ghost of miles

Betty Roche--both the UPTOWn and the Bethlehem versions. James Carter also does a great job on one of his early albums.

This week on Night Lights it’s “Moodsville 1.” In 1960 Prestige’s Bob Weinstock launched a new series of records called Moodsville, as a response to the popularity of 1950s “mood music” albums, ushered in to a large extent by Jackie Gleason’s Capitol LPs featuring trumpeter Bobby Hackett. Prestige attempted to stake a somewhat higher aesthetic ground, stating, “We at Prestige feel that there is room for honest jazz performances of ballads wherein the musical integrity of the artist is maintained and at the same time the original beauty and feeling of the ballad is not lost.” What emerged was a sort of thinking-man’s jazz-ballad alternative, or jazz-for-jazz-loving-lovers. We’ll hear music from the very first Moodsville record, featuring pianist Red Garland and tenor saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, as well as music from Moodsville LPs by Kenny Burrell, Coleman Hawkins, and Oliver Nelson. “Moodsville 1” airs Saturday, Oct. 29 at 11:05 p.m. (9:05 West Coast time, 12:05 a.m. East Coast time) on WFIU. It will be posted in the Night Lights archives by Monday afternoon. Special Organissimo note: listen for Dan Gould and Chris Albertson references in this program and win a free recycled Organissimo shipping package! Next week: the first of our two annual fund-drive programs. More details soon!

Picked this one up used & dirt-cheap a month or two back, mostly for Grant Green's presence. Good record.

Tonight on The Big Bands it’s “Kay Kyser’s Halloween Haunted House Bash.” In 1940 popular big-band leader Kay Kyser made a lighthearted horror film called You’ll Find Out—the only movie in which horror icons Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi, and Boris Karloff all appear. We’ll hear music and dialogue from the film, as well as Halloween swing classics from Glenn Miller (“Swingin’ at the Séance”), Claude Thornhill (“Portrait of a Guinea Farm”), Charlie Barnet ("Murder at Peyton Hall"), Cab Calloway ("The Ghost of Smokey Joe") and more. The show airs at 9 p.m. (7 p.m. West Coast time, 10 p.m. East Coast time); you can listen live, or wait until Halloween Monday afternoon, when the program will be posted in The Big Bands archives. Next week: "Swingin' in L.A." Music from Oliver Nelson (Live From Los Angeles) and a new Gerald Wilson release (In My Time).

Guilty as charged! And I've definitely gained from the practice...

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.

Excellent! I'll have to track that down--thinking about doing a radio program on Lee.

This was 1948, so I'm assuming the "album" was a folio of 78s. Has this material ever been re-issued, on either LP or CD? ← I have the record. It is a single 78rpm record with a printed sleeve. The term "album" is inaccurate. Not aware of any reissue. ← Thanks for the info, SJ.

I've been reading BECOMING SOMETHING, a biography of the athlete/activist/actor Canada Lee, and came across this passage on pg. 258: This was 1948, so I'm assuming the "album" was a folio of 78s. Has this material ever been re-issued, on either LP or CD?