ghost of miles

Thanks, BfB. I'm lobbying to take over doing the web updates myself--so sorry for the problems you've encountered with the links. I just sent an e-mail asking that the link in question be fixed.

I got it in the mail from BMG yesterday and listened to most of disc 1 last night. Loved it! I even liked Andy Bey's vocals... and to my surprise really enjoyed Horace on electric piano as well. The music cooks right along. Also got Hutcherson's NOW and the Jack Wilson, but haven't had a chance to delve into those yet... and the Shirley Scott $1.99 TALKIN' VERVE clearance title. That version of "Downtown"!

Oh, man! Thanks for the tip, deus--had no idea it was going OOP, and I still haven't run it down. Hmmm....

Not that it matters, but the rumor's been voiced elsewhere that certain boards have "cooked" their users-currently-online stats... any truth to that?

The Jazztet.

Exactly! "A riottt... iz an ug-lee thing. And I think it's just about time ve had one!"

That's what they said about 2,130... oops, wrong sport!

I just had a somewhat comparable experience with Alphacraze--they (and Deep Discount) both cancelled orders I'd placed for HORACE HENDERSON 1940-41. In both instances without notifying me... WTF??

I have now been burned twice--by both Deep Discount and a seller called Alphacraze--on this Chronological Classics title, which I ordered 4-6 weeks ago. In both instances the order was cancelled without any kind of notification... in any event, I've got an upcoming program on H. Henderson scheduled and desperately need a CD-R copy and liner notes of the C. Classics release. Could anybody provide this? I will gladly trade a comparable CD-R (preferably something OOP) in return and pay for priority shipping. PM me if this is possible, and thanks in advance.

Allen, thanks for the tip. I recently did a Thornhil big-band program and came across a passage from Zwerin's book, quoted in a W. Balliett piece, I believe, that I incorporated into the show. Of course it isn't just a question of time; it's a question of performing all the hard labor of research and improving my ability to write about jazz. But Thornhill's birthplace is just up the road from here, and nobody (that I'm aware of) has written a book about him before. His centennary is coming up in 2009, which is why the thought's been budding in my brain.

Well, perhaps you and I can't relate to it as well because we're both from "the big city!" Pass that piece o' straw this way, friend... we're all related anyway, right?

How is The Swing Era, Gom? I keep thinking I want to read it. Give me your review. Just started it, skeith, although I've dipped into it quite a bit over the past two years. Very worthwhile IMO, though. Schuller makes a good case for some of the lesser-known figures and keeps a good musicological/history ratio... too bad there isn't going to be a Volume III.

Hey, that does look great, Dan--thanks for the tip. It'll make for some good spring-training leisure-time reading.

I've a yen to undertake a Claude Thornhill bio--but time is a big issue.

It's not polite to gloat. Although, if things had gone just a little bit differently last night, I'd probably be doing it myself. Aw, give him a break--he's a Red Sox fan!

Dan, Is anybody at work on a book about Boston's 2004 season? I'm assuming the Globe or somebody else did an insta-book... be nice for Bosox fans if a writer the caliber of Halberstam or Angell did one.

My wife & I are planning on going up to Saugatuck for a long weekend sometime in May or June... I'll be checking the calendar here to see if you guys have any gigs nearby around that time. If so, we'll try to schedule our trip accordingly.

Ack! Yep, LOVE BUG is a fun one.

I have always had good experiences with caiman/casacaiman and tend to order from them first... utnil recently. They advertised the Japanese import of the Candoli Brothers' TWO FOR THE MONEY... I ordered it... my credit card was charged... and nearly six weeks later I'm still waiting. I e-mailed them after the "media mail" date expired, and they informed me that the item was on backorder. In the meantime, I'm going to ask them to refund my credit card charge. There was no indication in their listing that the item was special-order. (Also just frustrated b/c this CD is proving so damned hard to find!)

Dan, No disrespect to the Patriots--my in-laws live in MA, and if somebody has to win, it's fine by me if it's New England--I just hate football culture in general. (Didn't use to--a sign that I'm getting old & crotchety? B-) ) Didn't realize the Bosox & Yanks were teeing off against each other on opening day. Fan-tastic! Just saw a news story, btw, that Schilling intends to play through 2007. Hoping Pavano comes up with a good year for the Yanks... and Tino's back at first, which has sentimental value for me (obviously he's past his prime, however). Should be a great season.

Gunther Schuller, THE SWING ERA, and a bio of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

Now that the godawful Super Bowl is over... the NHL season has been cancelled... and the NBA continues to be an endless snoozefest... can we hear it for BASEBALL 2005? Only eight days till pitchers and catchers report... time for me to dust off the VHS of IT HAPPENS EVERY SPRING and several of the baseball books I haven't read yet, ponder the inevitable clash of the Red Sox and the Yankees in the AL East, and generally savour the impending arrival of the best American sport ever.

Actually, I didn't "sit in " ..During my summer break in college in '57 ( I think ), I actually worked with the Band for about two and a half months ( I think I was somewhere near Winston Welch ) Claude was still usng all that great Mulligan, Evans and Carisi stuff ..and the late ,great Gene Quill became my "road rabbi " My fault, sir... I misread your earlier post. Certainly did not mean to understate your stint with the Thornhill band. Color me impressed!

This week on Night Lights I kick off Black History Month with "But I Was Cool," featuring the early-1960s music of singer-songwriter and activist Oscar Brown Jr. Brown, the son of a well-to-do South Side Chicago businessman, participated in the labor movement and progressive politics in the 1950s before trying his hand at composing and performing. He wrote a musical, Kicks and Co., and co-wrote WE INSIST! THE FREEDOM NOW SUITE with Max Roach (you can hear Abbey Lincoln performing "Freedom Day" on the previous Night Lights program "Let Freedom Ring" and "Driva Man" on "The Hawk Heads Home"). Brown was a master of hip comedic narrative as well as social protest, often mingling the two together; we'll hear examples of his work from SIN AND SOUL, IN A NEW MOOD, TELLS IT LIKE IT IS, and MR. OSCAR BROWN JR. GOES TO WASHINGTON. The program airs this Saturday evening at 11:05 (8:05 California time, 10:05 Chicago time) on WFIU; you can listen to it live or from next Monday on in the Night Lights archives. Oscar Brown Jr.'s homepage is located here. There's also an interview with him here. Next week: "Strictly Romantic," a program of jazz ballads from Don Byas, John Coltrane, Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Helen Carr, Fred Astaire, and others.