ghost of miles

Looks like an amazing site! I'm going to have to peruse it when I'm back at work, as it's taking too long for my home computer to download all of the images. I'm assuming the Hubbard/Montgomery is from the Arkestra's appearance at the Senate Avenue YMCA in Indianapolis; Freddie & Wes were rumored to have sat in.

Chu Berry, disc 5. The Hampton and Manone sides aren't quite as enjoyable for me so far, but there are some very good moments--Chu's playing on "Sweethearts on Parade" (which really does seem to anticipate Hampton's Jacquet turn in the 1940s) and the modern-sounding "Shufflin' at the Hollywood."

Bee Gees 1st is a great album. It sure is; we listened to it twice last night. I was familiar with "New York Mining Disaster" and knew "To Love Somebody" through Nina Simone's version, but the rest was new to me. A lot of blatant Revolver-era Beatles influence, but it's good such influence. And another for Oliver Nelson's AFRO-AMERICAN SKETCHES (75th anniversary of his birthday is coming up, btw.)

Beth Orton, COMFORT OF STRANGERS Dave Brubeck, JAZZ IMPRESSIONS OF NEW YORK CITY and JAZZ IMPRESSIONS OF EURASIA. Archie Shepp/Horace Parlan, REUNION ...and the Bee Gees' 1ST as a present for my wife.

Hey, there's an idea--the "iPod shuffle" approach to programming! Just dump all those tracks in, and voila--no more hair-tearing. Hard indeed to go wrong with Jackie Mac.

Lazaro, you had a chance to check out either this or this?

Anybody else hear of a new release date for this? I'm going to check in again with my friend down at Landlocked, since it's nearly June.

Did not mean to exaggerate your role or imply that you were somehow "finishing" the work--just to say I'm glad it's you and not, say, the ghost of Leslie Gourse providing any fourth-quarter editorial assistance.

Those interested in Cab Calloway's late-1930s big band should check out this set as well... lots of Cab here(including his very good trumpeter, Irving Randolph). Schoenberg points out some of the band's glitches in the studio, but they're still a great unit IMO... often overlooked, I think, because of Calloway's hep/jive persona.

Uh oh... I have failed. Time to fall upon my Mosaic CD opener! I try not to repeat tracks on the show, but sometimes I will if they seem especially worthy... and I felt that that was the case for "Air Raid." And yeah, something from EASTERLY WINDS would've been good, although I was trying to stick to dates led by either Jackie or Lee for the most part (even "Air Raid," led by Moncur, is still in my mind an early-1960s Jackie group date). I usually tear my hair out over running order, track selection, etc., and did so even more than usual for this particular program... waaaaayyyyy too much good material to choose from. A sequel is a definite possibility, esp. since I barely touched on any of the three-horn dates with Mobley, etc....

Last time I discussed it with Peter, talk was of doing a two-part program... that's still the plan, for whenever the book comes out.

A very good discussion of Powell's music can be found in the booklet for THE COMPLETE BUD POWELL ON VERVE--the conversation between Barry Harris and (current Organissimo poster) Michael Weiss. (The booklet was edited by Pullman, btw, and remains one of the best sources on Powell until Pullman's bio finally comes out.) Gary Giddins also did a good piece many, many years back for the Village Voice on how Powell fit into the evolution of jazz piano, but I'm not sure if it's ever been reprinted; I copied it from microfilm at the IU Library. It's difficult, I think, for even talented writers who are also deeply knowledgeable about the music to write a balanced and accessible book about jazz artists. Lewis Porter did a fairly good job in his Coltrane bio, I thought--and I'm sure I'm not alone here in finding Larry Kart's writing to be illuminating about both musicians and their music. Though some rank Scott Deveaux's BIRTH OF BEBOP objectionable on certain grounds, it's a very good blend of biographical storytelling and musical analysis. Count me among those excited about Peter's book finally reaching publication status. Bud's life-story has turned into a sort of mythology, and the new book should provide a good counterpart to that. I fell hard for Bud's sound (right around the time I was first getting into jazz) and he remains the jazz pianist I most love to listen to... and it's even better to know that Larry has played a part in this work's nearing completion.

