ghost of miles

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!

I also have this one, which was a kind of tie-in for the Dick Powell MURDER, MY SWEET movie in the mid-1940s:

Also a Chandler fan... Lon, I actually have this one at home!

Yes to Cornell Woolrich, too! Lon, you're obviously a man of fine taste... Another work by Mr. Woolrich, AKA William Irish:

Goodis did most of his publishing for Gold Medal, didn't he? I went on quite a Goodis kick a few years back and read most of his novels, even though his stories didn't vary much... they had a certain bleak, poetic mood that I found addictive. I still haven't read THE BURGLAR or the earliest--and the last--books that he wrote.

Calling David Goodis fans...

I had seen Frank Kimbrough's post about the album with Tolliver and very much look forward to hearing it. My best wishes as well to Mr. Hill, whose music has given me so much pleasure over the past 10 years.

A buddy of mine in the news dpt. is working on a story about a man who survived a shipwreck during WWII. He's looking for some background music to use, something with jazz violin... I suggested Stuff Smith or Ray Nance with Ellington. Can anybody think of a specific track off the top of their head that might work well--something somewhat mournful, melancholic, dark?

I really dig the old Modern Library covers (circa 1940-1960), but I haven't ponied up yet for the Dogeared page & can't access the dustjacket images. They had some great ones, especially in the 1940s.

I liked this one when it came out, in 1997; it's even more haunting now:

C.T. while in Austin, do not fail to visit the Duke Ellington Wing of the Lon Armstrong Musical Estate!

No one here gets out alive, indeed. I hope you have a fantastic day, Chris, doing all the things you love best. Thanks for the insights, the stories, and the general camaraderie that you share with us here on a daily basis--it is much appreciated--and for all of the wonderful work you've done, which enhances the already considerable pleasure of listening to jazz. What a bang I got out of reading your Basie Mosaic notes! Long may you listen...and write.

The man on the grassy knoll?

Pardon the late posting: the program is already archived and can be listened to immediately. Next week: "Peter Gunn."

Glad you liked it, Bentsy--a particular favorite of mine as well.