ghost of miles

Brownie, Sent you an e-mail. Thanks!

Er--not needle exchanges, Doc. Or, ah, sexual exchanges, though I know you find those highly intriguing. In fact, my post offers an overt case of self-delusion, as I attempt to perpetuate the notion that a veritable bevy of Organissimo posters are regularly trying to get in touch with me, hence hoping to bolster the idea that I am a popular and much-loved fellow (of course, it could also be that I owe them CD-Rs or large sums of money).

You're not the only one... I keep thinking that whenever I see this thread on "Active Topics" as well. Well, Moose, we certainly know what our "active topics" are, don't we?

Yeah, a couple of board members & I have had similar problems in our exchanges. Er--let me re-state that: dozens and dozens of board members & I have been having a similar problem in our exchanges.

I'm one of those fans, Chrome, and I really wish I could make it over there this year for the Centennial. I'm sure it will be a blast... I have yet to make the pilgrimage to the Martello Tower.

I just spent a pretty fascinating lunch break at the Lilly Library here in Bloomington. During my research for this program I came across a listing for a treatment of "Jump for Joy" that Duke Ellington dictated to Orson Welles in the summer of 1941; it's included in a large box of manuscripts that forms part of Lilly's Orson Welles collection. The treatment itself is only 4 typed pages (I'm assuming Welles' secretary, rather than Welles himself, typed it up) and included some material that I hadn't come across before, like the introduction to the so-called "Noel Coward" sketch: In every Broadway colored show the sketches start to sicken when they show a frightened darkie as he tries to steal a chicken They must always have us playing in a crap game that is witless or else they show us madly praying for a melon that is pitless Away with honey chile and yassuh Excuse me massah is you stayin' Let us check into the plaza with a drawing room to play in So farewell to tradition and poor Mammy's old bandanna while we place on exhibition life in the Noel Coward manner Welles wanted to buy JUMP FOR JOY and make it a Mercury Theater production, but Duke and the other JFJ producers didn't want to give up rights to it. Welles' enthusiasm for JFJoy spilled over somewhat into his aborted project IT'S ALL TRUE, and I saw several manuscripts for that (the famous "Jazz Sequence"), but didn't have time to read them... there were also 1941 and '42 manuscripts of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. Man, I'm going to have to go back when I have an afternoon to kill!

$4.16 plus tip?

Tough one to nail down there. So far all I come up with is Mike Fitzgerald's Jazztet discography, which states simply that "Curtis Fuller and Art Farmer play on parts of this Benny Golson album." Time for you to buy a real discography. Enough getting by with the kindness of others. You ain't kiddin'. Lord is out on CD-ROM, right? The School of Music library here has some great discographies, but these days I frequently find the need to have one at hand.

Lon has a good point about Mosaic owning it, EKE. It's one you can mull over for awhile... in the meantime, do you already have the live 4-CD Bird Savoy set? If not, I'd definitely make it a priority over the Benedetti. Pardon my rather Clinton-esque moment here ("I agree with the arguments of the minority, but I guess I would have voted with the majority" B) )--while the criticisms of the Benedetti box are valid, if you're a big Parker fan you should pick it up. It's really quite a fascinating document!

I'm sure you do that only because Jeeves as well as the handmaidens are unionized and earn $25 an hour with full medical benefits. Of course, my good man, of course! Why, I thought the club went "green" long ago... Has that dastardly Weizen gone and fiddled with the charter again?

The member/post ratio is much higher here than at the other two boards (and that would still be the case even if the lost AAJ posts were added back in). I suppose that could be construed to mean that we're more "devoted/enthusiastic" B) or more "clubby/cliquey" -_- . Don't matter to me--it's just a cool place to hang! All three sites have much to offer; I guess it's just that I like the people here so much & feel somewhat of a bond with them. Call me clubby, old chap, and ask Jeeves to come over here and light my cigar!

