): Blues musician Daryl Davis has persuaded 200 Klan members to quit He’s also the subject of a 2016 documentary: Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race And America

They are 8-7 against the Yankees so far and 8-11 against the Red Sox. That’s an awfully good result against the two highest-winning teams in the majors with a combined winning percentage around the .665 mark. On another note, Didi Gregorius is a joy to watch even when he’s on the DL: Didi cheers on teammates with smiley sign

Having now seen it, totally agree about First Reformed.

Thanks much, looking forward to it. I ordered this set today from Amazon UK—I know that BillF will approve! Now I just need to get an all-region Blu-Ray/DVD player: Woodfall: A Revolution in British Cinema

I’m seeing that tomorrow night here in Bloomington. What did you think?

I have a completely different take on what Sam's doing, and his jazz loft book is one of the most amazing historical documentations of a jazz scene that I've ever encountered. For me he's good company in a library that includes you and Larry as well.

A recent Night Lights show that draws on selections from the recently-released Mosaic Records Savory set is now up for online listening: Savoring The Savory Collection

We re-aired Music In All Things: W. Eugene Smith And The Jazz Loft last week and it remains archived for online listening. The slide-show from the original post, unfortunately, has been swallowed up by the new format that IU has forced our station to adopt.