ghost of miles

These days it appears to be Caiman--$194 plus $2.59 shipping. Weak dollar=high BF price.

It was apparently out on VHS in the 1990s, and also out as part of a laserdisc that included the 1929 and 1951 versions as well. Maybe we'll see it this fall/winter for the 80th anniversary? (Of its Broadway debut.) Supposedly the 1936 version is the one most faithful to the original production. I showed this scene to my class tonight, and they burst into applause when it was over.

Robeson singing "Ol' Man River" in the 1936 film version of SHOWBOAT

Harry Babasin's last name?

"Bop! Go the Big Bands" is now archived. Chubby will be in the followup for sure. Aloc, thanks--I'm taking it as a compliment. (Though I did just send my brother an F. Scott Fitzgerald book that I'd already sent him three years ago... )

A bit outside this thread's parameters, but I can't find any other "new standards" threads at the moment: Eric Alexander & Harold Mabern do a great cover of the Roberta Flack-Donnie Hathaway hit "Where Is the Love?" on Alexander's 2006 cd IT'S ALL IN THE GAME.

Larry, I'll see if I can run down that review over at the IU School of Music--they have bound Downbeats going back to the 1940s at least. (Any idea of a date? If not, I might be able to check with Jazz Institut...)Thanks for the tip on the CD, as I've been a Handy fan ever since hearing "The Bloos" on THE JAZZ SCENE and encountering more of his work on the Boyd Raeburn Hep CDs. Great story btw, Allen.

Kurt Elling sets the poetry of Rumi to that Von Freeman solo on the new Elling CD. I'll look forward to hearing that... haven't had a chance to listen to the whole CD yet, but just taped "The Waking" for an Afterglow show. Nice musical setting of a Theodore Roethke poem.

Historic jazz church in New Orleans clings to life By Gary Hill Sun Apr 29, 8:24 PM ET NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A historic Catholic church in New Orleans, a wellspring of jazz and other riches of African-American culture that has fallen on hard times, is facing down a deadline for survival set by its archbishop. St. Augustine Church was packed and rocking with brass bands and tambourine-shaking choir singers at a jazz Mass on Sunday -- an expression of members' hope and nonmembers' support as the 166-year-old parish scrambles to meet terms set by Archbishop Alfred Hughes for a reprieve from closure. "I think we're going to make it," Donald St. Charles, a 68-year-old former hospital worker, said after the service, which was also a memorial for TV newsman Ed Bradley. "Our numbers are up, and our collections are up, so we're doing what we need to do," said Sandra Gordon, a 51-year-old member who said nine generations of her family had been in the church. The archdiocese, staggered by losses from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, had to make hard decisions about which churches it could afford to repair, reopen or keep open. At one point in a sometimes bitter relationship, the archbishop ordered St. Augustine closed and the parish merged into another. He relented, but laid out 18-month targets for reversing the decline of its membership, finances and religious activities and for making physical repairs -- challenges all that much more difficult in a city still devastated by the flooding from the bursting of levees after Katrina. Katrina, which struck on August 29, 2005, killed about 1,300 people. New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper reported last week that with six months left until the deadline, the church still had quite a way to go to make its numbers. "Threat of closure still looms," it said. "We want to be one of the jewels in our diocese's crown. We're working hard. We hope our archbishop will be with us keeping our church alive and open and keeping our parish alive," Gordon said. 'WE WELCOME EVERYONE' Pastor Quentin Moody would not comment on specifics of the church's recovery but said Sunday's Mass, swelled by music fans in town for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and by Bradley's friends and family, could only help, "It is tremendously important for this entire community, particularly post-Katrina, because it is a sign the community is still alive and the faith of these people has not wavered," Moody, named only last November to conduct the church's turnaround, told Reuters. Appearing euphoric inside the church after parishioners and visitors streamed out to join the legendary musician Dr. John in a traditional street parade, Moody said he welcomed supporters and visitors from around the world. "They come from all faiths, and they are all welcome. We welcome everyone, because this is a tourists' Mecca." Founded in 1841, the church was multiracial from the start. Primarily for so-called free people of color, it also had pews reserved for whites and, unprecedentedly, slaves. The church is in the Treme, one of the oldest black neighborhoods in the country. In jazz history, St. Augustine is where pioneer clarinetist Sidney Bechet was baptized in 1897 and where the funeral parades of many great musicians of predominantly Roman Catholic New Orleans set out from.

