ghost of miles

Don’t know, but I like Loren’s description of McFadden on “Rose Room” as “clearly in his element, chonking out Charlie Christian riffs-a-plenty.” What a treasure trove this is for us Byas fans. I don’t know how much, if any, of the Timmie Rosenkrantz apartment sessions have ever been issued before, but they’re all new to me. The Frank Newton session with Hank D’Amico’s group as well. And I’m not even into the miscellaneous-labels part of the set yet. Much appreciation to our friends in Stamford for putting it out.

Going for this one as well. (And grateful again for my not having succumbed to the vinyl revival… good Lord, the price differential here!)

Really?! Great minds thinking alike, obviously! 😉 I’m revisiting because I’m in the midst of doing a new Night Lights show about Powell’s 1940s recordings.

Up for J.J.’s centennial today. Here’s a tribute show I put together for Night Lights that traces his musical career from beginning to end: Portrait of J.J.: A Brief History of J.J. Johnson

Last week’s show, a broad overview of trombonist and composer/arranger J.J. Johnson, is up for online listening in honor of his centennial today: Portrait of J.J.: A Brief History of J.J. Johnson

Seconding Matthew’s sentiments here—Sports Illustrated and (to a lesser extent) the Sporting News were household staples of my childhood. These days the Athletic fulfills that role for me, though my interest in following all sports except for baseball has dwindled to near-non-existence.

Larry Kart is back!

Excellent news! Larry’s absence has often been on my mind whenever I’ve visited the board in recent months.

A well-curated 2-CD anthology of Wayne Shorter’s music across a pretty broad stretch of periods. I seem to end up revisiting this one every couple of years:

This showed up on YouTube recently--just came across it and haven't had a chance to listen yet, but it sounds intriguing:

Definitely in on this if it is indeed legit. I have only Rhino’s long-ago 2-CD anthology from this period. Thanks for the heads-up!

Been way too long since I took this one down for a listen:

Yikes—glad I picked this up when it was still readily available. It’s a fantastic set.

Up for today's centennial, this week's Night Lights show traces Roach's musical path through a turbulent decade: It's Time! Max Roach In The 1960s

A promising start to 2024!

That is a fantastic set and quite a patch on the original 2-CD 1987 version. In addition to the extra music and the nicely-annotated booklet, there’s a reproduction of the 1938 concert program (seen on the left in the photo that Mike posted).

It’s often charming and fun, and poignant in its portrayal of adolescent friendship. Quite an interesting cast, with Peter Sellers (in his first U.S. role, I think) as a charlatan concert-pianist Lothario and Tom Bosley and Angela Lansbury as the parents of one of the two girls who are the lead protagonists, both of whom were played by newcomers. (Hayley Mills and Patty Duke were originally touted for the roles but were unavailable.) It’s also one of director George Roy Hill’s first outings. Based on a 1958 novel by Nora Johnson, daughter of screenplay writer Nunnally Johnson, who partnered with her to adapt the book for the film. Elizabeth T. Walker (billed as Tippy Walker) delivers a mesmerizing performance as Val, the girl in the oversized fur coat. (She went on to make a few more movies and was on the late-1960s weekly TV version of Peyton Place, and is friends with our very own Allen Lowe.) I first came across mention of the film years ago in an article about Daniel Clowes, who cited it as one of the inspirations for Ghost World. (In the movie adaptation Enid has a poster for the film on her bedroom wall.) On the topic of John Szwed, you might also dig his new book Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith.

A sweetly beguiling Elmer Bernstein score:

I am now “Proficient.” Thank God, any lingering anxieties can now subside… and it happened right here on Organissimo.

Good question. Percussion Bitter Sweet is definitely a much more politically overt record than Ir’s Time (also Booker Little’s last studio appearance, iirc?). John Szwed is working on a Max Roach bio which might offer more details on the context and legacy of Roach’s early-1960s discography. I like the whole run of his 1960s records… it was hard to whittle them down for a show.

Some of my favorite J.J. in this set:

Didn’t get around to listening to this posthumous 2023 jaimie branch release, but high marks for it… I hope the video of Fly or Die playing it live (which turned out to be their final performance) eventually gets public distribution: Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)) Also recently came across this moving video of a Sept 2022 memorial march to the Red Hook docks in memory of her: (Via her label International Anthem, a fantastic Chicago operation with which I’m sure is familiar to posters in this thread)