ghost of miles

"Ghosts of Yesterday: Billie Holiday and the Two Irenes" is now archived. Mentioned at the end of the program, but I'll say it here again: special thanks to Chris Albertson and Chuck Nessa.

...and Harold's still around, isn't he? His name came up in a conversation I had with a friend & fellow jazz-lover a few weeks ago, in conjunction with some other 1960s record that he was on.

For whatever reason, she seems to get short shrift in jazz histories, even those written by women about women (Dahl's STORMY WEATHER, Placksin's AMERICAN WOMEN IN JAZZ). I'm putting together a Night Lights show about her, and it's harder than I thought it would be to find much reference to her in jazz books.

I've never heard this one either--been waiting for the RVG, and picked it up Saturday. What a great session! I think my favorite is the ballad, "I See Your Face Before Me." AMG says it doesn't belong on the album... yeah, whatever. I love HM's ballad-playing more & more through the years.

Jim, you'd probably enjoy the continuation of that conversation:

Currently reading Antony Beevor's PARIS AFTER THE LIBERATION. This is the same author who wrote THE FALL OF BERLIN 1945 and STALINGRAD... good, accessible historian. (Entertaining, too... he has a great quote from somebody saying, "There's no doubt that De Gaulle loves France... he just doesn't like Frenchmen.") I'd like to read his book on the Spanish Civil War as well.

Also found this from an e-mail memories list:

I don't think so. Some discussion of Martin on the West Coast jazz list here. Looks like folks could hear him up here in Indiana and Ohio as well. I'd love to read a good book about the oldtime jazz jocks from the 1935-65 era.

I've come across a couple of references to it lately... it came out of New Orleans in the 1950s and 60s and was hosted by Dick Martin (who apparently died in 1997). Supposedly a favorite with musicians and other late-night listening types. Ran from midnight till sometime after one... some of the descriptions reminded me of WFIU's Dick Bishop and his program Afterglow, which I inherited (and I'm assuredly Bobby Murcer to Dick's Joe DiMaggio... or something like that). Somewhat related: are there any sites that host vintage/oldtime jazz radio programs like the one above?

Was hunting around on the web for sites featuring old/vintage jazz radio programs and came across this article from last summer about a longtime Cincy jazz DJ:

Saw mention of this on the Songbirds list, where Ms. Sloane herself posts from time to time. Looks like a great show, Steve... any chance you'll have this one archived?

Great news. It's Ornette's 75th, isn't it?

I have several photos that sheldonm took as well as a postcard of Lee Konitz and Miles Davis circa 1949, autographed by Lee, that sheldonm gave to me... quite happy with all of those! Plus a cool Rhino promotional poster for the Central Avenue Sounds box-set that has pictures of some of the clubs & their ads, a map of the Central Avenue district, etc. Have a couple neat prints of Hoagy Carmichael & Kirk Douglas from YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN and Hoagy with his kids...I'd really like to run down any posters or flyers that might still exist for the many jazz shows that the Bluebird in Bloomington hosted during the 1970s, when folks such as Mingus, Sun Ra, and Dexter Gordon made a habit of passing through.

Up for broadcast on WNIN-Evansville right now, where it will be followed by Afterglow.

I'm ordering the Ayers through a local record shop--just noticed that it has two bonus tracks from a Vi Redd album. Isn't she the saxophonist from the International Sweethearts of Rhythm? If so, I loved her playing with that band... How is the Pilgrim Travelers/Lou Rawls, btw?

Maybe something's wrong with David Axelrod! I'd be curious to hear it...along with SOUL OF THE ZODIAC.

Per Brandon's earlier post, Part 2 of the Axelrod interview is now available in Wax Poetics #15--the same issue that has Brownie's really cool photos from the New Thing scene. A fair amount of discussion of some of the Cannonball/DA projects, leading to exchanges like this: DA goes on to say that while the music for the record was great, the spoken-word parts were what made it so bad, IHO.

I don't exactly know the answer to that, but I have about 15 versions, and the earliest happens to be a vocal version- Irene Kral with Buddy Collette, circa 1957 (from "The Buddy Collette Quintet" on Studio West). Next earliest in my collection is Sarah's recording for Roulette in '62. I've got Chris Connor & Maynard Ferguson from 1961 on Atlantic. Great Willie Maiden chart, one of his very best. This site http://www.franlandesman.com/code/biogs/franbiog.html tells the story of how the song came about. Tommy is co-composer Tommy Wolf, the Crystal Palace a club in St. Louis (read about it here: http://riverfronttimes.com/issues/2004-03-...ature_full.html ). Fran Landesman is, of course, Fran Landesman. Ok, the singer is really named Jerri Winters, and the label was Fraternity. Here's the album: Gotta love that cluttered artwork... Track listing: Another page from the same site http://www.franlandesman.com/code/biogs/wolf.html mentions that the song was also recorded by Wolf for an album of the same name on Fraternity in 1957. The Kral/Collette recording was from a broadcast, right? So the song was definitely "in the air" in 1957. but if you can believe the above, Jerri Winters (of whom I've only marginally heard) was the first to "officially" record it. The song, and the whole nexus of performers and songwriters who were creating & propagating material of a similar attitudinal bent, is a unique sub-chapter of The Great American Songbook (and probably doesn't qualify as such!). You've got songwriters and performers who still were functioning in the traditional social/functional modes of their respective occupations, but they had all heard bebop & cool, and it had a blatant effect on their music. Coming as it did at the beginning of the Rock & Roll era, most of that material was and still remains remains somewhat "cultish" relative to earlier popular song. but it's definitely a unique body of work. Sounds like a possible future project for ghost of miles. Paging! E-mail received and post duly noted! Murphy fans should check out the spankin' brand-new reissue of his early-1960s Capitol albums HIP PARADE and PLAYING THE FIELD.

