ghost of miles

Been thinking of doing that myself, in advance of the upcoming movie. On vacation right now, so I've really been able to do a lot of reading...wonderful! Blew through David Halberstam's OCTOBER 1964 and Sam Stephenson's THE JAZZ LOFT PROJECT; just started Morris Dickstein's DANCING IN THE DARK: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION and am getting back into George Lewis' A POWER STRONGER THAN ITSELF. Also on deck: Henry Roth's CALL IT SLEEP, James Gavin's STORMY WEATHER, and DOWNBEAT: THE GREAT JAZZ INTERVIEWS, as well as a new collection that a friend of mine edited, THE JAZZ FICTION ANTHOLOGY.

This week's Night Lights program, now up for online listening--an 80th birthday tribute to trombonist, composer and arranger Bob Brookmeyer, focusing on sideman and leader dates from the 1950s and early 60s with Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Jimmy Giuffre, Clark Terry, and the Concert Jazz Band: Bob Brookmeyer and Some of His Friends Next week: "Hep to the Holidays."

Via Pinstripe Alley, also this report: Matsui close to deal with Angels?

Yeah, and the Red Sox just signed John Lackey to a five-year deal. Wow! Gonna be tough for NY to deal with Boston's starting rotation, that's for sure...and Matthew will surely be psyched about the Cliff Lee pick-up.

I pretty much buy vinyl only if the CD is unavailable. That said, I've picked up quite a # of titles over the past 4-5 years, in part because Landlocked Music here in town gets in so much cool jazz vinyl that's either OOP or prohibitively expensive in the CD format. Just the other day I bought Teddy Edwards' IT'S ABOUT TIME, which probably won't show up on CD any time soon unless it's as part of a pirate-label operation. But I much, much prefer the CD format.

Bought this last night as a Christmas present for my record-store-owner friend...he's religious about picking up the music issue but hadn't gotten this one yet.

Up for broadcast tonight on: WMCE-Erie, Pennsylvania (8 p.m. EST) WNIN-Evansville, Indiana (9 p.m. CST) Oklahoma Public Radio (11 p.m. CST) WFIU-Bloomington, IN (11 p.m. EST) ...and tomorrow night: Blue Lake Public Radio (10 p.m. EST) KMBH-Brownsville, Texas (10 p.m. EST) WVAS-Montgomery, Alabama (10 p.m. CST)

No surprise here--Yanks sign Pettitte for another year. Not sure what will happen w/Damon--supposedly Yanks are offering $18 million for two years and Boras wants another 4-yr, $52 million deal (absolutely no way they'll get that or even anything close to it). I'd love to see him come back, but not unless the final deal's pretty close to where the Yanks stand right now.

Don't know how rare it is, but picked up the vinyl of Teddy Edwards and Les McCann's IT'S ABOUT TIME (Pacific Jazz). Did this ever get reissued on CD in Japan?

The Onzy Matthews Mosaic Select and the Lou Donaldson Mosaic.

I'll be picking up both of these as well.

On vacation now and staying up later and later, reading and listening to jazz. It's great, but I can't seem to make myself go to sleep...

Finished it tonight--absolutely amazing. An incredible world of late 1950s/early 60s NYC is evoked here that goes beyond the jazz scene, but jazz is nearly always present, in one form or another. Mark, I've got DREAM STREET on my Christmas list...have you checked that out already? (Stephenson's book about Smith's never-finished Pittsburgh project.)

P.S. A good one, David! Some fascinating material there! Thanks much, Bill--glad you enjoyed it. I'm very grateful to the board members who helped me track down some of that material.

On the Hep horizon: Artie Shaw: Complete Thesaurus Transcriptions It's the 1949-50 big band.

I love this set--$40 is a steal.

Great price on the CD set--this is coming out on vinyl again, btw.

Sounds great, Lazaro. I played several cuts off that new Isham release last Friday night on Afterglow...especially liked that version of "Don't Get Around Much Anymore."

Many thanks, all! It's been a truly wonderful day so far... and right now I'm ensconced at home, staying out of the blowing cold, drinking hot cocoa and coffee and perusing one of my birthday gifts: ...medjuck, so far it's fantastic.

I've been listening this morning to an interview Robin D.G. Kelley (author of the new Monk bio) did with the show "Jazz and Justice," and he mentioned that there's a new edition of I PAID MY DUES coming out, with an introduction by Robin.

Features interviews with Doug Ramsey, Peanuts producer Lee Mendelson, Guaraldi friend and sideman Eddie Duran, Guaraldi's son David, and jazz pianist Luke Gillespie, as well as music from the beginning of Guaraldi's career to the end: It's Jazz, Charlie Brown: the Vince Guaraldi Story Happy holidays to all! Next week: "Bob Brookmeyer and Some of His Friends."

I have it on very good authority that I'm getting this for my b-day come Wednesday.

I'll second Nate's take--read the first 60 pages yesterday and hope to finish it tomorrow. Surprised at how much Mr. Miller was able to dig up about Herbie.

Here's a league-wide hot-stove round-up that includes some Figgins discussion links, via the Pinstripe Alley blog. Dave, I'm blowing through BIRTH OF A DYNASTY--started it yesterday and will be done by tonight. Excellent book...and, among other things, I learned that in early '96 the Yankees came very close to trading Mariano Rivera to Seattle for Felix Fermin and demoting Derek Jeter to Columbus for the season. Anyway, it's a great overview of the '96 team (and what went on in the several years prior).

Mark Miller, HERBIE NICHOLS: A JAZZIST'S LIFE (can't seem to find a cover image yet online) + this hot-stove item: