ghost of miles

Great Opening Day for Giancarlo Stanton and the Yankees!

Yeah, I won't either, and I could easily create a masters-only CD-R version of the set that would incorporate those omissions. (If I really wanted to go all in on mid-late 1930s Teddy, I could incorporate the Holiday dates as well. ) Conceptually I would have made a different choice, though I understand why they opted to put out previously unreleased alternate takes over sessions they had already included on other sets. But man, that's a whole lotta alternate takes!

A younger friend (20 years younger) mentioned to me last week that she and her husband are big fans of Nu Jazz. (Which I think I may have been confusing with the acid-jazz school of the 90s... not quite the same thing?)

First pitch of the 2018 MLB season!

PM sent on Buck Clayton and Benny Goodman.

The set arrived last night, but I've only been able to listen to disc 1 so far. Sound is excellent, very vivid--some surface noise on a number of tracks, but that's a trade I'm always willing to make for overall presence. Wilson's approach on the first date is turbo-charged, almost sounds in some respects like a different player. Loren Schoenberg's annotation, as always, is comprehensive and deeply illuminating. The only minor quibble I have so far comes from looking ahead at the discography (and the producer's note that I hadn't noticed when it was posted in advance on the website): "The vision of this set was initially brought to our attention by solographer Jan Evensmo. It is a gathering of Teddy Wilson’s 1934 to 1942 Brunswick and Columbia sides under his leadership but without vocals by Billie Holiday since these recordings have found their way onto countless LP and CD re-issues. And since our contract with Sony Music called for this to be a 7 CD set, we have regrettably needed to eliminate the following Teddy Wilson led recordings: On Brunswick, both takes of I’ve Found A New Baby (these takes can be found on our Count Basie/Lester Young set - MD8-263) and the May 14-15, 1936 and December 17, 1937 sessions that can be found on our Classic Columbia and Victor Chu Berry set (MD7-236). We have also decided not to include five rare vocal sessions that Wilson’s small group provided superb backing: Country singer Redd Evans’ two sessions for Vocalion (April, 17, 1939 and August 11, 1939), one session with Eddy Howard for Columbia (October 4, 1940) and two sessions with Chick Bullock for the OKeh label (December 6, 1940 and February 12, 1941)." I have both of those Mosaics which contain the Wilson-led sessions omitted from this set (others may not, though), and I understand the constraints Mosaic runs into with anything larger than a 7-CD set. I can also understand the decision to omit those later vocal dates (in addition to the frequently-reissued Holiday sides) that were not recorded under Wilson's official leadership. Given that this set is titled "Classic" rather than "Complete," though, for the sake of artistic unity I would have preferred that the "I've Found A New Baby" takes and the two sessions with Chu Berry would have been included, and a little less of the entire April 11, 1941 session that takes up all of disc 6 and the first few tracks of disc 7 as well. Since this wasn't going to be a "Complete" set anyway, why not include the two "I've Found A New Baby" takes and the two Chu Berry dates, and retain only the most interesting alternate takes as well as the masters from April 11, 1941? I just can't imagine that I'm going to be revisiting that disc 6-7 stretch again after the first listen: (DD) TEDDY WILSON: Teddy Wilson (p), Al Hall (b), J.C. Heard (d). Chicago, April 11, 1941 No matrix assigned Teddy Wilson and Bill Savory conversation and rehearsal previously unissued CCO3654-inc. Rosetta - CCO3686-reh I Know That You Know unissued CCO3686-BD #1 I Know That You Know - CCO3686-BD #2 I Know That You Know - CCO3686-BD #3 I Know That You Know previously unissued CCO3686-2 I Know That You Know CBS (F) 66370 (LP) CCO3686-1 I Know That You Know Col 36633 No matrix assigned -1 Love Me Or Leave Me previously unissued No matrix assigned – inc. Love Me Or Leave Me unissued No matrix assigned – BD Love Me Or Leave Me - No matrix assigned -2 Love Me Or Leave Me previously unissued CCO3687-BD Them There Eyes unissued CCO3687-3 (alt #1) Them There Eyes CBS (F) 66370 (LP) CCO3687-2 (alt #2) Them There Eyes - CCO3687-1 Them There Eyes Col 36631 CCO3688-reh China Boy previously unissued CCO3688-4 (alt #1) China Boy CBS (F) 66370 (LP) CCO3688-1 (alt #2) China Boy - CCO3688-3 (alt #3) China Boy - CCO3688-BD #1 China Boy unissued CCO3688-5 (alt #4) China Boy (with warm up) CBS (F) 66370 (LP) CCO3688-6 (alt #5) China Boy - CCO3688-7 (BD#2) China Boy (with talk) - CCO3688-2 China Boy Col 36634 omit Hall and Heard. CCO3693-reh I Surrender Dear unissued CCO3693-10 I Surrender Dear previously unissued CCO3693-reh I Surrender Dear unissued CCO3693-9 I Surrender Dear previously unissued CCO3693-reh I Surrender Dear unissued CCO3693-8 I Surrender Dear previously unissued CCO3693-7 I Surrender Dear - CCO3693-6 I Surrender Dear (with rehearsal) - CCO3693-5 I Surrender Dear - CCO3693-4 I Surrender Dear - CCO3693-3 I Surrender Dear - CCO3693-2 I Surrender Dear - CCO3693-1 I Surrender Dear CBS (F) 66370 (LP) CCO3694-2 Body And Soul previously unissued CCO3694-1 Body And Soul Col 36634 CCO3695-3 I Can’t Get Started previously unissued CCO3695-2 I Can’t Get Started (with warm up) CBS (F) 66370 (LP) CCO3695-inc I Can’t Get Started unissued CCO3695-1 I Can’t Get Started Col 36633 Again, a minor quibble. The set is absolutely wonderful and brings together an amazing body of work, presented in superlative sound and musical/historical context.

