ghost of miles

The publisher's note at the beginning of the 2007 paperback states: And I now have it on very good authority that Hodges was born in 1907--so this year is his centenary.

Thanks for posting that, Michael--I'll send the link to some Bloomingtonians.

Hadn't checked the AMG one yet--thanks much, J.A.W. I may e-mail our old MIA friend Mike Fitzgerald and see what he recommends re: making a final determination.

Yep, as does the new edition. Grove (and yes, I know it's unreliable) says 1907.

Living Era seems to think it's this year.

Hey folks, is it a Hodges centennary this year or not? Various books/resources list his birthdate as either July 25, 1906, or July 25, 1907... any Ellingtonian experts out there who know for sure?

Great backstory on that piece, Larry--thanks for sharing it with us.

Here's another--I came across this on vinyl in the station library a year or two back & posted about it--then actually listened to it, and yikes...

OTOH those album titles at least speak a certain honesty.

I've heard it and yes, it should definitely be in the running. I should've mentioned it the other day, but evidently I'd repressed it from my memory...

Did she hunger-strike her way out?

I have never heard it, but from others' comments I would wager that Jackie McLean's MONUMENTS might place highly in such a poll.

Well... birthday greetings sent with love and respect, to the memory and legacy of a departed musician. You know, Jim, it's hard to say what Nelson might have done if he had lived beyond 43... he might well have continued being sucked into the lucrative maw of Hollywood, or he might have broken free, as J.J. Johnson did. I'm just grateful for what he did manage to leave behind.

Ike Quebec's COMPLETE 45 SESSIONS makes for pretty good late-night listening as well.

Best track on the tribute CD by far is Ella herself, dueting with Stevie Wonder on "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" from New Orleans, 1977. (It's an actual duet...when I first saw it listed on the back of the CD, I thought, "Oh god, another 'ghost' meeting"... but it's the real deal.)

Chuck played this for me several years ago--I remember liking it quite a lot..as Jim says, it's a trip.

Composer's Datebook actually devoted their module to him today... wish he were still around. From the abstract blues to the black, brown and beautiful!

Some previous discussion of a Criss Prestige date here. Those sides w/Walter Davis (THIS IS CRISS and PORTRAIT OF SONNY CRISS) are quite strong, as Chuck says... I like just about all of Criss' Prestige recordings. And yeah, Nate, Horace Tapscott does address what went down with the BIRTH OF THE NEW COOL session in SONGS OF THE UNSUNG. According to HT he and Criss had been playing together at an L.A. community center, which led to Sonny's interest in doing an album of Tapscott compositions. The original band was supposed to be made up of members from the Ark, but HT said that Don Schlitten of Prestige brought in the musicians who actually played on the date... they did get Everett Brown to stay on drums. It's on pg. 115-116 of Horace's autobiography.

It's hard for me to understand the basis of these types of sentiments. Jazz is more relevant than ever because it's needed in this culture more than ever. Is jazz considered to simply be an artifact by some because it's not popular (as if it ever was--and to carry along that line of thinking, is American Idol relevant because it has mass appeal?). Is jazz an artifact because it doesn't have street cred or something? That's what John Hammond was saying about Ellington in 1935--his music was vapid because it was un-Negroid...Duke "has purposely kept himself from any contact with the troubles of his people..." Speaking of John Hammond--but I don't see how that analogy really bears on the matter at hand. Relevant to whom is the question, I suppose. And yes, one can certainly say or argue that jazz has had a major influence on how modern music has evolved... one can travel down a Burnsian road (I say this with some ambivalence) and argue that it's had a positive impact on American society in general, though the happy "force-for-integration" narrative waaaaaayy oversimplifies what went down (topics touched upon in this thread giving some evidence, and speaking of Art Pepper's memoir...) But to say "Jazz is more relevant than ever because it's needed in this culture more than ever" is more ambitious slogan than it is a reflection of the music's status in present-day society. I love it, you love it, just about everybody here loves it, and it's certainly relevant to us. But it's not relevant to a good 95% or more of the folks out there. Sad, and I'd like to help change that to whatever degree I can, and hope to do so... one of the reasons why I'm here, as there's so much to learn from the others who post. I want to keep my ears (and my mind) open. Consigning most classic and/or straightahead jazz to a "museum" definition was perhaps a bit harsh. But I think it's headed that way, yes.

They're fortunate indeed if no white critics have come along to tell them what is their music, as they've been doing from John Hammond on up to the present day.

Well, here's a paradox for the past/present paradigm: we live in a culture that's more "immediate" than ever before, in terms of communication, while at the same time we have far more access to the past--at least in terms of preserved media--than any generation before us has ever had. Inclined to agree with what Jim says about the dance underground--and the thing is, "jazz" and "blues" as most of us here define and enjoy said musics, are already pretty much the stuff of museums. And I'll say yet again that "jazz" bands of the future are going to be far more varied--already are, in fact--in terms of format, instrumentation, etc., than our current conceptions, as will jazz itself. I personally love the standard piano trio, quartet/quintet groups and such, and those formats will continue--as do, say, string quartets in the classical world. Elements of that sound will probably always be at work in jazz, going down the road, even beyond the realm of repertory... but at some point (already happening in certain quarters) musicians are going to say, "Why should I accept these hand-me-down self-limitations?" Creativity depends on interior freedom... and the past can either be a instrument of learning, or an instrument of slavery.

Aloc, a couple of the cuts did show up on the Nina Simone "Here Comes the Sun" Night Lights show. "Full Nelson" up for rebroadcast this Saturday evening at 11:05 EST on WFIU, at 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville, and at 10 p.m. EST Sunday evening on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio, in honor of what would've been Nelson's 75th birthday (Monday, June 4). The program is already archived for online listening under the date of April 22, 2006. Next week: "Andrew!"

Right on! Seriously, in complete agreement with you, Johnny. I'm fed up with pro sports franchises holding cities hostage, demanding tax break after tax break, municipal funding, etc., subjecting them to the same process every 10 years or so... and boy, Oklahoma City ain't no Seattle. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!

And if you want to throw in the Paul Horn...

PM sent re: Stitt/Peterson, Marsh & Makowicz.