Best b-day wishes, Joe, and hope we can meet up in Indy again--especially on account of the band's having a gig there.

Looks like a great show, Steve. I really like that Betty Roche take on Strays' song, and the Von Freeman "Sunrise" is very moving--a fave of mine among modern-day Duke interpretations.

For our L.A.-area posters--just got this message from Steve Isoardi:

This week on Night Lights it's "Bop! Go the Big Bands." In the mid-to-late 1940s, as the sound of swing gave way to the rise of bebop, popular bandleaders found themselves trying to incorporate the new music's more complex rhythms and harmonies into their dance-orchestra styles. Bebop was just one of several challenges the big bands faced after the end of World War II, but it inspired a number of vital, modernistic, and exciting records. We'll hear music from Claude Thornhill, Boyd Raeburn, Artie Shaw, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine, Woody Herman, and Benny Goodman. "Bop! Go the Big Bands" airs Saturday, April 28 at 11:05 p.m. EST on WFIU. The program will be posted Tuesday morning in the Night Lights archives. YouTube jazz video of the week: Dizzy Gillespie's 1947 big band performs "Things to Come".

Actually, dude, it's a waste of valuable time to revive ridiculous old threads like this one when we could be talking about starting ridiculous new ones.

Yes, but it's not too early to talk about bringing this thread up again.

Talk about unauthorized! Have those gotten the Mosaic treatment yet? (with the quote as the title... and liners by Chuck Colson, John Dean, and Garry Trudeau)

Sat next to Mick Jagger at the Chatterbox jazz bar in Indianapolis in 1989. It's a tiny bar... Stones were in town for the Steel Wheels tour & decided to go out to hear some jazz. There were about 20 people in the whole place, and half of them were the RS entourage. He was drinking Perrier water and looked very well-preserved. Ron Wood was sitting next to him, downing a 7 & 7 and smoking away. Sadly, Keith Richards was nowhere to be seen (nor Charlie Watts... at one point Jagger called him up to try to get him to come down to the bar, but it was past CW's bedtime).

Thanks for the tip that this is out, garthsj--been anticipating this one.

"Slide at 75" is now archived.

...and it's the second KKJZ thread--the first one, which ran to hundreds of pages, was terminated by one of the board moderators. Pg. 98 is where discussion of the "new" KKJZ pretty much begins.

Much discussion at AAJ. I would not advise trying to wade through the first 97 pages; start on page 98.

Another Doonesbury blast from the past, circa 1974, at the heighth of the Watergate madness. Mike or Zonker are shown watching Halberstam being interviewed on TV about his Vietnam book, THE BEST & THE BRIGHTEST, "about the brilliant young Kennedy aides who got us involved in Vietnam." Interviewer: I understand that recent events have inspired you to start a hot new sequel! What are you going to call it? Halberstam: THE WORST AND THE STUPIDEST. Interviewer: Oh? What's it about?

In the 33 1/3 book Alex Green quotes a 2002 interview Ian Brown did with Mojo: "The first producer we really wanted was DJ Pierre, who did acid house records as Phuture. Roddy McKenna at Zomba tracked him down to some tower block in Chicago. I was on the phone to this kid for about an hour, telling him why we loved his records. He seemed to us to be the boy to do it. But he had three months' work on, so he couldn't do it." BTW, I recall reading somewhere that "Love Is the Law" was a leftover from the SECOND COMING sessions (as was "The Boy in the Picture," supposedly). Not sure if the Roses ever did a demo of it or not...

I think you mean Lincoln Center, aloc. John Hasse tends to jazz at the Smithsonian, under the title "curator of American music." BTW, looks like the Smithsonian's "Jazz Cafe" series may be ending.

Very unfortunate turn of events. Halberstam was just here several weeks ago and had some powerful & eloquent things to say about the current crew in charge; he was not done speaking his piece. While he was sometimes accused of being bombastic (anybody else remember the Doonesbury strips featuring his interview with Rick Redfern?), I found his books to be eminently readable--good, comprehensive overviews like THE FIFTIES, or marvelous smaller narratives like SUMMER OF '49 (still one of my alltime favorite baseball books); would've read his work-in-progress with much interest had he lived to finish it. He'll be missed.