ghost of miles

I think it was actually on ON GREEN DOLPHIN STREET, which is otherwise an Evans/Paul Chambers/Philly Joe Jones date from 1959.

He's riding again. Or making his last stand.

It was a longstanding disappointment with Frank Sinatra's fans that he didn't do more small-group jazz recordings. This week on Night Lights we present some of the ones that he did do, including rare broadcasts from his 1953-55 radio program To Be Perfectly Frank, some late-1940s sides for Columbia, an all-star gathering with Nat King Cole, Coleman Hawkins, and others on "Sweet Lorraine," a Nelson Riddle arrangement from the LP In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, and a live date in 1959 with Red Norvo's combo. "Perfectly Frank" airs Saturday, September 17 on WFIU at 11:05 p.m.; it also airs on WNIN-Evansville at 10 p.m. as well. (Two hours earlier on the West Coast, one hour later on the East Coast.) The program will be archived Monday afternoon. Next week: "The James Dean Story." Music performed by Chet Baker and Bud Shank and dialogue from the 1957 Robert Altman documentary, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Dean's death (9/30).

As a Hoosier, he was much-admired here by movie buffs. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL remains one of my favorite sci-fi flicks of all-time. RIP Mr. Wise.

It's great to see the media FINALLY waking up to what an AWOL airhead our "commander-in-chief" really is. Too bad it took 'em one of the most devastating natural disasters in American history to get a clue. And no, I'm not referring to Dowd's column--I'm referring to the generally much sharper and more objective coverage that CNN and others have offered, instead of routinely buying the puff & spin of the White House image-makers.

A bit late, but with best wishes... enjoy that Andrew Hill Mosaic Select!

You're 40?! As Chuck Nessa would say... "Pretty darned impressive." I'm right on your heels, my friend.

May the coming months bring you everything that you desire--well, save for a certain New England baseball team's repeat championship. Have a great day, Mr. GHF.

How do you pronounce... Eddy Duchin's last name?

A musician friend of mine who hails from Fort Worth was over last night and played me some music by Dick and Kiz Harp--a piano-and-vocalist duo who played at what was apparently a pretty hip joint in Dallas around 1960 or so, The 90th Floor (yes, from the Cole Porter song). I really liked what I heard of Kiz Harp--very soulful sound. Evidently her and Dick's two albums were re-issued on CD earlier this year, and I'm thinking about taking the plunge. Found this article online: Dick/Kiz Harp & Dallas jazz label Anybody else ever hear this duo? Side note: those Ann Richards Capitol LPs sound intriguing too.

"The Man Before Miles: Freddie Webster" is now archived.

Caught part of it while my wife & I were driving to lunch: Rollins on Fresh Air

Some good bipartisan news there, GA.

I would third it and buy it.

Up for broadcast in a minute or so on WNIN and in another hour on WFIU.

Thanks for the update. Crawlin' with Bartok...

Hope the ol' spinmeister's doin' OK... wait a sec, is my answer already there? Seriously, I hope all's well with him, or that he's simply gotten "sidetracked" in a favored Vienna pub.

This week on The Big Bands it's "Convergence," featuring classic music from a new compilation of Indiana native Claude Thornhill's post-World War II big band and modern big-band music from a musician who once played with Thornhill, our own Phil Kelly, whose 2003 album Convergence Zone received two Grammy nominations. Music from that CD will follow on the heels of Hep's eighth--and final--release in their Thornhill series, 1946-47 Performances V. 2. This collection features arrangements from Gil Evans (including "La Paloma"), the Thornhill band venturing into bebop-anthem territory with "Donna Lee" and "Yardbird Suite," and vocal numbers by Gene Williams--an audio snapshot of the convergence of classical, bop, and pop elements in the famous Thornhill sound. "Convergence" airs Friday, September 9 at 9 p.m. (7 p.m. California time, 10 p.m. NYC time) on WFIU. The program will be posted in The Big Bands archives the following Monday afternoon. More on Phil Kelly here.

This week on Night Lights it's "The Man Before Miles: Freddie Webster." Trumpeter Freddie Webster is one of the great lost-legend stories of jazz, significant because he influenced both Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, little-known because he recorded only a few scattered solos and because he died at the age of 30 in 1947. We'll hear the most significant ones, including an anthemic "Yesterdays" with the Jimmie Lunceford Big Band, two sides apiece from sessions with Sarah Vaughan and Bud Powell, "I Fell for You" with Miss Rhapsody, recordings done with Louis Jordan's Tympani Five, the last and rarely-heard solo that Webster ever recorded ("Perdido"), and many more. "The Man Before Miles" airs Saturday, September 10 at 11 p.m. (9 p.m. California time, 12 a.m. NYC time)on WFIU; you can hear it at 10 on WNIN-Evansville as well. It will be archived on the following Monday. For more information on Freddie Webster, see Part 22 of jazz historian Joe Mosbrook's "Jazzed in Cleveland". Special thanks to Mr. Mosbrook for his assistance with this program. Next week: "Perfectly Frank: Sinatra's Small-Group Jazz Recordings."

He'll probably be tracked down and prosecuted under some obscure provision of the Patriot Act. Hey, Cali, thanks for posting that list of FEMA atrocities. Some folks on Fresh Air today were talking about what Bush has done to the agency... not good.

This program is now archived.

Boy, I was sure right about Bush and Brown (the head of FEMA). Anybody else see the article in today's NY Times? Pelosi met with Bush yesterday: "What didn't go right?" Said yesterday by our president.

God help us if we ever have another disaster while the current administration is still in office. Does anybody truly believe that Bush will fire Brown or overhaul FEMA, which he's run into the ground during the past four years? Some good posts on Tom Tomorrow today:

I think it's best simply to link to the "Catching Up With" interviews already on AAJ. Unlike certain other board moderators, Jim A. and co. are totally cool about other boards and see them all as part of a broad jazz online community. The other boards... well, it's like I said to Jim A. and Joe at the gig in Saugatuck: Organissimo is like the sexy girl that all the women try to keep their guys away from.

Kalo, You can listen to three tracks from it on the "For Lady" program on early Holiday tribute LPs that I did for Night Lights earlier this year. "Detour Ahead" 1:00-5:38 "Gloomy Sunday" and "Good Morning Heartache" 37:00-45:22 For Lady