ghost of miles

The same Lafcadio Hearn of future Japanese travels? Wow--I completely missed the Lafcadio Hearn reference the first time around. My grandfather edited a bunch of Hearn's 1870s writings and published them as a book in 1978 (through his own publishing entity, Woodruff Publications). There are a number of university libraries around the country that have the book in their holdings... I'll have to go home tonight and take a look to see if it contains any of the pieces to which Allen is referring.

I was programming a show today and decided to play some Roy Hargrove...ended up using "When We Were One" from WITH TENORS OF OUR TIME, a CD I still like to listen to from time to time. Perhaps that's not a good example of a Young Lion record, since a number of "Old Lions" came to that particular party... but just curious if other folks here think might make the historical cut from the 1985-1995 era.

John, have you tried Stevebop, aka Steve Schwartz at WGBH in Boston? I also think cannonball-addict still has a show.

Unfortunately, I don't have that track--I have the Bluebird CD of the GGQ, plus a couple of gospel compilations in which they figure prominently, but no "My Walking Stick." Was that one of their Columbia recordings? Sony/Legacy doesn't seem to have done much with the GGC's catalogue. I wanted to play "Stalin Wasn't Stallin'," but I'm saving that for a WWII show at some point. The only frustrating thing about this show was how much I had to leave OUT (didn't get to the Charioteers at all, for instance). I'll probably do a sequel sometime in the next 12 months. "My Walking Stick" is track 25 on the 1992 Bluebird CD. If that's the one you have, give a listen. I think you'll enjoy it. I first heard that tune on a Clanka Lanka anthology entitled The Human Orchestra, and it's been a favorite since then. Looking forward to listening to the show. TRAVLIN' SHOES? That's the one I have... how did I miss it? Maybe for the sequel show, then! I'm working out a schedule with our webmaster to make sure that he gets these archived on time... will post again when the show's available online (HOPEFULLY tomorrow).

I'd definitely like to hear a bit more before I take the plunge. The label website has even more details of this really sad story: 90th Floor. Apparently, not long after Kiz died, the label owners were drafted into Vietnam. At some point after that, the masters were lost in a fire. ...and, according to the article I posted at the start of the thread--as well as a post on Yahoo Songbirds--Dick Harp lost his boat during Hurricane Carla in 1961, quit the piano around 1963, gave up the club, and became a photographer in Portland, TX. He died in 1997. Evidently he did release a solo LP at some point, titled THE 90TH FLOOR REMEMBERED. I doubt he could have ever recaptured anything close to the magic of his act with Kiz; that must have been such a shock, when she died so suddenly at the age of 29. She was originally from Indiana.

While some of Cincinnati's circumstances may be unique, the scenario of a dying jazz scene, unfortunately, is not.

Unfortunately, I don't have that track--I have the Bluebird CD of the GGQ, plus a couple of gospel compilations in which they figure prominently, but no "My Walking Stick." Was that one of their Columbia recordings? Sony/Legacy doesn't seem to have done much with the GGC's catalogue. I wanted to play "Stalin Wasn't Stallin'," but I'm saving that for a WWII show at some point. The only frustrating thing about this show was how much I had to leave OUT (didn't get to the Charioteers at all, for instance). I'll probably do a sequel sometime in the next 12 months.

I'm featuring the two Dick & Kiz Harp CDs on Afterglow on March 10. We should have the AG archives up and running by then, in case anybody wants a sample of what they sounded like.

E-mail sent re: the Meeker.

