ghost of miles

$3 for a $10 cut, but it's been a long time since I had a $10 cut. I've been hanging out with those fancy-pants "stylists"... barbershop culture is a really interesting phenomenon, and, to a large extent, a dying one, I think. At least it is out here.

The only label box I have is the 2-CD Cobra box - at thetime it was the only way to get the Otis Rush master takes in one place. Other music on it is good, too. That Cobra box is excellent--one of the first blues CDs I ever bought. NASHVILLE JUMPS from Bear Family is excellent as well.

John McCluskey, MR. AMERICA'S LAST SEASON BLUES, and the new Langston Hughes mini-anthology, LET AMERICA BE AMERICA.

Man, I didn't know about this--in 1955 the Montgomery Brothers (Wes, Monk, and Buddy) went to New York to record an album with John Hammond that was never released. Monk was on electric bass, Buddy on piano, Alonzo "Pookie" Johnson on tenor sax (Pookie still lives in Indpls. and leads a group there), and Robert Johnson on drums. There's one track, "Love for Sale," that came out on a Columbia anthology called ALMOST FORGOTTEN. Anybody else have info on this apparently lost session? The recording date is given as June 16, 1955.

One of the songs off the upcoming album--"Twilight," formerly known as "Somebody's Baby"--can now be downloaded from the front page of Sweet Addy.

I'm hoping that some of the recent RVGs (McCoy's TENDER MOMENTS & Jimmy Smith's HOME COOKIN', specifically) show up in the next month or so.

Yep, I was hepped to this when I came across mention of the album by Dmitry in a thread about THE CONNECTION's release on DVD. Dexter Gordon's score for the West Coast production was different as well (some of it survives on DEXTER CALLING). The program was a bit rough in a couple of transitional places, as we're now trying to fit it for a 59-minute format for national distribution. That means you have to "cut away" at certain points where some stations might be taking NPR news, usually by playing a music bed. It's the first time I've tried to do that with the show, and we'll probably go back and reassemble the program (as opposed to recording it live, which makes hitting those marks much more difficult, particularly when you take post-production editing into account--in other words, I stopped talking right at the 29:00 minute mark, say, but when we tightened up some pauses & long track endings, my out-cue ended up being at 28:56. Etc, etc.)

This week on "Night Lights" it's music and dialogue from THE CONNECTION, a groundbreaking 1959 off-Broadway play from New York City's Living Theater group, written by Jack Gelber, that cast jazz musicians as heroin addicts waiting for a score. Artists that passed through the play included pianist Freddie Redd (who composed the original score), alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks, and pianist Cecil Taylor. THE CONNECTION was made into a 1962 movie directed by Shirley Clarke, who would go on to the film the adaptation of Warren Miller's controversial Harlem-set novel THE COOL WORLD. A West Coast production was also staged in Los Angeles, with different music written by cast member Dexter Gordon. The show won several Obies and ran for more than 700 performances; eventually it was presented in London, where its raw immediacy and demolition of the normal boundaries between audience and cast provoked a near-riot. We'll hear music from four different versions of THE CONNECTION's soundtrack--the Blue Note album released under Freddie Redd's name, the Felsted record on which Tina Brooks replaced Jackie McLean and trumpeter Howard McGhee was added to the line-up; baritone saxophonist Cecil Payne and pianist Kenny Drew's rarely-heard 1962 score; and Dexter Gordon's Blue Note recordings of two of the pieces he wrote for the Los Angeles production. We'll also hear dialogue from the 1962 movie version, which included original cast members Freddie Redd and Jackie McLean. Though parts of THE CONNECTION may now sound dated, it remains a cultural landmark of both early-1960s jazz and theater--a moment when the jazz world found itself in the service of avant-garde drama. THE CONNECTION is available on DVD from Dusty Groove America. An interview with CONNECTION director Shirley Clarke can be read here. Jazz and fiction writer Joe Milazzo's meditative take on THE CONNECTION: Milazzo This obituary of CONNECTION playwright Jack Gelber talks about the play's initial reception and its impact on other playwrights such as Edward Albee: Both versions of Freddie Redd's THE CONNECTION (on Blue Note with Jackie McLean and on Boplicity with Tina Brooks and Howard McGhee) are currently out of print. I have not been able to find a CD copy of Cecil Payne's version, though it was supposedly re-issued at one point by either Fresh Sounds or Collectables. A friend was able to supply an LP copy for this program.

Yikes!

OK, probably a shameless plug, but I taped a "Big Bands" program last week that will air this Friday night, and it's devoted almost exclusively to the Herman set. It's nearly all vocals (with the exception of "Non-Alcoholic"), three of the tracks Larry mentioned above are included, and nothing I played is on the BLOWIN' UP A STORM comp. It'll be on WFIU Friday at 9 p.m., if you want to hear some of the vocal material in full-length format.

Dave, Was this a commercial issue? Didn't vocal numbers tend to do better? I'm not dismissing the large number of instrumental hits in that era, but perhaps he was influenced in part by sales viability. P.S. Just read John's post above, so I guess I'm just echoing him!

What's on that, Matthew? Still wishing they'd put out an "official" complete BASEMENT TAPES.

Now re-reading Thomas Merton's NEW SEEDS OF CONTEMPLATION and ESSENTIAL WRITINGS. Thanks to Matthew's rec, I hope to soon pick up a copy, used or otherwise, of THE SIGN OF JONAS. And finally wading once again into some Indiana jazz books--JELLY ROLL, BIX & HOAGY and THE JAZZ STATE OF INDIANA.

Yep, that one came up as well on my short-list. Lots of gems in there that I'd never heard before ("I Must Move" is a particular favorite). Another short-list candidate was the 4-CD Joy Division box that came out first in England and then a year or two later in the States.

I don't know if it's necessarily my favorite, but it's the first one that came to mind: the Nuggets box from Rhino, which adds 3 CDs to the original 2-LP set (contained on CD 1). Lots of fun garage-pop stuff I'd never heard before and a great booklet to boot. The Velvet Underground's PEEL SLOWLY AND SEE might give it a run for its money, though. It compiles all of the band's albums and some interesting outtakes.

The concept of this album reminded me of the famous 1966 concert in which Coltrane, Ayler, and a third tenor saxophonist (Sanders?) all played into the same microphone. Did a recording of that ever surface? Maybe I should check the forthcoming Ayler box tracklist, eh?

I like the two tracks I've heard off it so far &, ironically enough, was just programming "Peace on Earth" for radio play when I saw this thread.

That's a sad, crazy story, J Larsen. Needless to say, I'm glad the jumper didn't land on you--would have compounded the tragedy.

Hey all, wanted to hip you to a very cool organization, the Midwest Pages to Prisoners project, that's based out of Bloomington. They're a volunteer group that sends books to people in jail--you can donate books and/or packing materials/reuseable manila envelopes (or checks for the postage) to the address listed on their website: PagesToPrisoners

Andrew Hill and Jack Wilson for me. Have the Rivers & Young as part of the Mosaic boxes, and want to learn a little more about the Horace & Hutch titles before picking them up... I liked IN PURSUIT OF THE 27TH MAN a lot.

Hope Dan has completed battening down the hatches and is all right:

Send me, Jackson! And pull my coat when the next QO platter hits the streets!

Yes, I kept passing over this thread because I thought it was a misplaced Berigan political topic... Dan, stay safe & hold on tight!

Some discussion of KKJZ going on over at AAJ here.

I notice that Nistico recorded only sporadically as a leader throughout his career... any recommendations on where to go next (besides the Herman Philips recordings) for more?