ghost of miles

If I ever get into the Reprise material, I'll probably opt for the 4-CD compilation that came out a few years ago. Chaney: PERFECTLY FRANK is definitely on the to-get list. I'm still digesting the Complete Columbia box... which is a lot to digest. Very glad that I got it.

Jenna Jameson? Isn't she a trumpet player of some sort? Anyway, gotta run--the local Burger King has a "2-for-1" deal on Double Whoppers.

This week on Night Lights it's "Word From Mingus," a program of Charles Mingus' 1950s spoken-word collaborations with poet Langston Hughes, monologuist Jean Shepherd, and actor Melvin Stewart. We'll also hear Mingus' own performance of his piece "Chill of Death," written when Mingus was a teenager in the late 1930s and recorded for release on the 1972 album LET MY CHILDREN HEAR MUSIC. You can listen to the program live this Saturday night on WFIU at 11:05 p.m. (8:05 California time, 10:05 Chicago time) here, or listen to it in the Night Lights archives, where it will be posted Monday afternoon. Next week: "The Late Miss D." Dinah Washington's Roulette recordings.

No kidding? What is that--close to 25 percent off list? Big whoop.

Cool read, thanks for posting it, Lazaro. I'd love to hear that James Brown record that he talks about at the end. I also agree with KV that there was a lot more going on in the 1980s than just the neocon movement. I guess that should be rather obvious, but that decade is so often written off as the Age of the Young Lions... I think there is a media distortion of that time in jazz.

I also don't find it inconceivable that UMG would be unloading Bill Evans boxes for $99. How well can that box still be selling at this point? How well, I wonder, did it sell in the first place? I hear that the Lester box tanked, and it cost much less than the Evans... granted, Evans may have more commercial viability, but when I heard about the $99 price my first impression was that they were doing something akin to online remaindering, not that a mistake had been made. I've already got the set--picked it up "used" (it had been barely played) for about $110 a couple years ago, so I wasn't hoping to score here.. but I'm really outraged for Weizen and the others who have gotten a raw deal here from UMG. Stick it to 'em, Clandy44!

I, too, have heard a definitive "No" on V. 3, from someone pretty close to him. Allen, what did you think of THE SWING ERA? I've been dipping into it lately and finding much of worth.

I hope not. I'm still nursing my disappointment over the Tyner Select... I'm grateful for the Select series and how it gives Mosaic the ability to put out sets that might not otherwise be economically feasible--ultimately, I want to hear the music. But the Selects are so relatively skimpy--usually containing only the original liner notes. Particularly in the case of the Boswells, I'd really enjoy reading a traditional Mosaic booklet. Mosaic has put out 3-CD big-box sets in the past (Thad Jones, Sam Rivers, to name just a couple off the top of my head), so the "three" number is not necessarily the Sign of the Select.

Thanks for posting that news, Berigan. As a former Borders employee, you, too, were probably subjected to frequent requests for this title. I've never seen the movie, so I can't really offer comment on the nature of its racial content. Probably none too good... has anybody else here actually seen it? It was re-released in theaters when I was a kid, but I didn't catch it.

(1) I'd advise anyone getting this box to store the CDs and the book anywhere but in the box itself. (2) In any case, don't go storin' no CDs in no garage!

You ever read D.H. Lawrence's "Rockinghorse Winner?" Hey, you need a babysitter?

It's a good one, Greg. You'll enjoy it!

Irving Berlin's "What'll I Do." Sinatra does a nice version on the Columbia box, and somebody contemporary--Tierney Sutton, I think--has a very good interpretation out. Haven't AMG'd it, but it's not one I've heard played/sung into the ground. (Not on the Ella BERLIN SONGBOOK set, which doesn't surprise me; I can't really imagine hearing her do this.)

Posted on a big-band board and re-posted at AAJ:

The group McCartney was in before Wings? Now no-one admits they know about Wings. Hey, live and let die, I always say! At least I did when I was young and my heart was an open book...

I'll second Marty's comments on that 1944-45 Shaw set... also posted news of this in the Reissues forum Hep thread.

I'll keep an eye out. Does your friend already have the Columbia box? (Not suggesting that you get it for him!) It's gone OOP, but superdupermall.com and some other online places still have it. Somebody else posted about these CDs, which sound quite interesting: Perfectly Frank Also check out the Sinatra Family Forum. You might be able to get some help on the single title there.

Will see if I can track down the Santoro article in question. Re-printed in DANCING IN YOUR HEAD, maybe?

Another 25%-off sale on Heps.

The group McCartney was in before Wings?

It'll be Wes Montgomery's 80th birthday as well!

Drug problems, maybe? A bit of a prejudiced assumption, perhaps, but that might explain the small output and early death...

Didn't realize that... thanks for the tip. I'll pass it along to our weekday jazz programmer.

THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY? What was the first post-Gabriel one? My older cousin was really into those records when I was a kid... I used to listen to them over at his house while he & I, uh, "indulged." B-)

Fantastic news, David! Your & Late's books are both now on my "to-get" list.