ghost of miles

Lon, My thoughts exactly... last night I found myself wondering, "Best box-set ever?" Certainly a contender. Today I listened to the six-minute medley from Coltrane's funeral. Simply amazing.

Hey, thanks so much, gdogus! I was fairly happy with how the Herbie Nichols Project show turned out... I've got a Halloween show in the works that will include the story of the New Orleans Jazz Killer (true tale!). SOAW, the Tyner program should be archived in the next day or two. I thank the powers-that-be for the Internet (and Al Gore, of course ), as the show is going to start airing an hour later as of Nov. 1, owing to the time-change. So I'll really be pushing the archive at that point! Anyways, will give you a heads-up when "Inception" is posted.

Up for broadcast in two hours.

Seems like we did this once on the BNBB, or something similar. I'm up to 38 and hoping to at least double that...

See you in the Bronx, baby! Yankswin

I forgot about David Sanchez. I really love his music, too. I would say he is my second choice. jazzmessenger, did you know that Sanchez is coming here to Bloomington on Oct. 21? He'll be playing at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater downtown. More information here.

Hmmm... Twins are starting Santana on three days' rest again. They did that last year against the Yanks in the playoffs and he got blown off the mound. Of course, Vasquez is starting for NY... not really a cause for optimism there. Still, NY had to win last night, or else they were looking at having to win a Game 4 at MN and then face Santana on full rest.

(A special thanks to Son-of-a-Weizen for this week's show; I had mentioned doing a "Classic Quartet Without Coltrane" program, and he proposed a Tyner-on-Impulse idea instead. Also a special thanks to White Lightning, who has posted a link to several archived Night Lights programs in his Israeli jazz forum, and who reports that they've garnered a good response.) This week on Night Lights it's "Inception: the 1960s Impulse Recordings of McCoy Tyner." Tyner joined John Coltrane's group at the age of 22 in 1960 and signed with Impulse not long after Coltrane moved to the label in 1961. Over the next four years Tyner would record seven albums as a leader for Impulse, most often in the trio format that was seen as being both commercially favorable and a chance to showcase him in a setting different from the Coltrane quartet. Though Tyner's playing on these records is considered not to be as adventurous as his performances with Coltrane during the same period, Tyner's style--achieved somewhat by a prominent use of fourth chords, which gave both his and Coltrane's music a more abstract, serious, and spiritual sound--is already quite present. Some albums find him in the company of bandmates Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones (their ILLUMINATION! effort for Impulse, from which we'll hear Tyner's ballad "Oriental Flower"), while LIVE AT NEWPORT features him in a rather impromptu jam with alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano and trumpeter Clark Terry. Tyner's last 1960s album for Impulse, PLAYS DUKE ELLINGTON, was recorded the same week that he was in the studio to do A LOVE SUPREME with Coltrane. Tyner left Coltrane's group in December 1965, no longer feeling compatible with the musical direction that Coltrane was taking. He played with Art Blakey for a brief period in 1966 and struggled to remain a fulltime, professional musician. In 1967 he began a remarkable stream of albums for the Blue Note label with THE REAL MCCOY (Mosaic Records keeps hinting that it will eventually release a box of his complete recordings for the label). His Impulse albums, often overlooked in favor of his later Blue Notes and 1970s Milestone LPs, yield an intriguing look at the youth of a modern jazz piano giant. The program airs this Saturday night at 11:10 (9:10 on the West Coast, 12:10 in New York); you can listen live on the web at WFIU; the program will be archived afterwards on the Night Lights website. Coming up in the next two weeks: Oct. 16--"The Jazz Workshops Pt. 1." Progressive 1950s jazz from the RCA Victor label, featuring LPs by George Russell and Hal McKusick. Oct. 23--"The House in the Heart: Lester Young in the 1950s." Late-period Pres from both the Verve label and his 1956 Washington D.C. concerts, along with interview segments from 1958 and 1959 (shortly before his death) and readings from Bobby Scott's essay-memoir about traveling and playing with Young in the last years of his life.

epj626, it's my last major purchase for awhile too (in addition to the Fantasy order I just placed). Only purchase I'm allowing myself between now & Jan. 1 is a Mosaic order for the two new Selects and the Dinah Washington in late Nov. My wife just called to let me know that it arrived today, but I'm stuck at work till midnight... oh, woe!

