ghost of miles

This thread's great timing for me--just came across it now after starting the 33 1/3 entry for Highway 61 Revisited, which led me to pull the album itself out after reading the first 60 pages. That 1965-66 period is still the one I find most compelling, though I love later records like Blood On the Tracks and John Wesley Harding (which isn't that much later, I realize). There's a lot of post-1970 Dylan I have yet to hear (weirdly enough, I only saw him once, when I was 12--he was touring for Street Legal, and my dad took me--my dad gave me some pretty hip experiences as a kid). Still hoping to see Eat the Document one of these days (has it ever been bootlegged?). Right now I'm listening to "Desolation Row" and marvelling once again at how Dylan can create & sustain such a spell with a seemingly simple melodic structure. That song goes on for 11 minutes & I still don't want it to end.

The entry in the 33 1/3 series for Bob Dylan's HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED. Also taking another crack at Dos Passos' U.S.A.

Happy New Year, CT & Harold, and to all others as well... my wife & I are staying in to watch THE APARTMENT & another, as-of-now-undecided flick.

Tonight I pulled out the Elllington Hindsight 1946-47 box of transcriptions and listened to it again for the first time in a couple of years. It was my comprehensive introduction to the world of Duke, purchased primarily because I really wanted a copy of "Crosstown" (it was on a cheap cassette that I'd just about played to pieces). Around the same time I picked up Count Basie's complete Decca recordings, the 3-CD GRP set, and thus was the madness born... I remember, at the same store where I got both sets, hearing tell of a customer who'd bought the Coltrane Prestige box. "That's nuts," I commented. "I really like Coltrane, but 16 CDs?" Suffice to say I picked up that set several years later.

I'm not sure what the source is for this Coltrane quote--it comes from an article I found online when I Googled "Coltrane God improvisation":

As much as I love the jazz of the past--obviously, since I do a weekly show devoted to the 1945-1990 era--I keep thinking, "Well, I've got so much of that music already... and much of it that I would like and enjoy listening to again." I keep thinking, as well, that the relatively small amount of time I invest in listening to new/modern jazz might need to expand by default... and that might not be such a bad thing. I think it's a more dire time for those just starting to get into vintage jazz--many of the wonderful recordings that Verve reissued in the 1990s (truly a golden age for such releases) have gone OOP. Andorra is too problematic (ethically and aesthetically speaking) to be the answer. Better downloads than nothing, I guess, but until they offer up covers, liners, and better-quality audio, I'm staying away.

You might also peruse the opening paras of Evans' notes for Kind of Blue. I just took a quick glance through the Coltrane Reader, but couldn't find anything right off... surely JC said something at some point that might suit your needs. Also Duke...(“Every man prays in his own language, and there is no language that God does not understand.” Not directly improv-related, I suppose, though one could interpret it that way.) Wish I had my copy of Neil Leonard's book on jazz & religion with me, but it's at the office.

I've got a couple of buddies at the local PO who will be happy to have the extended holiday... I don't begrudge it to 'em. Hey, in the spirit of bipartisanship and coming together, why don't we all take the day off? Yeah, that's the ticket...

Apologies if I missed someone mentioning it upstream in the thread, but Little Richard was a major influence on Mr. Brown.... in fact, JB subbed as Little Richard a couple of times and then took over his tour dates when LR retired from the scene in '57. In fact, I think some of Little Richard's band ended up as members of the Famous Flames.

We're re-airing the Jackie McLean program this weekend on WFIU and WNIN. It's already archived for listening under the April 8, 2006 date.

Just got DIAL B FOR BARBARA and the LIVE AT I.U.C.C. (2-CD) from Nimbus West for $32 total--shipping was free. Seemed like a good deal, though I didn't comparison-shop much.

I'm sure there are better books around (& would be happy to hear recs), but a good introductory primer for this period is William Van Deburg's NEW DAY IN BABYLON: THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT & AMERICAN CULTURE, 1965-1975. Clem, you're a New Yawkah--got any love for Benjamin Davis? (Bird played a benefit for him.) I think he's generally treated as a footnote these days, but he seems to have been a very significant figure on the Harlem/NYC political scene in the 1940s. (He pops up frequently in Naison's COMMUNISTS IN HARLEM DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION; one of these days I'm going to get around to reading the fullblown bio.)

What JB uncorked with his musical directions, rhythmic distillations & otherwise circa mid-1960s was an inversion of the Funkadelic paradigm that would come in its wake--w/JB it was "Free your ass and your mind will follow." Crudely reductive as all get-out, much more to the story (and Jsngry has made the case quite well), but all you have to do is look to what the Panthers and others were saying about him around 1968 or '69. And sure, it's ironic enough, given his later support for Nixon, Reagan, etc., but maybe not--just the affirmative, powerful individualistic streak railroading itself into the GOP's "self-made man" ideology. I've been catching some of the non-stop valorizing for Gerald Ford and I keep thinking that JB was, for awhile, the unofficial president of the "other" America--in several senses of the word. Thanks for posting the pictures, Clem. Must have been an amazing scene.

Best to ya!

I'm going to start checking out Bamberger's show... I hear he did a nice tribute to Martha Tilton a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine (& Jazztrain's) speaks highly of his program. Hot Jazz Saturday Night

I keep amalgamating this thread title with the Lee Morgan one above it in the Discography forum and thinking that I see Anthony Braxton--Live at the Lighthouse.

Y'all come on back now, ya hear? Edit: my mistake--you have been back lately, just haven't caught your posts. This is a busy joint sometimes, eh?

Madison, Wisconsin? Unless it's changed radically (haw haw, pardon the pun) in the past few years, it's a pretty liberal city... what gives with the Foxola? Supposedly Clear Channel is in the process of dumping a # of its radio stations. I hope it's a trend that continues. We're lucky here in Bloomington; we have a very good community radio station (WFHB--I used to do a jazz show there--all volunteer programmers, with a great GM named Ryan Bruce and a couple of other paid employees...somewhat close to Keillor's described throwback/ideal).

Just double-checking--J.R. Monterose: MON-teh-ros?

Hey, south-central Indiana folks, hold onto your hats--and let go of your feet... coming to the Neale-Marshall Center Feb. 2 in Bloomington.

Have you heard Soul on Top? JB definitely had a lot of love for jazz & jazz singers. Discussion here.

Just finished Steven Isoardi's THE DARK TREE (which I had set aside back in October) and H. Rider Haggard's SHE. Getting ready to start Alec Wilder's book on American popular song.

Got CDs of: Joe Albany, TWO'S COMPANY Warne Marsh, LIVE AT DANA POINT June Christy/Stan Kenton, DUET Got DVDs of: GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK HILL STREET BLUES (Season 2) SHANE CHINATOWN THE TWO JAKES ...and a couple of books on American popular song.

Just got a mint used copy of this from a fellow board member, and it's very good indeed--in fact, was getting ready to spin it again when I saw this thread, as I'm still working on a Monterose show.