This week on Night Lights it's "Ghosts of Yesterday: Billie Holiday and the Two Irenes (a Jazz Mystery)." In 1939 and 1940 Billie Holiday recorded a handful of poignant songs co-written by a good friend of hers, Irene Wilson (later known as Irene Kitchings). Wilson was grieving over the breakup of her marriage to pianist Teddy Wilson, and "Some Other Spring," in particular, was said to have been inspired by her loss. Before her marriage to Wilson (whom she influenced in many ways, introducing him to classical music and accelerating his development as a piano player), she had worked in Chicago (under the names of Ireme Armstrong and Irene Armstrong Eadie) as the leader of an all-female jazz trio called Three Classy Misses, featuring the unusual instrumentation of piano, violin, and trumpet. After wedding Wilson, however, she ended her career, partly at the behest of her mother-in-law. In the mid-1940s Billie Holiday recorded two more songs that many jazz sources credit to Irene Wilson/Kitchings as well: "Good Morning Heartache" and "No Good Man." The songs were listed as being co-written by "Irene Higginbotham," who had also written "This Will Make You Laugh," recorded by the Nat King Cole Trio in 1941. Irene Higginbotham, according to these jazz sources, was the same woman who had written "Some Other Spring," "Ghost of Yesterday," and two other songs recorded by Billie Holiday for Columbia (including "I'm Pulling Through," which Diana Krall covered on her 2004 CD The Girl in the Other Room). Were they truly the same person? Irene Armstrong had had several different last names, and "Good Morning Heartache" sounded almost like a sequel to "Some Other Spring." The answer is revealed in this edition of Night Lights, which includes all of the Irene Wilson/Kitchings and Higginbotham compositions recorded by Billie Holiday, as well as songs that Holiday co-wrote with Arthur Herzog Jr., the man who supplied the lyrics for Irene Wilson's songs. "Ghosts of Yesterday" airs Saturday, March 4 at 11:05 p.m. Indiana/Eastern time on WFIU and at 9 p.m. Central time on WNIN-Evansville. (World clock here). The program will be archivedby Tuesday morning. Special thanks to Chris Albertson and Chuck Nessa. Next week: "You Better Go Now: Jeri Southern."

My friend's new record store opened yesterday (Landlocked Music, for southern/central Indiana posters--a very hip joint, let me tell ya--be sure to check it out) and my special order of Wax Poetics #15 was ready & waiting. Brownie, what amazing photos! My friend and his partner were looking at them as they rang me up, and I was proud to say, "Yeah, the photographer and the article writer both post on my favorite jazz board!" (Hope you guys don't mind if I basked for a moment in your reflected glory.) Thanks so much for the heads up, Brandon. I'll probably be checking this magazine out from now on--aimed very much, it seems, at those into 1960s/70s jazz, soul, funk, and modern-day turntable culture. There are also articles on David Axelrod (Pt. 2 of a very extensive interview) and Bobbi Humphrey... one thing I like is how in-depth the pieces are (as opposed to mainstream jazz media).

Tonight on Afterglow: Dianne Reeves' Grammy-winning soundtrack to the Oscar-nominated movie, plus Chris Potter's take on Radiohead's "Morning Bell," a set of John Coltrane on Prestige performing Jules Styne tunes, Astrud Gilberto, Andrew Hill (new music from TIMELINES), Charles Tolliver, Bud Powell, Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, and more. Afterglow airs this evening at 10 p.m. Indiana time on WFIU and 9 p.m. Central Standard Time tomorrow night on WNIN-Evansville. (World Clock here.) Next week: Dallas jazz-duo cult Dick & Kiz Harp.

Are the notes supplemental to THAT DEVILIN' TUNE? I'm going to have to break down and get this one. Loved the book, which Joe Milazzo hepped me to several years ago... looking forward to Allen's future publications as well.

Am I imagining it, or is there a Buddy and Ella Johnson set? And if so, how is it? Still haven't landed that Piano Red yet... the Nat King Cole is probably next on my list, though.

When all is said and done, is there really any other kind? Guess you're right--consider, for example, the horror to be found in "Mama Will Bark."

You're kidding--I just literally took that CD off my player. I'd been listening to it because I'm already at work on the 3/24 program. Hadn't thought about the Phineas, but you're exactly right. The challenge with this sort of program is not to let it get too jazz-for-lovers-ish, to the point that people doze off. You have to throw in some curveballs, not to jar, but to tug... mix in some shadows with the candlelight. The program I taped this a.m. for 3/17 included Brad Mehldau's "River Man" from LIVE IN TOKYO... things like that, lyrical but a bit dark. Along with the usual Sinatra, etc. (Not that there isn't plenty of dark Sinatra...)