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ghost of miles

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Everything posted by ghost of miles

  1. Up for broadcast in about 30 minutes.
  2. The musical MY PEOPLE is another example of Ellington making a pretty strong statement about civil rights.
  3. Ellington's involvement with politics is a nuanced history. You might want to check out Michael Denning's THE CULTURAL FRONT, an excellent book about politics and the arts in the 1930s and 40s; there are several mentions of Ellington there. He played a few Communist Party benefits in the 1930s and signed petitions for a number of social justice causes. He himself wasn't a Communist, but this sort of support and peripheral involvement wasn't uncommon at all in the 1930s jazz world (and it's one of the reasons why there's still a tradition, alive today, of jazz's being intertwined with liberal and leftwing politics). In the late 1940s he issued a statement distancing himself from some of the things he'd signed (given the times and the political climate, it's understandable, if regrettable--a number of other artists were backpedaling fast, including alleged tough-guy Humphrey Bogart, from leftist causes that they'd previously backed). He also had some sort of run-in with the NAACP in the early 1950s, but my details on this are pretty fuzzy--had to do with a concert performance. Denning's book also contains a long section on JUMP FOR JOY, Ellington's 1941 civil-rights musical, and one of the most overt statements he ever made about racial politics in the United States. (When a protestor challenged Ellington in the early 1960s with the question, "What have you done for the movement?" Ellington replied, "I did my civil-rights piece 20 years ago with JUMP FOR JOY.") Pardon the self-promotion here, but I did an hour-long documentary on this musical precisely because of the fascinating intersection it forged with politics, Hollywood glamour, racial justice, and the 1941 Blanton-Webster band. It's archived here.
  4. A long (10 minutes) feature on Elliott last night on NPR's "All Things Considered." Scroll about halfway down this page. Even the strongly protective posters over at Sweet Addy loved this piece. The new album sounds so good--better and better with each listen.
  5. What are the comments about Rivers' playing? Do they also offer any explanation as to why they left off the other two concerts with Rivers in Japan that were recorded by Columbia?
  6. This week on Night Lights I'll be playing music from the 1956 RCA Victor Jazz Workshop albums of George Russell and Hal McKusick. (A Part 2 will air in late November, featuring music from Johnny Carisi's abandoned session and Charles Mingus' Savoy Jazz Workshop album.) The program airs at 11:10 tonight (9:10 on the West Coast, 12:10 on the East Coast); you can listen live on WFIU, or you can listen next week when it's posted in the archives.
  7. Fox has now fired O'Reilly's accuser. Nice move, Fox! Just when you think a network can't go any lower... they find a new level of scum to suck up.
  8. How cool that they're doing "Life and How to Live It"! I've been listening to that song a lot lately--always been a favorite. Going to see them in Indpls. next week. Saw them on the Fables, Pageant, and Document tours--the IRS years were IMO easily their best. Yeah, I thought the same thing about the thread title. And "Permanent Vacation" shows up on some live bootlegs from the early 1980s.
  9. well, he was already Secretary of Defense so... 7 screaming diz busters clem ... and Miles was CIA.
  10. The Tyner program is finally up on the archives page. My apologies for the delay--our webmaster is employed fulltime elsewhere, and he and his wife just had a baby. What is it with these parenting types anyway? Don't they know that public radio is the only thing that matters? OTOH, they are breeding the next generation of membership!
  11. I remember on the old BNBB that Weizen once suggested--as a prize for some hypothetical contest--a tour of East Jerusalem with Greg Maltz & Chris A. in an old Volkswagen Beetle. (No offense to Chris--could've just as well been Greg M. and me... or Greg M. and Barak... or, heck, Greg M. and anybody.)
  12. There are a few people I appointed that I shouldn't have, but I'm not going to name names--I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings.
  13. Ah yes, the Big Red Machine... they were much-loved here in Indiana. Re: Boston-NY, according to the Times, Torre is leaning towards starting Hernandez in Game 4. Evidently his last throwing session went well. Fenway will be tough turf to win on.
  14. Yes, that live performance of the Zodiac Suite (Dec. 31, 1945 at Town Hall?) is quite interesting. Strings are added and Ben Webster jumps in for a number... If anybody's going on a Mary Lou kick, I recommend hunting that one down in addition to the Folkways album. I've loved "Miss D.D." (refers to MLW's friend Doris Duke, btw) ever since my mom gave me the Folkways CDR-on-demand version of BLACK CHRIST, and actually use it as the theme for my radio program Night Lights. The bass line that opens it reminds me of a train coming, and MLW's first piano notes shimmer quietly in the dark... lovely.
  15. I've seen the Cole set go for as high as $900 on E-Bay. Ya got yerself quite a deal!
  16. I'm really looking forward to this as well--I think I mentioned something about it in the Twardzik bio thread a ways back. Congratulations, Larry.
  17. They did... and Gordon wasn't much help tonight. Man, that turned into a real nailbiter. Yanks should have blown them out & ended up needing to go to the ace. Good to beat Schilling, though...
  18. Make that 5 runs. Like I said, 6 ain't enough... looks like NY may need Gordon & Rivera after all.
  19. I had two brothers... I know all about that "love" business! B-) FWIW I would love to see the Cardinals gain the series. And Boston just scored 3 runs...
  20. ....damn, no hits through 6 ! You said that deliberately, didn't you?
  21. It's a long game and a long series. Just out of curiosity, did Rivera make it back? (I'm at work and following it only on the Internet.) Looks like they might not need him tonight--I hope Mussina can go 7 or even 8 and let the bullpen have a night off, but 6 runs ain't enough for me against the Bosox lineup.
  22. FROM A BASEMENT ON A HILL came out last night on I-Tunes. A friend of mine purchased it and is lending me his copy today, and it's off to an amazing start--very spooky intro into "Coast to Coast." A year ago next week.
  23. Hey, you're no old guy--I remember that too! I mean, uh...
  24. Mike, Didn't Perry & Henry meet up again last year? Have they played/recorded together since? My memory of the 100-hour broadcast has gotten a bit fuzzy.
  25. It's Houston-St. Louis in the NLCS... barring a nine or ten-run comeback by the Braves in the bottom of the 9th.
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