ghost of miles

I had a dream last night that I came across a near-mint used box set of Fats Waller’s complete Bluebird sessions, housed in an attractive slipcover book, with an essay by Dick Katz and track-by-track annotations by Dan Morgenstern. The price was $30 (boy, was this a dream). In real-life, there’s an excellent three-CD set that Dan Morgenstern annotated, and I also have all of the multiple Waller CD sets that came out in the late 1980s/early 90s. But damn, was this a nice (imaginary) set! I was quite disappointed when I woke up to find my acquisition dissolved into dream dust. 😄

Osuna’s eligible to pitch as of this coming Sunday, and he’ll be eligible for postseason play as well.

Really enjoying this one, which I picked up a little over a week ago in Stuttgart:

And the Astros win the Roberto Osuna sweepstakes. That attends to their biggest weakness, IMO (lack of a strong closer).

2018 JazzWeek Award nominees (JazzWeek is a gathering point for many American jazz radio programmers) EDIT: Lazaro, I initially disclosed that mine was among the votes for you in this category, but it appears that this is a different category--"Programmer of the Year" is voted on by promoters. I voted for you in "Presenter of the Year" category, evidently. Either way, congratulations--will you be at the summit next week, by any chance?

We re-aired We Brothers Three last week and it remains archived for online listening.

I hipped that to my dad, but he was already on the case (he's a huge Ted Williams fan). Did you ever read Williams' autobiography, My Turn At Bat? I read it as a kid and recall it being better than your average baseball-player-memoir. (An interesting genre in and of itself--some of my other favorites include Jim Bouton's Ball Four and Sparky Lyle's The Bronx Zoo.) EDIT: I didn't realize that an updated edition came out in the late 1980s that included Williams' reflections on his managerial career and the state of modern-day baseball.

The 2001 Mariners, I assume you mean? Re NY's great-but-not-good-enough-W-L record so far, in a discussion at Pinstripe Alley the other day I referenced the 1954 Cleveland Indians. Of course there was no wild card back then (and Cleveland ended up getting drubbed by the Giants in the World Series). Still, Boston will hold home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and won't have to face the possibility of having a strong season erased in a single night. With Eovaldi now in their rotation, they're looking even better. I'll be interested to see if they make any moves today or tomorrow, to pick up an infielder or reliever... on the latter front Roberto Osuna is reportedly on the trading block (and would be eligible to pitch in the postseason), but it sounds as if the Red Sox might end up acquiring the Marlins' Brad Ziegler instead. (I wonder if the Astros or Mariners will make a bid for Osuna.)

Excellent starts today from both new pitching acquisitions for the Red Sox and Yankees. NY's on pace to win 104 games; unfortunately, Boston's on pace to win 112. Given Luis Severino's recent struggles, the Yankees' chances in a wild-card game seem even more volatile.

I had the same thought, Paul, but I also doubt it, as do you. I think Cashman is looking at a not-so-great pool of potential trade targets for starters and thinking that we may have to make do with what we have and hope that a deep bullpen (and a lot of luck, like Sonny Gray staying in a good groove or CC holding up) might give us a fighting chance against Boston and/or Houston (and that's assuming we make it out of a wild-card game with Seattle, which is a big assumption). Add me to those relieved that Sanchez is back on the DL for a few days--we seem to be a better team when Romine's catching (and hitting). Speaking of the impact certain players have, here's a stat for you. New York Yankees in 2018 when Gleyber Torres plays: 45-18. NY Yankees in 2018 when Gleyber Torres doesn't play: 19-17. Eovaldi looked pretty sharp when I saw him pitch against us at Yankee Stadium a few weeks ago (in Loaisiga's debut start). He was one of the starters NY was supposedly looking at, so good for you guys. EDIT: just read on Pinstripe Alley that Sanchez is now expected to be out for a month. Again, this is a blessing in disguise right now, IMO--or maybe not even in disguise.

That was such a lovely visit, Bill! Endless gratitude to you and your family for hosting me and Kate during our stay in Manchester.

Big Beat Steve treated me to lunch this Saturday afternoon in his hometown of Stuttgart. An exceedingly pleasant encounter filled with talk of music--thank you, sir!

Just got back from seeing Omer Avital at Unterfahrt in Munich, preceded by brief sets from Munich groups LBT Trio and Fazer. Seeing Kraftwerk in Stuttgart tomorrow night.

Google English translation (such as it is) of product description: "Currently the best charisma in the jazz world, super new class album. Even now in the mid 80's, Wayne Shorter is the best charisma for the living legend that continues to give great inspiration to the jazz scene with its own creativity that overflows. The new work which is the first time in 5 and half years since GRUMMY winning Blue Note's return work "Without Net" is a gorgeous piece where a set of 3 CDs and comic books are set. CD has collaboration with Quartet and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Danilo Perez (p) ~ John Patitucci (b) ~ Brian Blade (ds), which has been active as a member immovable since the formation in 2001 · Track, and concert sound source in the same quartet in the UK. And comic books include comics by Wayne's own pen that he had been drawing manga favorite since boyhood. A must-have work essentially filled with Wayne World, both auditoriumally and visually. Imported artwork (limited to 2,000 sets) + Limited edition set with SHM-CD of Nippon Press." Right around Wayne's birthday!

Not sure if this is the right subforum for this topic, but Medjuck's post about the Pres JATP releases and a forthcoming Mainstream reissue from wewantsounds (Jack Wilkins' Windows) made me wonder about how other Org posters respond to vinyl/download-only titles, which seem to be happening more and more in the jazz world. (Rudresh Mahanthappa's Agrima is another recent example.) I almost always pass on such titles unless it's something I really, really want (the original iTunes releases of the Savory recordings, for example--though I immediately burned those all to CD-R and printed out the PDFs of the liner notes--or the Sonny Clark trio record that came out last November--again, I transferred the vinyl tracks to CD-R). I understand the economics driving these decisions (Matt from wewantsounds told me that the Japanese 2017 release of Windows had undermined the market for wewantsounds to do a CD release--and while I've picked up a couple of those Japanese releases, I'd rather buy from wewantsounds, which has the backing of the Shad/Apatow family). For those who love vinyl or who are fine with streaming/downloading, there's obviously no quandary here.... but for those of us still attached to the CD format (and who also balk at paying the ridiculous prices vinyl now commands--Agrima is $40 on Mahanthappa's website! Though I'm sure it can be found cheaper elsewhere), do you see yourselves grudgingly adapting to a vinyl/download/streaming world only, or do you simply pass on any title available only in those formats?

Yes, the Japanese reissue of the Showboat set is definitely on my radar. I'm also on the hunt for an affordable copy of Integrity. I ordered several others from the mid-70s-through-late-80s era via online sellers last night.

Loving this set so far (just finished listening to disc 3)—thanks for all of the feedback about it. It’s putting me on the hunt for more music from the various configurations of this group.

Fantastic news, thanks for sharing. With Mosaic apparently in its twilight years, so good to have Zev (definitely a man on a mission) and Resonance on the scene.

Off by six years, apparently, but this Amazon listing looks pretty viable for November 2018: Bing Crosby: Swinging On A Star: The War Years, 1940-1946

Oh man, so glad you scored a copy! I got it a couple of years ago when I was on a Waller jag, and Larry's comments in this thread reminded me of how excellent Dan Morgenstern's booklet was for that set.