ghost of miles

You know who truly is dead, though? Our top story tonight...

True that he's not dead, but MediaMass itself is a hoax site. So much B.S. on the Internet, what with all the "fake news" and such.

Speaking of unissued Coltrane, will we ever see any kind of official release of the Frank Tiberi tapes?

I helped moderate a couple of panel discussions with Zev at the Indy Jazz Fest's Wes Montgomery tribute day, and iirc correctly some of the Monk tracks are derived from sessions for Les Liaisons Dangereuses. I also got to hear a pretty sweet Montgomery side with David Baker on trombone... definitely more Wes in the pipeline.

This week's Night Lights show looks at Glenn Miller's amazing 1943-1945 Army Air Force band, which included musicians such as pianist Mel Powell, clarinetist Peanuts Hucko, drummer Ray McKinley, and singer Johnny Desmond. The show includes excerpts from an interview I did several years ago with AAF trombonist Nat Peck (who was 19 when he joined Miller's group in 1943) and historian Michael McGerr, as well as music that represents the varied aspects of the AAF--the Uptown Hall Gang (performing one of the earliest versions of "A Night In Tunisia"), Strings With Wings, and the full AAF, including a rare 1944 broadcast with Bing Crosby. Up for online listening on Veterans' Day: Glenn Miller Goes To War With The Army Air Force Band (Note: there is an expanded "director's cut" version of this show, which is derived from a previous program that I did for WFIU, embedded in the program post. It includes more music and more remarks from Nat Peck--who passed away not long ago, and may have been the last surviving member of the band.)

Hey all, another recent Night Lights show now up for online listening: Jazz Women of the 1980s Other entries in this series: Jazz Women of the 1960s Jazz Women of the 1940s Jazz Women Of The 1990s

We re-aired this program last week and it remains archived for online listening: Rookie of the Year: Curtis Fuller '57

Up for the holiday: Jazz Haunts For Halloween: Ghostly Songs and Mysterious Ends

And here comes V. 22: Duke Ellington: The Treasury Shows V. 22

Up for Jimmy Heath's 90th birthday today: Portrait Of Jimmy Heath: The Riverside Years

Wonderful win by the Cubs last night--so happy for all of my long-suffering Cubs fan friends (they have a big following here in Indiana, as you can imagine), and glad that they were able to take the pennant at Wrigley. Paul Secor, we now get to see the Yankees' former closers square off in the WS... ☺️ And btw, who ya gonna call when your baseball franchise is afflicted with a decades-long "curse"? Theo Epstein, apparently.

Great win for Cleveland tonight (Andrew Miller, Yankee fans still miss you!). We could end up with a World Series featuring two former Yankee ace closers. I'd like to see a Chicago-Cleveland WS simply for the old-school, Midwestern MLB match-up.

Any word yet for a release date of the late 1930s Lester Young with Basie broadcasts? It's supposed to be out by the end of the year, I believe.

Hey, glad you guys enjoyed it... and Ted, yes, I used the 1994 expanded reissue. But recently a friend gave me her deceased husband's copy of the original set, albeit without a cover, but with booklet and 78s amazingly intact (and the autographed frontpiece from Granz as well).

Yes! And some Thelma Carpenter on "Basin Street Blues"!

Hoping to do a more career-comprehensive show at some point, but here's one from the archives devoted to his late-1950s Verve recordings: Lee Konitz: The Verve Years

Digging into impresario Norman Granz's The Jazz Scene, a proto-box-set of six 78 records that documented the state of late-1940s modern jazz--last week's Night Lights show now up for online listening: Norman Granz's Jazz Scene

A recent Night Lights program devoted to saxophonist Lester Young's late-1940s recordings, with special guest Loren Schoenberg (annotator of both Young Mosaic box sets) is now up for online listening: Postwar Prez:  Lester Young 1945-1950

A new Night Lights show up for online listening, focusing on the musical events of John Coltrane's 1962: Trane '62: The Classic Quartet Begins

Re-posting three Night Lights programs today in honor of Bud, born on this day in 1924. The first two include some commentary from Powell biographer Peter Pullman; the third focuses exclusively on live recordings by Powell from 1944 to 1953: Time Flies: The Life And Music Of Bud Powell, Part 1 The Scene Changes: The Life And Music Of Bud Powell, Part 2 Burning With Bud: Bud Powell Live, 1944-1953

We re-aired Jazz From Storyville last week and it remains archived for online listening.

Very sad and shocking news. On a much less significant note, another bullpen meltdown by NY today. I honestly think the Yankees would be in the thick of the WC race right now if we'd kept Miller... we've blown at least half a dozen games in the past two months in a manner similar to this afternoon's loss.

Yuck. Did you ever catch wind (so to speak) of this release? Barry Manilow: My Dream Duets ... all of 'em dead when it came out in 2014, just in time for Halloween.

Stephenson also has a new book about Smith coming out next August.

Ken Burns completes documentary about f*&%ing liars...