ghost of miles

Thanks for the extensive rundown. I still think it's going to be a Philadelphia-Boston WS, and I'd give slight odds to the Phillies at this point. Halladay and Lee squaring off twice against Lester and Beckett in a seven-game series would be something to see. Dan: looking good for Wakefield finally picking up #200 tonight? On the Yankee front, another disastrous outing from A.J. Burnett that may well lead to Boston's being back in first place at the end of the night. His final line: 1 2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 7 ER. To top it off, he evidently got testy with Joe Girardi when Joe took him out (the unmitigable gall!). Sweeny Murti tweets: And Pete Abraham is salivating at the prospect of a John Lackey-A.J. Burnett $82.5-million-bust matchup in Game 4 of an ALCS. Me, I wouldn't bet at this point on A.J. being in the playoff rotation at all, not with the way Hughes and Nova have been pitching. But if it happens, my money's on Lackey, whose 5.33 August ERA looks positively ace-like next to A.J.'s.

J.H., I haven't been following the Phillies closely enough--how are Oswalt and Hamels doing, health-wise and otherwise? Any vulnerabilities that concern you as the team heads towards the playoffs?

You're right about Carisi being with Miller's wartime band in New Haven, Allen. For anybody interested in Miller's AAF (originally called the American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces when it went over to Europe, but long since routinely referred to as the Army Air Force band), Geoffrey Butcher's Next to a Letter From Home is well worth tracking down. At least two members of the band are still alive--bassist Trigger Alpert, and trombonist Nat Peck, whom I interviewed for a recent program about the AAF (Glenn Miller Goes To War With The Army Air Force Band). Not sure about other jazz musicians besides Miller who died in the war. Artie Shaw and Claude Thornhill both served in the Pacific (Thornhill as pianist for Shaw's band for awhile), and several accounts suggest that they suffered some psychological debilitation as a result. (Wasn't Shaw hospitalized for awhile after he returned stateside? Thornhill too, I think, though I may be conflating the two.) Lester Young didn't see combat, but sure had an infamous time of it during his military stay. Not a jazz musician, but the critic Otis Ferguson, who wrote frequently about jazz (and who's much admired by me and some others around this joint) died in 1943 while serving in the Merchant Marines when his ship was struck by a bomb.

New Hep release on the horizon: Ellington Crystal Gardens 1952 Hep link

Another excellent start for the Yankees' Phil Hughes tonight, and Derek Jeter's batting average is almost within winking distance of .300. If NY had simply managed a split of their matchups against Boston so far, their W-L record would be 79-43, or just one game off the Phillies' impressive mark. On a more negative note, Bartolo Colon may be running out of gas--and per the previous sentence, NY can't seem to beat Boston this year, which doesn't bode well for the playoffs (though Texas won't be a doorstop for anybody either and could easily end up in the WS again).

I received the advance copy of this today, but haven't opened it up yet. As it happens, Barber is one of twin brothers, and their parents named one Rahsaan and the other Roland, after Kirk! Yes--I used to see them play together frequently as the Barber Brothers when they were here in Bloomington. Quite the musical dynamic duo. Their mother met Kirk's widow once and told her about the twins being named after RRK... said Kirk's widow was taken aback but moved by it, especially when she found out that they'd both become jazz musicians.

Jeff Passan ranks the toughness of the remaining schedules for 14 playoff-candidate teams.

Richard Stark, THE MOURNER--fourth in the Parker series to which Larry Kart hipped me. I've become a Parker addict.

Derek Jeter's been on a tear since coming off the DL, looking much more like the Jeter of old: (And he went 2-6 tonight, with a single and a double and two RBIs.) This might be the reason why.

We re-aired Thelonious Monk: From Myth To Man, Part 2 this past week on Night Lights, and it remains archived for online listening.

Last night A.J. Burnett won his first August start since 2008. Albeit in less than dominant fashion. Nice moment from the game: Young Royals fan gives young Yankee fan foul ball Jsngry--you must be pretty happy with the Rangers' play of late.