Glad you liked the show, Big Al! I share your sentiment; the live band must have indeed been out of this world. I haven't really hunted around on the net for any broadcasts or tapes, but hopefully I'll have a chance to hear some of the performances to which Martyjazz alludes. The Hutcherson set is one of the best Selects that have come out so far, IMO.

Also still reading Merton's journal LEARNING TO LOVE--did I mention this to you, or post it here? Covers the 1966-67 period, including his affair with "M" (Margie Smith); a touching love story that haunts me, for some reason. (She's still alive, but has never written or spoken about her relationship with Merton, save for a phone interview with his official biographer.)

Please, pretty please, post your thoughts on this when you're done. I just finished Murry Kempton's: Part of Our Time: Some Ruins and Monuments of the Thirties, and the Wald book sounds like a natural follow up. Will do, Matthew. I'm going to start it here in just a little while...Wald's previous book EXILES FROM A FUTURE TIME is very good; it and TRINITY are part of a trilogy he is writing about 1930s authors. The classic early/pioneering work on this topic, Daniel Aaron's WRITERS ON THE LEFT, is still worth reading as well. (Wald's trilogy-in-progress is basically an attempt to write an updated & more-expansive version of the Aaron book.)

Amazing post, Allen, and add my thanks to the chorus of previous ones. Just yesterday I was rereading Art Pepper's STRAIGHT LIFE & finding myself a bit uncomfortable with some of the things AP says there about certain women in his life... at the same time I found myself pulling out some of his recordings to listen to as well. The old conundrum, I guess, about great art and the not-so-great personal failings of those who make it (and your post has once again sparked my interest in seeking out more of Haig's music).

Not a jazz artist, but there is a street here in Bloomington named after a jazz DJ: Treadwell Lane. Believe it or not, no Hoagy Carmichael Boulevard or some such (Stardust Road, etc.). There is a Hoagy Carmichael Center, but nothing about the building will put Hoagy in mind at all.

Up for rebroadcast this Saturday evening at 11:05 EST on WFIU, at 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN, and at 10 p.m. EST Sunday evening on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio. The program is already archived for online listening under the date of May 6, 2006. Next week: "The James Dean Story."

Christiern, great to see you posting again! I evidently missed some of your recent ones... we had a rather fiery discussion about that Gennari book in the "Jazz in print" forum a few months back. Anyway, we're lucky to have you around once more. Just started vacation today, and have the following lined up: The new Willis Conover biography Alan Wald's TRINITY OF PASSION: THE LITERARY LEFT & THE ANTIFASCIST CRUSADE Alyn Shipton's NEW HISTORY OF JAZZ A Pee Wee Russell biography Very interested in the new Don DeLillo novel (FALLING MAN) and the new Michael Chabon novel as well (THE YIDDISH POLICEMEN'S UNION).

I noticed that too, Jazzbo--maybe Chuck's reply re: the sound restoration applies here. Not really a complaint on this end, either. I already have a fairish amount of this material, but there's much that's new to me. My set came two days ago and I finally had a chance to do some listening last night and this morning; fantastic to be able to hear CB solo after solo, and Roy Eldridge more than doubles the pleasure. Great, too, to read Loren Schoenberg's notes, drawn from deep listening to these tracks; he's always pointing out interesting details, not just in Chu's playing, but in that of the musicians around him (a nice cast, to be sure--so far, after two discs, I've heard a plethora of Eldridge and Teddy Wilson). Probably a crazy question, but was Hank Mobley a Chu fan, by any chance?

Hope you have a great one & hope to see you in Indy again soon--ideally, at an Organissimo gig!

You're in great company! Have a wonderful birthday--happy listening, reading, and writing/ruminating to you for many new releases and reissues to come. We're lucky to have you here.

Some of said intelligent commentary in this particular program comes via Larry Kart--with full accreditation, of course. (And thanks again to Larry for clarifying Blue Note's mix-up of his liner notes for the LP issue of CONSEQUENCE.) "Jackie & Lee" is now archived. For more Jackie, there's "We'll Keep Loving You" and a very early show, "Destination Out".

PM sent re: Herb Geller, Shelly Manne, and Red-Warne.

Hell of a bargain--unfortunately for improv artists, it often is. The musicians who come through B-town, who often find a receptive but smallish audience, make more money selling their own CDs after their performance.