I just picked up a used copy of the Rhino Golden Road set, which includes the only three Dead albums I’ve really listened to over the years (Workingman’s Dead, American Beauty, and Anthem Of The Sun). It comes with an 80-page booklet, but do Dead aficionados have further recommendations for reading about the band? I recently got the 33 1/3 book about Workingman’s Dead, which is what inspired me to finally run down a copy of the Rhino box.

Looks as if the Angels' Shohei Ohtani is going to be very much a work in progress.

Hey all, just a quick update that the Night Lights site is once again available: Night Lights I'll have a couple of new shows up within the next several days.

My band has 1 million spotify streams Spotify's year in music shows just how little we're paying artists Etc, etc. I could post a bunch of these. Btw Ken Vandermark has toured incessantly over the past 20 years. One reason it's harder for artists like him (and he's one of the much-better known musicians, and has a wife with a professional gig) is that people don't buy much physical product anymore. He told me that he and other artists are selling about a fourth of what they used to sell in merch at shows 10, 15, or 20 years ago. I'm not trying to come down on anybody else who uses Spotify--my best friend has been trying to convert me for years now, and there are a lot of posters here who use it. I just don't want to go there, for a variety of reasons. If I do listen to an artist's music on a streaming site (YouTube, for example) and like it, then I usually go and buy the CD at Landlocked or order it online (recent examples: I bought both CDs by the Atlanta indie-pop group Omni, and all three released CDs by an English duo that just broke up, Ultimate Painting). I don't think most people who stream do that, though. Technological change in how we encounter music inevitably occurs. Some will still seek out vinyl, some will still seek out CDs. I just want a model that's more financially supportive of artists in general, instead of one that suggests that music should be free or nearly-free. It hurts small-label owners, people like Chuck Nessa, as well. Another jazz artist, a guitarist whose releases do fairly well and whom I don't want to name because I don't know if he'd want to be on the record or not, says thumbs-up to iTunes, thumbs-down to Spotify when it comes to artist compensation.

The article also states, though, that "The insider stressed that the company will continue to release lavish boxed sets and other physical product, but it has moved to correct that imbalance." There's no doubt that streaming has become the delivery method of choice for many consumers, especially younger ones. But I have no interest in spending $25-$50 or whatever it might cost to buy a digital or streaming version of a Miles Davis box-set and have to peruse the liner notes in some online manner. (I also have a big ethical issue with Spotify, given the jazz musicians I've talked to, Ken Vandermark among them, who despise its compensation system. Spotify, at the very least, needs to increase its monthly subscription fee so that it can pay better musician/composer royalties. The present model is evidently paltry in that regard.) I'm not really the kind of customer that Sony is probably concerned with in the long run, though, given my age and tastes. I'll obviously have to use streaming more and more to encounter new artists and occasionally to explore past ones with whom I'm not familiar, but for the most part I can easily draw on my existing library for the the (hopefully) next several decades of my life. Now if my CD player goes and it proves to be impossible to acquire a new one... well then, I'm in big trouble. (Not a completely implausible scenario in a few years! It's already not all that easy to find one anymore.) Miles meets Prince

I got an email late this afternoon that the Wilson set has shipped--delivery expected later this week.

I hear Art Blakey stomped on his foot.

I know it's spring for the Yankees when Greg Bird is scratched from the lineup due to issues with his foot. (As somebody commented on a Yankee forum this weekend, "Bird's turning into Nick Johnson 2.0.") If any MLB fans here are T-Mobile customers, be sure to take advantage of the offer they're putting up tomorrow (as they did last year around this time)--free MLB.TV for the year if you download their T-Mobile Tuesdays app: T-Mobile offering free year of MLB.TV I had switched over to T-Mobile in February of last year for completely unrelated reasons, so this was a very welcome surprise at the beginning of the 2017 season. Happy that they're doing it again this year (probably because they have a commercial relationship with MLB).

The email I got on Monday said that my order had been forwarded to Mosaic’s shipping vendor and would be shipped “in the next 2-4 business days.” Today is the fourth business day since Monday, so I’m hoping that it ships today. My credit card was charged at the beginning of the week. I don’t think the open house would have any effect on pre-ordered shipments, given that it’s not Mosaic that’s handling the shipping at this point in the process.

Club 57: Film, Performance and Art in the East Village, 1978-83 at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art. Fascinating look at the pre-digital, late 1970s/early 80s New York art scene. It’s up through April 8.

Any NYC-area O posters interested in these shows? I’m most likely going to the Saturday-evening performance. (And hoping to catch J.D. Allen’s afterhours set the night before.)

...and I just got a notice that my order's been forwarded to the warehouse for shipping and should be going out this week.

Excellent player, saw him not too long ago at the Blockhouse here in Bloomington performing with a friend of mine, percussionist Tyler Damon (who is moving to Chicago--well worth checking out if you haven't heard him already, Chicago-area posters).

An excellent set!

Something to crow about! Have a good one, RT!

Hello all--apologies for the unavailability of the Night Lights website for the past week. The entire Indiana Public Media site (of which Night Lights is a part) was taken offline because of security concerns, and we will be transferring to a new server and way of posting content in the next few days. Previous archived content will eventually migrate to the new site, but only new and recent shows will most likely be online for the time being.

Has anybody gotten a shipping notice or credit-card charge for the Wilson set yet?

I came across this yesterday on the new-arrivals shelf at the IU Music Library and checked it out--looks promising: Jazz In The 1970s: Diverging Streams