Tough one to nail down there. So far all I come up with is Mike Fitzgerald's Jazztet discography, which states simply that "Curtis Fuller and Art Farmer play on parts of this Benny Golson album."

I take it you were not pumping your fist in triumphant solidarity when Orrin got named for a Grammy the other night. (I & many others share your sentiments regarding his omissions--no news there, eh?) Good to see you out and about, DrJ. You were mentioned earlier today in the "Where is Michael Fitzgerald" thread... and then, presto!

... although she may also explore her Irish Catholic streak with an EP called NORAH, BEGORRA!

I've heard that she's actually converted to Judaism and that her next album will be entitled ME NORAH.

Dr. J spotted posting in the Mosaic forum even as I type this! B)

Joe (and I should thank Joe publicly here--he helped me get this project started long ago by sending me a copy of Patricia Willard's essay), are you sure Kuller was talking about the title song? That's interesting, because Willard doesn't mention it being censored in any manner or having a verse dropped. The song that sparked the most controversy was "I've Got a Passport From Georgia," which provoked death threats from the Glendale KKK. Allegedly the song was dropped from the show, although Kuller told Willard that it wasn't (all other accounts say it was, and it certainly wasn't recorded). The title song does contain sardonic references to the South, so maybe I should double-check with Willard via e-mail this weekend to see if she remembers Kuller saying anything about that. Sid Kuller was his full name. He was working on the screenplay for the Marx Brothers' THE BIG STORE when the concept for JUMP FOR JOY was hatched one night during a party at his house.

Peter Laughner?! Check out the essay on Laughner in Lester Bangs' PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS and posted here.

I'm hoping to pick up the Heps--right now nearly all of my Chick is with Ella, great stuff, but I'd like to hear the instrumentals as well.

You're hardcore, man... more hardcore than Art. Artpot Is something like this even newsworthy these days?

I think you've been smokin' some of what Art's been smokin'!

...and that he also wishes Blue Note would get off their cans and RVG The Gigolo!

Could it be... our Musicboy? B)

Patricia Willard wrote her essay for a 1988 Smithsonian LP (JUMP FOR JOY) that was produced by Martin Williams. It contains all of the surviving JFJ material that Duke recorded for Victor (also available on the red Duke Victor box), the transcriptions of "Bugle Breaks" and "Stomp Caprice" (currently available on Soundies' COMP. STANDARD TRANSCRIPTIONS 1941), the alternate "Bli-blip" with Marie Bryant on vocals, and the Wonderful Smith monologue as repeated for a movie he appeared in later that year. The LP was mail-order only, has never been put on CD, and, according to Willard, probably won't be, as it isn't long enough by Smithsonian standards to qualify for CD treatment. The show is entirely pre-produced; we'll be playing it off a CD-R. I don't have a copy of the script--I'm taking Ellington's monologue as it appears in Willard's essay. (She has two different scripts. There may be more floating around somewhere, as the show involved 15 writers and was revised constantly. Here at IU's Lilly Library there's even a treatment done by Orson Welles, to which I'll refer in the program.) The promotional medley comes from the CENTRAL AVENUE SOUNDS box-set. I, too, have wondered if Lincoln Center would ever re-stage JFJ. I met Marsalis briefly a couple of years ago and hoped to ask him about it, but never got the chance. However, I have heard there's a chance that a revival may be brought to Broadway. Given that Duke longed to take it to Broadway in 1941 but wasn't able to, that would be something--a 63-year-delayed triumph. It was revived by a community theater in Illinois in 1991, after much of the "lost" music re-surfaced (in leadsheet form) in the Ellington archives at the Smithsonian.

Brownie, I doubt that we will do a re-run, but I'm pretty sure the program will be archived soon after broadcast--meaning that you'll be able to go to the website and listen to it at your discretion. I'll bring the thread back up when that happens (we'll probably archive the Bix special I did last year with Richard Sudhalter around the same time).