ghost of miles

Brownie, The culture and the ideological battles of 1950s France are fascinating to me--any recommendations for books either in English or translated into English about that era? (My French is only good enough for scanning, not really for lengthy sit-down book-reading.)

I feel sorry for him, and I'm someone who lived in Indpls. when a lot of folks spewed hate in his defense during the rape trial. When it comes to athletic decline, boxers have it worst of all in some ways, I think.

Great news regarding the Marx Brothers! SilverScreenDVDset The box will include THE COCOANUTS (1929), ANIMAL CRACKERS (1930), MONKEY BUSINESS (1931), HORSEFEATHERS (1932), DUCK SOUP (1933), and an extra disc of bonus material. My November 9th suddenly got much brighter...

Thanks, Mike. It's been awhile since I read Kahn's book, and I had some fuzzy memory of a statement to that effect.

I'm interested in running down live performances of all of the KIND OF BLUE compositions that might have been recorded circa 1959 or '60, even going into 1961... I know that "So What" was caught live numerous times, as was "All Blues"... but what of "Freddie Freeloader," "Blue in Green," and "Flamenco Sketches"? (I have the Bill Evans Trio doing "Blue in Green" live at Birdland in 1960, but would like to find a Miles Quintet or Sextet version from around this time as well.)

A tribute to past & present Chicago jazz masters, including two cuts from the new Von Freeman CD THE GREAT DIVIDE and music from Dinah Washington, Ira Sullivan, Sun Ra, Bill Henderson, and the Vandermark 5, plus (of course) Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore. Also included: "Faces in the Jazzmatazz," Ken Nordine's ode to Chicago jazz haunts. Periodic & additional chapters to come, since Chicago can't possibly be covered in one one-hour segment. 11:10 tonight (9:10 California, 12:10 East Coast) on WFIU.

Still reading Lewis' WHEN HARLEM WAS IN VOGUE, but have been shamed by my brother into finally starting Steinbeck's GRAPES OF WRATH (somehow never got around to reading it). Just ordered Douglas Brinkley's TOUR OF DUTY: JOHN KERRY & THE VIETNAM WAR, and hope to read that next weekend. Anybody here ever read Bernard Fall's HELL IN A VERY SMALL PLACE and STREET WITHOUT JOY? I've wanted to read him ever since coming across mention of his work in Michael Herr's DISPATCHES... supposedly some definitive writing on the French experience in Vietnam.

Up for broadcast!

He's also a tad forgetful... he's hepped us to this gent before: MattDusk

Everyone OK in Texas? 13inchesofrain

Mr. oldschool is a tireless advocate for new artists! google

And believe it or not, he had no desire to talk to Orrin Keepnews!

Very interesting, Chuck. You know, I've shied away from reading Warren Miller's novel because it came in for a lot of criticism as a white writer's distorted interpretation of Harlem... but I should check it out for myself. I'd also love to find Mal Waldron's original soundtrack for the movie, if it was ever actually released (I have the Dizzy Gillespie version that got re-issued a few years ago on CD).

Didn't some of Dexter's comps for this show up on one of his Blue Note albums? I'm thinking "Soul Sister" and "I Want More" from DEXTER CALLING... amazing, the number of musicians who went through this play. Hoping to do the show in mid-September & will post the link when I do.

Jim, I have the one that came out on Felsted w/Howard McGhee... may still be in print. Are those actually Brooks compositions, though? I'm at work & will have to check when I get home. Never heard of that Cecil Payne version... this is all very interesting, because I'm planning to do a show based around THE CONNECTION and am trying to track down as much material as I can find. Will probably get the DVD, though Jim is dead-on about its general gawd-awfulness...

I already have PIANO IN THE FOREGROUND (though I'm looking forward to the new edition) and have never heard BLUES IN ORBIT (put off buying the old one because of this re-issue), which is why I'm more interested right now in BLUES. I definitely plan to pick up the BACKGROUND CD as well, though. You can never have too much Ellington, as far as I'm concerned.

I think we'll learn a lot more about that 1950s arrest when & if Peter Pullman's Bud Powell bio comes out. Hopefully, too, we'll learn more about Monk's entire life, including his last few years, when Robin Kelley's book is published. Sometimes visionary artists end in a silence that can be interpreted as either profound or bleak (I'm thinking of William Blake--wasn't he relatively quiet for the last few years of his life?), and that probably stem from a variety of factors. Basically, I think that Monk never did anything that he didn't want to do--and when he didn't feel like playing music anymore, he stopped. Sad if depression/exhaustion of vision were the causes, but I admire his integrity.

I think we all overlooked certain language in the "terms of membership" agreement, Jim. Put it this way: by comparison, John Forgerty got a hell of a deal with Fantasy. G.d. publishing contracts!

Glad to see you here, Jack. We are not worthy, we are not worthy! Happy birthday and many more of 'em.

400 pages, according to Amazon. It's slated for publication on Sept. 9. Hoping to do a show or two based around this & possibly interview Jack Chambers for it.

Has Columbia slated any of this material for release? I thought some of it had been... seems as if there might even be box-set potential, too.

I'm picking up BLUES IN ORBIT next Monday--will get the other two soon. (I have the old PIANO IN THE FOREGROUND import CD, and it's just as good as Lon says it is...) Also not to be overlooked, coming out next week: Duke Ellington, TREASURY SHOWS V. 10 --from Worlds Records e-mail

Good news! This will put all those bootlegging pirates on E-Bay out of business...

Adam has asked me to pick the Album of the Week for Aug. 8-14. I've chosen Billie Holiday's first studio recording for Verve, re-issued on CD as SOLITUDE: Jackie McLean's DESTINATION OUT was my other choice, but looking back over the AOTWs, I see a fair amount of classic Blue Note dates, and very few vocal albums. (And hopefully my mentioning it here might inspire someone else to choose it in the future!) SOLITUDE is still in print as an individual CD, and it's also part of the Billie Holiday Verve box. In my mind it's one of Holiday's best efforts for Verve & curiously overlooked in her general output. (The 1957 sessions with Ben Webster, which I also love, seem to get much more attention.) Musicians on the spring 1952 date include Flip Phillips, Charlie Shavers, Barney Kessel, Oscar Peterson, and Alvin Stoller. I'm a fan of Holiday's work all the way up to the end (the MGM session LAST RECORDING), but on SOLITUDE her voice seems to have much of the Verve-era character while retaining more of her technique. I particularly enjoy hearing her re-visit "These Foolish Things," which she had recorded in the 1930s as well, and the title track; other highlights for me include "You Turned the Tables On Me," "Love for Sale," "If the Moon Turns Green," and "Autumn in New York." There's such a mood to this album; it almost feels like a concept record, something akin to what Sinatra would be doing on Capitol very shortly. Plus I just like the damned cover. B)

The JUMP FOR JOY special will be airing on board member Joe Moore's station KFSR this Thursday night at 8 p.m. California time and again on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. California time.