ghost of miles

Best wishes for a Big Birthday Bash!! :party:

I've got their Carter Family box, but none of the other country sets--though two of my buddies here in B-town are waaaaayyy into the country sets. I'd like to eventually pick up the Johnny Cash conceptual-album Come Along and Ride This Train box... on the non-country side, would love to see a third Nat King Cole set that covered 1950-54, but I understand that's unlikely at this point.

I don't know about "greatest," Bright, but it was certainly a vintage year. (I also put together a timeline for non-jazz events of note that occurred in 1959.)

Good article about Hughes that includes interviews with his two sons in the new Vanity Fair.

Been on a bit of a Neil kick lately and just picked up the 2009 remastered edition of AFTER THE GOLD RUSH. Been years since I listened to this album, and it still sounds amazing to me.

Another recent Newbury bargain in the CD player at the moment--Junior Mance's AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD: Junior Mance $2.99

Roy Eldridge, MONTREUX '77, currently $1.99 plus shipping via Amazon Marketplace's Newbury listing.

Great idea--would seem like a natural for Mosaic, but I'd imagine difficult estate or other issues have precluded, or would preclude, it ever happening. Has anybody here ever contacted Mosaic about a possible "Lost Quintet" set?

Big Al, I'll sign up for the disc version--and just remember one key fact...we're not dead yet!

I bow before your awesomeness, sir! I remember staying up late to watch them on Saturday Night Live and being vastly disappointed/mystified when Elvis Costello showed up instead. (Wasn't old/hip enough to appreciate Elvis yet.)

Who? EMI!

Article posted at AAJ: Say goodbye to EMI

Oops--fixed. At least I didn't duplicate a certain paper's error a few years ago, in which a reporter wrote that a vocal group was influenced by "the famous jazz pianist Felonious Monk." (The noted grandfather of gangsta jazz!)

Part 2 of the Night Lights program devoted to the life and music of Thelonious Monk with special guest Robin D.G. Kelley is up for online listening: Thelonious Monk: From Myth To Man Robin talks about why Monk went over so well at the Five Spot, his musical partnerships with John Coltrane and Charlie Rouse, his time at Columbia Records, his response to the free-jazz and civil-rights movement of the 1960s, his relationships with his wife Nellie and his friend Pannonica (the "Jazz Baroness"), and his late-period recordings and compositions. Here's Part 1 of the program: Thelonious Monk: From Man To Myth Next week: "Portraits of Harlem," featuring some previously unreleased excerpts from 1939 and 1945 broadcasts of James P. Johnson's Harlem Symphony, Duke Ellington's 1963 recording of his Tone Parallel to Harlem, Roy Eldridge's "I Remember Harlem" and much more, including an interview with John Howland, author of Ellington Uptown: Duke Ellington, James P. Johnson and the Birth of Concert Jazz.

Mark, I got MOVING FORWARD on the basis of your comments here and finally cracked it open tonight--thanks so much for the rec! Moody's playing is fabulous here, and the synthesizer is generally non-intrusive. Digging that "Giant Steps" arrangement right now.

Keep on traneing in!

Eh? Joe Mauer's single-shoulda-been-a-double in the top of the 11th, game 2 of the ALDS? Well, as somebody else out there in Comments Land put it: Geez, and here I was gonna be a nice guy and post the clip of Suzuki's walkoff HR against Rivera from last September for ya... Well, just to be a gracious sort, I'll do it anyway: Suzuki's walkoff against Rivera ...but then I have to post one of my favorite memories of ALDS Game 2.

Just consider me on call, free of charge--I've got lots more in my little black bag where that came from. So Matthew, pardon my being so AL East-centric...who's got a shot at keeping up with the Mariners in the AL West in 2010?

Dave, in lieu of a hug, please accept this sweet little 2009 flashback from me. On a tribute note, Jeter passes Gehrig. I feel lucky to have seen Jeter play as long as he has already--he, Rivera, Pettite and Posada all rank with the Yankee all-time greats. And they're class acts to boot. Jeter and Rivera definitely end up in the HoF, Pettite's certainly got a shot at it (hell, his postseason record alone gives him at least a calling card IMO) and Posada might crack it as well. All homegrown talent, too.

