ghost of miles

NY's up 6-3 over KC heading into the bottom of the 7th at Yankee Stadium, and this comment just popped up on GameDay Audio's At Bat page: Actually, it's a good point. EDIT: a very good point. Yanks scored a run in the bottom of the 7th, then Joba came in and promptly walked the first batter, then gave up a home run, making it a 7-5 game.

I'm really enjoying Kenny Washington's notes for this set--lots of musicianly insight, especially concerning Vernel Fournier's drumming, but also into what Jamal's doing with the standards that he's playing.

This day in baseball history, 1978:

:lol: Classic!

Yankee and non-Yankee fans alike might enjoy this--a Twitter account satirizing Yankees YES announcer Michael Kay. Some samples: Hey fans!

Last night's Afterglow program, featuring Ms. Ross' sides with Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross: Singin' and Swingin' With Annie Ross

I used that same track on the Annie Ross 80th-birthday tribute I did for Afterglow last night--will try to post the program link here later today. EDIT: Singin' and Swingin' With Annie Ross

Love that picture of Ahmad as a kid sitting at the piano on pg. 2 of the booklet.

I was listening to the game last night, and they said the fans were on their feet for every pitch and that tons of flash lights were going off on every pitch--so clearly Yankee fans do still think it's a big deal. (The same thing's been happening every time he's come to bat so far tonight as well.) I can't speak for other MLB fans. Yes, A-Rod will undoubtedly end up with a symbolic asterisk of his own, given his admission--but it's still a significant milestone, and he's still been an incredible player. All kinds of players' career stats can arguably be put under suspicion now, and frankly, I'm not so sure the glorious 1960s/70s era of our youth was very clean either. I'm not trying to excuse what A-Rod did, but I fault him more for taking a substance that was banned, rather than taking a substance; and I don't agree with the "baseball was a pure sport before the steroids era" narrative, because the use of PEDs has gone on for a long time. Tom House, who was on the Braves when Aaron broke Ruth's record, has gone on record as saying that there was widespread MLB player use of amphetamines and steroids in the 1970s. (Even Aaron admitted to experimenting with amphetamines in his autobiography.) Hell, Dock Ellis was tripping on LSD while he threw his no-hitter! Again, not trying to whitewash A-Rod's sins, and I can understand why some, or even many, will view his HR progress with either ambivalence or disdain. To me he's still a great hitter, and at least he's trying to make amends for his mistakes.

I actually turned off the Boston game after Lackey gave up that hit and went to bed not long after, assuming that Boston had the game sewn up.

First since his rookie year. Sure a bad play for KC as well--they've been holding out for a great trade offer on DeJesus, and he injured himself on the play. Hats off to C.C.--11 hits and 4 walks over 6 1/3 IP, and somehow he gives up only 3 ER? And I hope for A-Rod's sake that he gets #600 soon... the atmosphere sounded crazy over the radio when he was at bat in the 8th. He should have a decent shot at it in the next two days, given what Sweeny Murti tweeted a little while ago:

Thanks for the heads-up, JT--I'm on the Billy Taylor session right now, with Barney coming up next. Listening to this also makes me want to revisit the H.R.S. Mosaic set.

I got a used "like-new" copy of THE FABULOUS ELLINGTONIANS after perusing this thread several days ago and am listening to it now. Great music for anybody who enjoys the Ellington small-group dates of the late 1930s; these sides date from the mid-1940s. Interesting side note: the first two sessions (Rex Stewart's Big Eight from June 5, 1944 and Billy Taylor's Big Eight from August 1, 1944) were, according to Dan Morgenstern's liner notes, originally recorded for the H.R.S. label, but ultimately leased to Keynote. For those who have the H.R.S. Mosaic box, there's no overlap--they were not included with that set, presumably since they were put out as Keynotes. Also, according to Morgenstern's liners, the Juan Tizol session on this CD was his only one as a leader.

I heard him only a few times in his last years of broadcasting via the Internet, but it was enough to give me more than a glimmer of why he's mattered so much for so long to Chicago-area jazz fans. I think it was Larry who once posted something very insightful about him here, to the effect of "you could tell he always liked whatever he was playing, and that made a difference in how the music came across." (LK, pardon the poor paraphrase.) I'm thankful for that example & standard of integrity, and also for the positive role he played in the listening lives of Chicago-area jazz folk here whom I respect very much.

