ghost of miles

One more go-around this past week for Late Autumn: Stan Getz 1987-1991.

Great sale--already have two copies of Mark's book, so I picked up the Andre Hodeir Reader, Bruce Boyd Raeburn's book about New Orleans and the writing of jazz history, John Chilton's Coleman Hawkins bio, Jeffrey McMillan's Lee Morgan bio, and a book about John Lewis and the Third Stream.

60. He tied Ruth's 1927 mark around game 146 or 147, iirc. He's sitting today, so he's going to end with 62. I've been watching Judge with the Yankees since he hit a HR in his first MLB at-bat in 2016. There are kids (and adults!) wearing Judge jerseys and rooting for him at nearly every road game the Yankees play--that's been going on for years, well before this epic accomplishment. He hit 52 HRs as a rookie and now has broken Maris' single-season record. His physical size, his uniform number, his name, his overall athletic ability, his likabillity and appeal to a broad base of baseball fans... after last night, he's an icon. And no disrespect to David Ortiz, who's certainly an icon himself, but World Series championships are won by teams, and Judge's lack of a ring so far does not exclude him from that status--unless we're going to say Mike Trout's not an iconic figure, or Shohei Ohtani, for that matter. And obviously Judge benefits from playing in one of the country's biggest media markets (as does Mookie Betts, who last year had the best-selling jersey of any player), but that also means the pressure and the spotlight is that much more intense. (Recall that Roger Maris lost some of his hair during his chase of Ruth's record.) I realize it's a subjective judgement (so to speak :)), but I'm confident that my opinion is rooted in well-grounded reality and not at all an unreasonable case to make. Love it!

One Swing, One Superstar, One Night We Will Remember Forever I managed to see #59, 60, 61 and 62 as they happened. (Well, on TV… not at the ballpark!) Happy to celebrate it simply as the new American League record… and certainly, on some level, to see it as an unofficial non-PED mark. Paul O’Neill and David Cone talked on the YES broadcast last night about feeling stunned afterwards, even though Judge breaking the record had been fully expected for the past couple of weeks (though doubt was starting to creep in as the regular season came ever closer to its end without his having done it yet). Congratulations to #99, one of the 21st century’s most iconic and beloved players… thanks for writing a new chapter of baseball history.

I've been following the news throughout the day and thinking of Dan, TTK, and other board members in the Florida environs. Safe wishes for all of you.

Marlins pitcher called for three balks against a single batter Bleier had logged 300+ career appearances without ever being called for a balk. First call seemed borderline to me, second and third more the first-base ump being an excessive stickler and suddenly deciding to make a point. I mean, if they’re going to suddenly start repeatedly calling that a balk, we’re going to see a lot of unhappy pitchers. It would be akin to the NBA suddenly enforcing the traveling penalty in the strictest, letter-of-the-law fashion. (Saying this in part because iirc Showalter said after the game that MLB stated they were going to crack down on this type of “balk.” If true—that MLB has decided with two weeks to go in the regular season that they’re going to more strictly enforce a certain aspect of the balk rule—that’s certifiably nuts, given pitchers’ mechanics and muscle memory. That’s a change you’d want to make at the beginning of spring training, but given the way they handled the sticky-stuff issue, I wouldn’t be surprised.)

Yankees clinched the AL East and the 2nd seed in AL playoffs with tonight’s win over Toronto. Aaron Judge had 4 BB and a hard-hit line-out in his five PA. Blue Jay pitchers giving him almost nothing in the strike zone. Aaron Judge pitch chart vs Toronto 9/27

Did Impulse record more material from the gig or gigs from which this album was derived?

One more go-around this past week for Trane '62: The Classic Quartet Begins

A live favorite:

Man, I loved Eric. I used to stream WGBH back in the early aughts to listen to him and Steve Schwartz, and was fortunate enough to cross paths with him several times at conferences in recent years. I always told him that I considered him the dean of jazz radio. Very appreciate of the presence and knowledge that he brought to his programming. This one hurts for sure.

This thread? Thanks for the "stadium jazz" link.

We re-aired Joni + Jazz: Joni Mitchell this past week, and it remains archived for online listening.

Disc 3, the Montreal concert:

Hooked on Desmond tonight.

I’d definitely be interested in a CD version of this reissue—like Jsngry and Lon, no interest in the vinyl.

I'm definitely in! Thanks for the heads-up.

The new Blondie box set:

Some news from Mosaic that Scott gave me the go-ahead to post: New and Forthcoming From Mosaic: Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Clark, JATP

I deliberately sought out the UK edition when I read it a couple of years ago. The US version is abridged and about 200 pages shorter. It's a great book!