ghost of miles

Amazon's release date has moved up a couple of months to April 2.

I also have this 1975 Columbia double-LP stashed somewhere around the house. Imagining this was the main representation of the Thornhill oeuvre that was to be found in the 1970s bins, or were there any other compilations that circulated?

Listening to a Claude Thornhill anthology that provides a nice overview of his prime years, from the mid-1930s into the early 1950s. Caveat that it's a 2015 Acrobat CD-R release, but it was seven bucks new at my local record store: Praise always to the late Alastair Robertson for having shepherded eight CDs of Thornhill material into being through his invaluable Hep series, though I still wish Mosaic had been able to usher something of its own into existence--but I imagine the market for a Thornhill set might have been thin even 20-30 years ago. The individual Hep volumes remain my go-to Thornhill CDs, but this is perfect for an anthology mood (and about half of the first disc consists of sideman and early leader dates that took place before 1940, when the Hep series begins chronologically with the Snowfall CD).

My memory is that March 3, 2003, or 3/3/03, was the “catastrophic event” date when EMI implemented a reset of the Blue Note board, eliminating about half of the forums, installing clunky censoring software, and making other changes that deeply alienated the core community. There was a mass migration to AAJ that soured quickly, then another to a bulletin board on the Great Day in Harlem website, and finally Organissimo, after Jim offered to retool the band’s existing forum to resemble the BNBB. Iirc Jim Sangrey was an early advocate for making this board our new home, especially because it was run by a musician. That was almost 23 years ago! I sure do miss a lot of the regulars who’ve passed away or departed, but am also glad to see how many of the long-march veterans are still around in the age of Reddit and Substack and whatever else that’s coming along next in the next few years.

The news about Kenny Weir's passing got me to wondering how many of this forum's original posters are still here and active to any degree. Many of us were refugees from the Blue Note bulletin board, which started going down in flames not long into 2003. Twenty-three years feels like at least a couple of centuries in Internet time, and it's a testament to the enduring strength and appeal of this board's community that it's still around, through all of the online permutations such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit (where many online communities now gather), Substack, etc.

Very sorry to hear this. I always appreciated Kenny's contributions to this forum.

The Glenn Miller Music Society has begun to issue limited-edition two-CD sets of Chesterfield broadcasts by the Miller band from 1940 to 1942, drawn from the archives in Boulder and consisting mostly of previously-unissued performances. I got Volume 1 as a Christmas present last year, and volume 2 is on the way. Glenn Miller limited edition v. 1 Glenn Miller limited edition V. 2

Disc 5. What a fine set this is! Great set, as were so many of the other Mosaic Select collections. Looking forward to James Harrod’s forthcoming book about Pacific Jazz in general.

Whenever I do Google searches now I type the words or terms I'm looking for and then add -ai to the end, which takes AI out of the search. Not because I'm worried about the fiscal health of a corporate entity that has strayed so far from its original "Do no evil" credo, but because the AI results are frequently inaccurate or misleading. There's also the environmental impact of the humongous data centers that are being built to serve the AI industry (not to mention the impact on average Americans' utility bills) and sucking up so much energy. One thing about AI--the dislike of it is strongly bipartisan (among said average Americans, anyway). I don't want to be a Luddite, and obviously AI has enormous potential for condensing all sorts of tasks that's already being utilized. It will also be utilized to eliminate lots of jobs, which probably accounts for some or much of the widespread antipathy that polls seem to indicate. Technology's gonna technology, and this Pandora is well out of the box now, with a disturbing and powerful ability to distort reality or simply recreate it. I really worry about what governments and big business will do with it, particularly in authoritarian societies where there's not even any media around that will or can push back on deliberate misrepresentations. The pop-culture reference I always like to use is from the 1987 film The Running Man (astonished recently to see that it's been re-booted!), in which the government frames the Schwarzenegger character by using digitally-altered footage to make it seem as if he defied orders and opened fire on a crowd of civilians, when in truth the exact opposite occurred. (That movie has proved to be frighteningly prescient in other ways as well.) In a world where the halls of power were concerned primarily with promoting the collective good of us all, AI would be rigorously regulated, but tech billionaires have placed huge investment bets on AI and said halls seem to be mostly concerned that nothing stand in the tech lords' way. I dunno, man--the future's so dark, I gotta take off my shades.