I'd like to hear this, especially since it's a solo CD, as ELEGAIC CYCLES was IMO the worst thing Mehldau's ever put out--ponderous and self-indulgent. Hoping this record is an improvement.

Bluesnik, I'm pretty sure that it and all of the Collectors' Choices were simply straight-up re-issues of the older CDs, with no new re-mastering being done.

I'm doing a program on the George Russell and Hal McKusick Jazz Workshop records and have been searching--so far without success--for online articles or references to printed articles about Jack Lewis' RCA Jazz Workshop series (turned up a small amount of info in a piece about George Russell). I know there are a number of devotees to these albums around these parts; can you direct me to further background resources? In November I'll be doing a follow-up program on the Johnny Carisi session from THE ARRANGERS and on Charles Mingus' Savoy Jazz Workshop album (not a part of the RCA series, obviously, but part of the milieu that I want Night Lights to explore--the Teddy Charles/Jimmy Giuffre etc. scene of the 1950s). I'll do further programs as I run down the other titles in the RCA series.

I'd be surprised if they didn't include the material that Buddy Defranco recorded, such as the famous George Russell composition "A Bird in Igor's Yard." I already have the Barnet material, but wouldn't mind having it again as part of a Mosaic... guess I should drop the Stamford folks a line.

That would be interesting, esp. from a historical perspective--the Cards denied the Sox in two of Boston's last three WS appearances (1946 and 1967).

I'll post the notes in their entirety later on, but the liners to the first Moodsville title--Red Garland w/Eddie Lockjaw Davis (though Davis doesn't appear on every track) take a few jabs at the "mood music" LPs prevalent in the 1950s and present the Moodsville series as a kind of thinking man's jazz-ballads alternative.

Up for broadcast in about two hours.

Chris, I guess I'm going off the liners to the Garland/Lockjaw date, which I haven't looked at in a long, long time--will take a quick gander when I get home tonight. And that's very interesting info, Dan--thanks for sharing it.

Actually, I meant the hypothetical Capitol BBands box, as opposed to the Krupa/James... just wondering why it never made it off the drawing board.

Already got it on order, Shrdlu--doing a Hawkins blues program next month for the centennial. Of the ones I have in this series, Oliver Nelson's NOCTURNE is a particular favorite, and I also like the Lem Winchester entry. Found a post from Chuck on Dan's Weinstock thread that indicated many of these came out in 1960. I still find the subject of how jazz was being packaged and marketed in the 1950s/early 60s intriguing.

That's too bad--I think Dr. J's comments nail the virtues of this set. Wonder if that's why the "Capitol Big Bands" box has evidently been axed?

This is one that's always intrigued me, because it was evidently an early marketing attempt (the earliest?) at the kind of "Jazz for a Sultry Evening, etc." packages that we've seen so much of in recent years. I guess Jackie Gleason's records came out before the Moodsville series (inspired it, perhaps?); Dan, did you happen to broach this series with Weinstock at all? In any case, here's the discography: Moodsville I have a few of these & know that many are in print (haven't done a title-by-title check yet).

At first glance I thought this thread title said, "Anybody got drugs for sale?"

This week on Night Lights I'll usher in October with "'Tis Autumn," a show devoted to jazz songs and instrumentals about the fall. In addition to the classic Nat King Cole recording of the program's title track, we'll hear Billy Eckstine's 1952 rendition of "Early Autumn" (derived from Ralph Burns' "Summer Sequence" written for Woody Herman's big band in the late 1940s), John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman's "Autumn Serenade," Billie Holiday's Verve-era interpretation of "Autumn in New York," Sonny Rollins performing "Autumn Nocturne" live in 1978, and more... including Beat writer Jack Kerouac reading his piece "October in the Railroad Earth," accompanied by Steve Allen on piano. You can listen to the program live at 11:10 tonight (9:10 in California, 12:10 in New York) or catch it later in the archives. Next week: "Inception: McCoy Tyner on Impulse in the 1960s."

Why has the Capitol Big Bands box evidently been iced? Can't be any licensing problems with that one, I'd imagine.