Happy birthday to songwriter Jimmy Webb, who turns 65 today. Last week's Afterglow program was devoted to his music: The Jimmy Webb Songbook Special thanks to Jsngry.

I'm digging this as well and featured it on Just You and Me this past Monday; also spun "Mama Told Me Not To Come" on today's show. Full disclosure: I'm friends with Sara Caswell, the violinist who plays on the CD and who contributed some of the arrangements, but far more objective observers than I have heaped praise upon her playing. (Caswell's also been touring with Esperanza Spalding for much of the past year.)

I bought a Charly Sun Blues box here at a record store in town years ago and later learned that there had been some legal flare-up over its release. It's a great set, and while I haven't listened to it in a long time, I recall the sound as being pretty good. I'm definitely interested in this new set from Hip-O.

Fantastic news, Allen, and much-deserved. And hey, while you're at it, write 'em a new, Allen-Lowe-style state anthem! Proud state of Maine

Thanks for listening, Bill. Robin was incredibly generous with his time--he did two interviews with me over two days that totaled about three hours, and this on the heels of doing a long interview with Terry Gross for Fresh Air. I'm hoping to interview him again for another Night Lights show when his next book comes out.

Boy, Mo's cutter is just not cutting (or cutting it) lately--only the 8th time in his career that he's given up a run in three straight appearances, according to a poster at Pinstripe Alley. NY was lucky to still pick up the win. On a lighter note, somebody posted this doctored photo of the Angels' rally monkey after Cano's 7th-inning grand-slam:

Hard to find words while I thought about this thread's news off and on throughout the day. Aloc's earlier, pre-link comment now seems strangely prescient; our idea of a poster liked and respected by many in this and other online jazz communities has died, or at the very least been supplanted by something deeply troubling. Like Chuck said, there's no easy way for dealing with something like this; "our Bill" was an amiable online reflection of a human being, and for those who sustained any kind of friendship with him, it's not unnatural to simultaneously feel absolute revulsion and disgust, and at the same time feel pain that such a person might have ultimately done so much harm to him or herself as well as inflicting such terrible harm upon the vulnerable children exploited by this network. People will proceed at emotional paces determined by their own life experiences--I don't think that you can prescribe a right way and a wrong way to react to this kind of revelation. There's a thread about this at JazzCorner right now as well, with some thoughtful comments and related stories from posters there.

Ancient Night Lights program and a bit of discussion.

Best birthday wishes to you, Mark, and hope to catch up with you the next time you visit Bloomington.

We re-aired Thelonious Monk, Part 1: From Man To Myth this past week on Night Lights, and it remains archived for online listening.

Huge RISP fail and huge bullpen fail by Mo and Phil Hughes tonight--that was pathetic. What a way to lose the game and lose the series... nice way to throw away a good start by Garcia and excellent relief work from the rest of the Yankees' pen, too.

I'll second Cali's recommendation for this record--listening to it right now, as I'm working on a Night Lights show about Hamilton's early/mid-1960s period, covering many of the Impulses and this Columbia release. Didn't realize how much Charles Lloyd had written for this group.

Well, we swiped one from Lester last night, but man oh man, does Boston ever seem to have CC's number--not good at all if we end up facing them in an ALCS showdown. Advantage for the series definitely Boston, what with Beckett going up tomorrow against Garcia... at least we've managed to avoid getting swept again. Plus Boston is almost certain to win the series for the year; they're now 9-2 against the Yanks, with seven games remaining between the two teams, which means NY needs to win every single one in order just to tie. In other words, Boston's all but a lock to win a division tiebreaker if they and NY end up with identical season W-L records.

Why? Because we started the season with a rotation of CC and the Misfits, and then quickly lost Hughes, who was supposed to be the second-best starter we had. Colon and Garcia have performed far beyond expectations, and Nova has really begun to come into his own as a starter. AJ's been about what I expected.. but still, the starting pitching overall has been much better than what I thought it would be, which is why I'm surprised to see us tied at this point. As for A-Rod returning, NY almost seems to be hitting better without him in the lineup!