Continuing to read this massive "tome" (salute to poster Hardbop if he's still around at all--he favored that term in his posts) in celebration of the city's new era that began today:

Disc 1 of this beauty:

Score! I also managed to get a copy through the Forced Exposure restock. Can't wait to dig into this!

Murakami signs two-year deal with White Sox Not a bad move for Murakami, given the concerns about how he’ll measure up to MLB pitching. If he produces, he’ll be back on the market at age 27 and will have a better chance of landing a long-term deal. Me, I’m still hoping the Yankees land Tatsuya Imai, who at least reportedly *doesn’t* want to play for the Dodgers, aka Evil Empire West. (Not that they need him.) And I’m agnostic about resigning Cody Bellinger. He had an excellent season in 2025, but his inconsistent track record and his age (turning 31 in July) make me wary of giving him an expensive long-term deal.

Yes, and this very political (and illegal—only Congress is authorized to rename the Center) act contributes to the ongoing assault on a cultural institution that has championed jazz, so that has to be mentioned. Hard to keep politics out when it’s actively, quite deliberately shitting on so much of what we value in this country, every single day. In the meantime, I can’t imagine any self-respecting jazz artist performing at this venue again any time soon.

… for anybody who missed out on the marvelous Tubby Hayes Fontana box set, Jazz Messengers has it right now for $70. Listening to the last two “lost sessions” discs. Delighted to hear Teddy Grace pop up on two of the disc 4 tracks, and continuing to sop up all the Eddie Miller that’s here to hear. What a great band this was!

Tonight at Zardi's, a 5-CD collection of live performances by Shorty Rogers, Stan Kenton and Stan Getz that the Los Angeles Jazz Institute put out recently as a membership thank-you gift.

Such an excellent box-set. A primary issue for selling here, pglbook, might be most if not that all who would be interested already have it!

My Bloody Valentine's 2013 comeback album of a sort, dropping quite mysteriously and suddenly iirc--I didn't get around to hearing it for a few months after its release, despite retaining my love for their late 1980s-early 90s shoegaze glory years. I know kids here on the music scene in Bloomington and beyond who absolutely revere this band... I'm old enough now to note with interest the music from my own youth that finds any traction with teens and 20somethings, and they've got big ears. Certainly having the kind of vast, unparalleled access to past music that pre-digital kids didn't have is partly to account (for better or worse--I think it's for the better, generally speaking), but I'm always curious about why certain indie bands in particular resonate with Gen Z. They're certainly big on My Bloody Valentine. That's great news! I still have the reissue of Cypress with the Afoot EP appended that came out a few years ago, and I still love that album. It might be the peak of 1980s college jangle-rock.

Strata-East CD reissues in the house! Now playing:

I don't know about jazz CDs specifically, but the owner of my fave local record store recently told me that he's selling CDs as much if not more than ever. He says he's getting more young customers buying them, partly because they can't afford vinyl if they're looking for physical media. And Numero, which dumped its CD stock years ago, just announced that they are launching a new CD reissue series in response to ongoing customer base demand. I don't think CDs will come back necessarily to the extent that vinyl did, and will remain a niche part of the market, but there do seem to be signs that a small revival is underway.

Richard Linklater (absolute favorite--others in no particular order) Greta Gerwig Todd Haynes Guillermo del Toro Martin Scorsese Christopher Nolan Paul Thomas Anderson Billy Wilder Ryan Coogler Wes Anderson Chantal Ackerman Joel Coen .... lots of others, but I'll leave it at a baker's dozen.