Jim, Joe, and Randy, thanks for everything. Life moves on, or else it's not life. I'm grateful to have all three of the studio CDs and will be sure to order the live one before it vanishes into OOP land. You can count on my continuing financial support for this site as well--it's taken on a life of its own, and one that reflects the unique spirit of the band. Though I'm sure all three of you will find fulfillment in your separate paths, as a unit you'll be much missed.

Dan, if you guys are 10 or more games out come August 1, I'll be a little less worried about a late-season comeback--but c'mon, man, we both lived through 1978! (Not to bring up a bad memory for you on purpose--simply to make a point.) Your Bosox are one of the most banged-up teams in modern baseball history that I can think of, and yet you're still only 7 games out. New York's rotation is very shaky (witness Javy's mediocre performance today...oh, and just to mention another glaring weakness, witness Joba giving up his standard run in his relief appearance! I'm grateful that he didn't give up more--what is his ERA now, 5.80 or something? Logan and Robertson both had bad days on the mound as well). Tex is finally starting to hit, but he, A-Rod and Jeter all remain mired to one degree or another in subpar seasons... with all of the injuries, Boston's still outhitting and outscoring NY by slight margins. Your setup guy is much, much better than our setup guy, and in spite of several dramatic blown saves, Papelbon's still getting the closing job done almost all of the time. If Beckett regains his form at all upon his return, and if Andy's out through almost all of August, then I can see Boston being in a position to be only 4-5 games out by the beginning of September.

Via Alex Ross' blog: Varese does jazz

Dan--there was a lot of hype coming out of spring training about Hughes having developed a decent changeup, but he hasn't used it much at all, as far as I can tell. From an article on the YES network site: More As for the starter situation, Javy seems to have stabilized, but A.J. is obviously still out of whack, even after Eiland's return (two excellent starts but then the meltdown and temper tantrum against the Rays), and Pettitte won't be back till it's almost September. Yes, I still think we'll make the playoffs (though I'm not counting your Bosox out by any stretch of the imagination), but man, the rotation, which has been one of our great strengths, is rather iffy IMO for now.

Well, I think it's now official--Phil Hughes has morphed, for the time being, into a mediocre starter. Last year as a reliever he had a confidence meltdown at the end of the season and was all but unusable throughout the playoffs. I sure hope that's not what we're seeing again, except this time as a starter. EDIT: and as somebody commented at Pinstripe Alley, what's the deal with NY making so many spot starters look like Nolan Ryan this year?

His podcast looks very cool, Lazaro--I'll be sure to check it out. Is he using full-length music tracks, or just one-minute excerpts?

We re-aired Star On Miles: The Return Of Miles Davis, the Night Lights program about Miles' early-1980s recordings, this past week; it remains archived for online listening. Lots of music from We Want Miles and Star People, plus tracks from Aura and Decoy, and a couple of broadcast sides as well.

What is the deal with Bud Selig and the Rangers? Does Nolan Ryan have incriminating pics of Bud or some such?

There's one potential upside to Andy's being out of commission for a month--he'll be well-rested for the stretch drive and playoffs when he comes back. At age 37, it might not be so bad to miss several weeks in late July/early August. Also, one of the bloggers over at PA makes the following point: I don't put Javy and Phil Hughes quite as quickly in the "solid" category as he does, but he's right about the schedule--if we're going to lose one of our aces temporarily, this is one of the better times for it to happen. This is also interesting (and relevant to Dan's observations the other day regarding Pettitte's performance in 2010 so far): First half performances: the lucky, the unlucky and Joba

Isoardi did write THE DARK TREE, but Horace himself wrote SONGS OF THE UNSUNG--it's basically his autobiography, put together with Isoardi's help, but very much in Horace's voice. If you're interested in Tapscott, my recollection is that you get even more of his story from the autobiography.

There's also the problem of the "Hughes Rules" taking effect, though I have to wonder if they'll be modified somewhat now. Given the continuing bullpen problems as well (though they did decently enough today, I guess), I definitely think pitching takes a priority over hitting when it comes to trades. And I think our offense is going to be fine, actually, barring an outbreak of injuries.