ghost of miles

We re-aired A Brief History of Mary Lou Williams this past week, and it remains archived for online listening. And a happy 113th birth anniversary in memory of MLW today as well.

Outstanding! Thanks so much for posting that.

Is this the new one? I think I missed out on it. 😞

I remember listening to this very CD when I was working in a record store in the mid-1990s and feeling as if I’d discovered a prelude to KOB. I think everything on it was later added to both the Miles/Coltrane Columbia box and the two-CD reissue of KOB, but still have a soft spot for this particular incarnation of that material. Right now, another one of Anthony Barnett’s superlative compilations:

Gotta hand it to Tampa Bay: The Rays are better than everyone. At everything. … and all on a $73 million payroll, too. Whatever their organizational secret sauce is, it’s potent.

Bingo, exactly, etc. This is how I phrase it whenever I refer to Miles' mid-1960s group in that way. Same with Coltrane's "Classic Quartet."

Chicago-based jazz writer Neil Tesser weighs in on his trade: The Jazz Critic: Neil Tesser … always a name I’m happy to see on a byline, whether it’s liner notes or a review.

👍 I’m as big a fan of Dorothy Ashby as anybody, but $250 for a 6-LP set? Hard pass, on this and the “vinyl revival” in general.

The LOA’s Reporting Vietnam and their two-volume collection of civil-rights-era journalism are also outstanding collections. Re the lingering consciousness of WWII when we were growing up, so true. Weird to think that Vietnam is much farther back in the rearview mirror now than WWII was when we were kids.

I’ve been interested in the writer and revolutionary Victor Serge for quite awhile now and have finally gotten (and begun reading) Susan Weissman’s biography of him. I have most if not all of the NYRB Classics reprints of his books, and reading the bio will hopefully spur me on to read the NYRBs as well: I have that Mendelsohn book and plan to eventually read it as well. A big second for the Beevor and Atkinson recommendations. For those interested in the war in the Pacific, Ian W. Toll has written a fine trilogy that serves as a counterpart to Atkinson’s saga of the European Theater.

I greatly enjoyed revisiting it last night. As somebody else noted, a lot of Jackie Mac in Jenkins’ playing (not to mention Charlie Parker), but it sounded great in the context of the Burrell-Clark rhythm section. A fine record, and evidence once again of why it’s fun to follow this thread.

Oh man, haven’t listened to that in forever! Was that a Connoisseur release? Going to pull my copy off the shelf and give it a spin after this one finishes:

I made similar suggestions in the “Helping Mosaic” thread, for a set devoted to Williams’ 1940s recordings and Allen’s 1980s/90s dates. In the case of the latter, I know just the writer to pen the liner notes! 😉 Not an instrumentalist, but I also put in a plug for some kind of Betty Carter box—either one that gathers all of her pre-BetCar recordings, or one focusing on the BetCar material… is it owned by Universal now?

I’ll have to dig this one out! Speaking of the Take 2 series, iirc this Edison was tacked onto a 2-CD Verve of other Ellingtonians… Webster and/or Hodges? As soon as I dislodge this cat from my lap, I’ll go check. Currently spinning another Take 2 release: I think it’s part of this 1995 Verve Take 2 Ben Webster release:

I think I’ve sung the praises of Verve’s 1990s Take 2 series before, but I’ll sing ‘em again:

Always happy to hear Ellington that’s new to me:

Right?!? Right now:

It'll be treated as a footnote in his career, if that, but loved him in Odds Against Tomorrow.

New York Times reporting that Belafonte has passed at 96.

Chris Elliott is Paul Shaffer!