I'm just not that worried about the outfield. Swisher's defense is only so-so but he has power and a great spirit. (Again, though, that's something else I'll miss about Damon...the spirit he brought to the team, in addition, obviously, to his talent.) Granderson's HR numbers will almost certainly = last year (or go even higher) and his RBI production will go up...plus I'll bet anything he hits much more in the area of .275 than .249 this year. In terms of fielding I think Gardner is as good as Granderson...either way, we'll have strong defense in center and in left this year. (Anyways, Gardner/Winn is just holding down LF until Carl Crawford gets there in 2011. ) What with the offensive production of the infield, I think we're in good shape. Boston's adding Lackey was huge and might make them the team to beat this year in the AL East, but NY will be competing with them neck-and-neck. As for Jeter, sure, the aging of the Core 4 is a big issue, as Jeter, Pettite and Rivera will all be extremely difficult if not impossible to replace (Jesus Montero makes me less concerned about Posada's imminent departure from the scene). All the more reason I'd love to see NY go all the way again this year and give those guys a two-peat in the twilight of their careers. If that doesn't happen, well, 2009 was magical--one of THE most magical seasons I've ever experienced as a Yankees fan--and would make a pretty nice championship punctation point in and of itself.

I'll definitely be at the Bloomington show:

It's not a given that Granderson will be in centerfield--there's been talk of keeping Gardner in center and moving Granderson to left (which Granderson says he'd be fine with). In which case no, it's not at all ludicrous to talk about Granderson being Damon's replacement. (It's not ludicrous in any event, as it's basically Granderson and Gardner/Winn vs. Damon and Gardner/Cabrera overall.) It's also not a given that Johnson will be the #2 batter (though I agree with you about the slowness-on-the-basepaths factor and have thought about this myself...also leaves NY more vulnerable to DPs if Johnson is indeed the #2 hitter)--again, it might be Granderson (who, despite his off-year for BA in 2009, is a lifetime .272 hitter and hit lead-off for Detroit 130 times last year. Damon hit a cumulative low 280s for the Yanks over the past 4 years). And Granderson and Gardner, wherever they play, will certainly give the Yanks better defense in left and center than Damon and Gardner did. The Yankees signed Winn because they were tired of screwing around with Scott Boras. I don't really blame them, frankly. I wish we could've brought Damon back, but he and Boras really seemed to think they could land a two-year/20-million-or-plus deal somewhere...they obviously misread the market. More on Damon, FWIW: Tigers not getting 2009 version of Damon EDIT: OK, true, Granderson probably strikes out too much to be a #2 hitter, as this post observes, but the notion of putting Cano in #2 is one I've pondered myself. If nothing else, there's pretty much no easy out in the Yanks' lineup until you get to the #9 spot--and that's if Wynn's in the lineup. If #9 is Brett Gardner, well, hey, he hit .270 last year and is a threat on the basepaths...I'll take that in a #9 hitter, with Jeter/Johnson-or-Cano-or-Granderson/Tex/A-Rod coming up next! EDIT 2: What's your assessment of the Bosox' strengths and potential weaknesses this year?

I'd bet anything, though, that in his heart of hearts Damon wishes he could have gotten that Yankee offer back. But this isn't really an accurate portrayal of the changes that have been made. More to the point, does Nick Johnson + Curtis Granderson=Hideki Matsui plus Johnny Damon? And I'd say in some ways it does. Johnson and Granderson are 5-7 yrs younger than Matsui and Damon, Granderson has the speed that Damon's losing and is a good bet to at least match his 30 HR total and then some in Yankee Stadium, whereas Damon--who does hit well at Detroit's park--gets nowhere near 24 HR again IMO. I'll grant you this--not sure at all that Johnson or Granderson have the "big-game" quality that leads to Damon pulling off a double-steal in WS Game 4 and Matsui tearing apart the Phillies in WS Game 6. I would've preferred to see at least one of them stay for another year. Now does Winn=Melky Cabrera? Probably not...probably a slight decline there, but it's much less significant than the Johnson/Granderson vs. Matsui/Damon equation. Well, Matsui's first quote upon reporting to the Angels camp was, "To be honest, my knees aren't 100%." He's no safe bet to get through the season either. And if Johnson does get hurt, then I suspect we'll be seeing Jesus Montero sooner rather than later, with Posada, A-Rod and others rotating through the DH spot. Again, I wish we'd brought back either Matsui or Damon as well, but overall I think this team is a slight improvement over last year's team. Overall, I think the Bosox probably did more to improve themselves, especially with the free-agent signing of Lackey. But NY got "lucky" last year (and don't forget A-Rod's absence for the first 30 games of the season--they were definitely a better team after he came back, but they did weather that and still won 103 games) in part because Girardi managed his older players well. I don't expect NY to pull away in August this year like they did last season; I think this year it will go down to the wire.

To quote one online baseball wag earlier today, "Will Johnny Damon please end our long national nightmare and sign somewhere?" The saga has finally ended: Damon to Tigers for 1 yr/8 million

There's an article about him in the new Mojo (the one w/Syd Barrett on the cover), but I haven't read it yet.