ghost of miles

Many, many good wishes to a much-beloved board member!!!

So some CD version of this (the modern performance) is out? That's one way to interpret that AAJ review... I love the original (both the studio and the Town Hall 1945 performance).

I did a half-hour one-on-one interview with Henry for a future Night Lights show right before he went on Joe's program, and I think that went pretty well. Also got to do the last 10 minutes of Joe's show, though my voice was shot (I'm fighting a bad cold). Then we went out to dinner at my friend's restaurant (the place that sponsors Night Lights) and went over to my old radio station, WFHB, for a live performance. I'd called up my GM buddy in the middle of the day, and we managed to run down a serviceable bass and drum kit for the trio. Two extended improv pieces that went on for about an hour total, and I got to sit right in the middle of it. Sheldonm was instrumental in making it all happen--one of the most amazing days of my life, at least as a jazz fan. About 10 years ago an improv musician friend of mine made me a tape and titled it, Henry Grimes, Where Are You? Never dreamed I'd be hanging out with him for the day. He's really a beautiful person. And btw, much warmth was expressed from both him and Margaret when I mentioned the names of Messrs. Vega and Fitzgerald.

I recently exchanged CDs with another board member, sending mine off in the envelope that I received from Catesta for his BF test. When the other member's package arrived, I noticed that he'd re-used an envelope from Jazzbo. What goes around comes around... or is it the other way round?

Very interested in the Land--I'll be sending more yen Mr. Tanno's way.

We'll also have Andrew Lamb and Avreeayl Ra on the show--they're performing with Henry Friday night at the Madame Walker Theater in Indianapolis (one of the only remaining venues on Indy's famed Indiana Avenue). WFIU listen live link here.

Hey all, Henry Grimes will be a guest today on Joe Bourne's Just You and Me from 3:30 to 5, and I'll be helping with the interview. More details to follow in a few minutes... gotta run right now. David

Listening once again to WE LOVED YOU (ordered the new one, hoping to get it by early next week). It's almost like listening to late Bud Powell, but a Powell more coherent & confident, less prone to collapse. Like where Powell might have gone if confinement, abuse, illness, and self-abuse hadn't conspired to do him in. Not to say that Hewitt doesn't have his own unique spark--he surely does. And I say this as someone who likes late Powell; but man, I think I like Hewitt even more.

Thanks much, montg, for your comments here and elsewhere. Positive Organissimo feedback always makes my day... Pardon the delay, but "Peter Gunn" is now archived.

"Russ Garcia" is now archived on The Big Bands web-page. Coming up this Friday night: "Kay Kyser's Halloween Haunted House Bash."

Can't add much to what Stereojack said--I just pulled the Bothwell Hep CD off the shelves and at the end of the liners Robertson simply says, "He finally left the music scene sometime in the early Fifties, and reputedly died in Boston." I like 'em both a lot. Wish Savoy would do a more comprehensive re-issue (I have the old 2-LP set of JEWELLS, much more thorough than the CD release). If you're a Raeburn fan, do yourself a favor and pick up all of the Heps. Well worth it--the Bothwell, too.

Berigan, stop watchin' football and start warmin' yer seat for the Hot Stove League!

Clem, I've heard the same stories, albeit from much-more-removed sources, I'm sure. The topic of drugs and the late-1960s improv scene is a volatile one, you're right; I doubt I'll ask Henry about it during the live, on-air interview, but I might bring it up during the solitary Night Lights interview. It seems apparent from a number of articles that HG went through some difficult psychological times in the 1970s, and out of respect for him, that's not really a subject I want to explore. (Maybe more for a biographer who's already established a good relationship with him.) In a more general sense, though, it would be interesting to hear HG's reflections on the economic, cultural, and otherwise stresses of the circa-1967 improv world. Ghost of (trying to find you) Opel

I find this thread to be rather half-assed. Actually, when I first saw the title, I thought it was the name of a new member. For the record, I've always gone with "wiseass."

I do intend to ask him about the "silent time," but I've also anticipated what you refer to, Lazaro--that this has probably become a well-tread topic with him by now. And I'm quite interested in his thoughts on the modern improv scene--what it's been like to immerse himself in that after being completely detached for 30+ years. Also how the scene today compares to that of the late 1960s--what, if any, kind of support system there was for improv then as opposed to now. (I have my own opinions, but I'm just a DJ and I wasn't there--so I'm really curious as to what he thinks about it.) And thanks for the suggestions, Rooster, Lazaro, and others; I'll incorporate those into the interview. Has Henry reunited with Cecil at all? That's another encounter I'd like to hear (if it hasn't happened already).

Hey all, I'm going to be doing an interview with Henry Grimes for a future Night Lights program (probably airing in December) this Thursday at WFIU. I already have a number of questions jotted down, but just curious--what would you ask the man?

Many fetes and many cakes to you.

The Tolliver and Pacific Piano Trio Selects. A higher monthly mortgage payment and anticipated heating bills are putting a crimp in the ol' CD-buying budget... I won't be able to pick up the Jazz Crusaders or the Rich until mid-January, probably.

Via Mr. Tanno, Red Garland's COMPLETE PRELUDE and TRIO (Moodsville). Sadly, even he can't track down ALONE WITH THE BLUES.

Hey, happy birthday, Matthew! I was just reading some Merton last night and thinking about you--hope you're having a wonderful day.

This week on Night Lights it's "Peter Gunn." Peter Gunn was a hit TV crime show with jazz at its center that ran from 1958 to 1961, with Craig Stevens (described as "a poor man's Cary Grant") as the stylish, jazz-loving private detective title character, and frequently directed by Blake Edwards, who would go on to make The Pink Panther several years later. Gunn paid frequent visits to a jazz bar called Mother's and dated a jazz singer (played by Lola Albright); West Coast jazz musicians such as Shelly Manne and Shorty Rogers sometimes appeared on the show. For composer Henry Mancini, who wrote the ubiquitous theme and the rest of the show's background music, Peter Gunn was a career breakthrough; Mancini had just been laid off from Universal Studios when a chance visit to the studio lot to get a haircut led to the job. Mancini went on to record two best-sellng albums of music from Peter Gunn and to win two Grammys as well. We'll hear music from both Mancini albums, in addition to Peter Gunn interpretations from Shelly Manne and Joe Wilder and dialogue from the show itself. The program airs Saturday, October 22 on WFIU at 11:05 p.m. (9:05 California time, 12:05 a.m. NYC time); you can listen live, or wait until Monday afternoon, when the program will be posted in the Night Lights archives. Next week on Night Lights: "Moodsville 1" Next week on The Big Bands: "Kay Kyser's Haunted House Halloween Bash." P.S. Legendary bassist Henry Grimes, who recorded in the 1960s with Sonny Rollins, Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, and many others, and who then vanished for 35 years (he was thought by many to be dead) will be a special guest this Thursday on WFIU's Just You and Me, airing from 3:30 to 5 p.m.. Grimes will be performing Friday, Oct. 28 at the Madame Walker Theater in Indianapolis. I will also be interviewing Grimes for a future Night Lights program; I'd long wanted to do a show about him, and never imagined I'd have the chance to talk to him in person. His comeback is one of the most remarkable stories in jazz history.

I'll be at that Indy show, Mark--will keep an eye out for you.

They're playing in Bloomington at The Church on Nov. 19. You can bet I'll be there... going to see Henry Grimes in Indianapolis next Friday night. What an autumn!