This week on Night Lights it’s “Black Vocal Harmony Groups of the 1930s and 1940s.” The highly successful Mills Brothers inspired a large number of African-American singing ensembles in the decades of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Using only their voices and sometimes sparse instrumentation (guitars or tipples, which were a 10-stringed kind of ukulele), these groups combined jazz, pop, and gospel to produce recordings and styles that anticipated the rise of R & B, rock ‘n roll, and doo-wop in the 1950s. We’ll hear the Spirits of Rhythm (featuring legendary hipster and scatter Leo Watson), the Golden Gate Quartet (who helped pioneer the “jubilee” gospel sound), the Four Vagabonds (an important transitional group between the jazz-jive vocal groups of the late 1930s and the black R & B groups of the 1950s), Cats and the Fiddle, the Ravens (their 1947 recording of “Ol’ Man River,” which included a bass vocal lead by Jimmy Ricks that served as a harbinger of the doo-wop movement to come), and more. “Black Vocal Harmony Groups of the 1930s and 1940s” airs Saturday, February 25 at 11:05 p.m. on WFIU. It will be archived by Tuesday morning. For more information about black vocal harmony groups of the 1930s and 1940s, visit the Primarily A Cappella website. Next week on Night Lights: "Ghosts of Yesterday: Billie Holiday and the Two Irenes (a Jazz Mystery)."

Up for updates.

LIVING WITH MUSIC, I think. It's a companion to the Modern Library collection of Ellison's writings on jazz and blues.

Thanks, Guy--I've been thinking about revisiting that box lately, and your bump may just prod me to actually do it. Chapin, like Eric Dolphy, died far too young.

This program is now archived.

One of the reasons why I like the version of "Morning Bell" on UNDERGROUND so much is that it sounds like a contemporary torch song. That may sound weird, but it has a modern late-night feeling to it... somewhat brooding and foreboding. Not to say past torch songs weren't brooding and foreboding, even sinister at times (one of my favorite jazz recordings is the alternate take of "No More" on Billie Holiday's Complete Decca set), but I relate much more to the song and the Potter band's interpretation of it than I do to some Middle-Age Lion's take on "Embraceable You." Don't get me wrong--I love the Great American Songbook (aka GAS), and I still enjoy modern interpretations of it. And I've heard a number of tossed-off, gimmicky covers of modern pop-rock songs that operate with a superficial logic--"it's new, therefore we are supercool for playing it." It's just that we need to have more CDs like UNDERGROUND, or something akin to them, getting attention and radio play.

Not sure about that--but doesn't Reeves play a CBS contract singer?

We got this in not too long ago at the station--only track I've had a chance to hear so far has been his take on Radiohead's "Morning Bell," which generally works IMO. Going to try to give the rest of it a listen tonight--anybody else hear it yet?

I know what you mean, Chuck, but I'm willing to give it a pass in that sense, since the movie was set in the 1950s.

GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK ended up winning for best jazz vocal album. Good, late-night, torchy stuff... one of my favorite Reeves CDs to date.

Kitchings-Herzog: Some Other Spring Ghost of Yesterday What Is This Going to Get Us I'm Pulling Through (all rec. by B. Holiday for Columbia 1939-40) Higginbotham: This Will Make You Laugh (rec. by Nat King Cole and Carmen McRae) Good Morning, Heartache (co-writer; rec. by Billie for Decca) No Good Man (co-writer; rec. by Billie for Decca) Are You Livin' Old Man (co-writer; rec. by Stan Kenton w/Anita O'Day) Herzog-Holiday: Don't Explain (rec. by Billie for Decca) God Bless the Child (rec. by Billie for Columbia and Decca) All of these will be featured in the program. I've left out the later Verve renditions of some of the above songs, although they were my gateway into Holiday.

For anybody interested in this, "Ghosts of Yesterday: Billie Holiday and the Two Irenes" will air on Night Lights Saturday, March 4. Turned out to be a bit of a weird program...

Chris, sent you an e-mail regarding Irene H. I think the mystery is just about solved, thanks to a number of people.

Relyles, sorry--I posted the Amazon link in the thread that you started and should've posted it here as well: MLW Collective

Bertrand--if you're referring to my post, I wouldn't call it "news." It really is hearsay, but supposedly certain events have made further progression very difficult. We may still ultimately see a book from PK...there are probably folks here much more in the know than I am as to whether or not PK's bio will ever come out. Speaking of bios, I still have high hopes that we'll eventually see Peter Pullman's book on Bud Powell.

It's hearsay, but my understanding is that the Peter Keepnews Monk bio is pretty much dead in the water at this point.