ghost of miles

Out next Tuesday! NameofThisBand

You know, STRANGWAYS is the one that I never actually picked up, although I heard two of the singles frequently ("Girlfriend in a Coma" and "Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before"), and I did hear the entire LP via a friend when it was first released. I think I was too depressed by their breakup to become too absorbed in it. Not long ago I finally got it through BMG and listened to it all the way through last night. In the Mojo issue both Morrissey and Marr are quoted as saying they think it's the best Smiths album (an honor usually accorded to THE QUEEN IS DEAD), and Marr makes some statement to the effect that it took everything the Smiths were trying to do musically to its full development. If he felt that way, then that might be the biggest reason that he left the Smiths when he did. In any case, I'm appreciating anew STRANGEWAYS and hope to listen to it again tonight after the Baker/Smithsonian Basie concert. (Ah, the pleasures of the schizoid jazz/indie rock fan!)

Mark, No, I didn't--I'm hoping to do a more extended (two-hour) special on the group sometime in the next year as a supplement to my series on Indiana jazz. I talked with David Baker on the phone Wednesday after taping the program, and he's very happy that it's going to air--even asked me to give him a CD-R to send to George Russell! He also says that KANSAS CITY may be re-issued sometime in the near future, as he was recently asked for clearance on the composition he contributed to the record ("War Gewesen"). More than agreed on David Young! Looking forward to meeting you Monday in Indy for "the connection." B-)

I'm still searching for THE SWINGIN' NUTCRACKER, which (last I checked) was still out of stock at Fresh Sounds.

I was just reading about this cartoon the other day in Krin Gabbard's JAMMIN' AT THE MARGINS... At Favorite Cartoons near the bottom of the page.

To your health, wealth, and happiness!

I really like Impossible's retro design logo and will buy one of those as soon as they're available. May have to throw in a coffee mug as well... howza 'bout a CD opener too? My five-year-old Mosaic one's getting a bit dull from constant use... B-)

I have none of this material and haven't heard any of it either (save for that "Move" track that kicks off the box). Definitely on my October to-get list! Geez, in addition to the Ayler Revenant, the Granz jam sessions, the Miles Seven Steps... ahh, anybody know of an easy bank to knock over?

Oh, definitely! I love that record, and that song in particular. I was just saying that "Barbarism" is the only song on MIM that I don't care for much--and where Morrissey's yelps drive me to distraction. The rest of the album is killer stuff--the hard-charging opener, the galloping "Rusholme Ruffians," the frantic, unrequited despair of "I Want the One I Can't Have," the MC5 attack of "What She Said," and yeah, "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore," beautiful and haunting. Throw in "How Soon Is Now," "Nowhere Fast," and "Well I Wonder," and you have an eight-song stretch that never seems to sputter for a moment. Funny that 20 years on I've renewed my Smiths fanaticism. I'm going to seek out a copy of MORRISSEY & MARR: A SEVERED ALLIANCE, which is a thoroughly detailed and researched account of their songwriting partnership.

Heard Lenny Kaye on NPR the other day discussing a new book he's written about the crooners: KayeonNPR YouCallItMadness Sounded interesting. I don't (as yet) have much of an appreciation for the crooners, but I'd like to read some cultural history about them.

Oy. There will be much gloating and grumbling no matter who wins.

just put The Draize Train off of Rank on repeat. A great instrumental from a band not known for instrumentals. Yes, "The Draize Train" was a good one, and I wish they had included it on LOUDER THAN BOMBS. Another Smiths instrumental I've heard good things about is "Money Changes Everything" (B-side to either "Bigmouth Strikes Again" or "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side," can't remember which at the moment). I've never heard it, unfortunately. Marr re-recorded it with Bryan Ferry under a different name shortly after leaving the Smiths. Listening to MEAT IS MURDER right now--a great record, though it does trail off a bit at the end ("Barbarism Begins at Home" is just too damned long and not all that great to begin with).

Didn't they advise about two million people to evacuate? Man... thoughts & prayers to everyone in the Florida area.

This is Eddie Costa?

Steve, I haven't heard that Xanadu material but look forward to encountering it. HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHTS is fantastic, perhaps my favorite Costa record. I'll try to tune in later tonight.

In the summer of 1959 a 27-year-old David Baker and several bandmates from Indianapolis attended the Lenox School of Music in Lenox, Massachusetts. There they met George Russell, a jazz composer and theorist in his mid-30s who had first gained renown in the late 1940s for his compositions "Cubana-Be, Cubana-Bop" and "A Bird in Igor's Yard," and who had published a book about his progressive jazz ideas and theories called THE LYDIAN CHROMATIC CONCEPT OF TONAL ORGANIZATION. Russell had recorded several highly noteworthy albums in the 1950s, including JAZZ WORKSHOP (which will be included in a future "Night Lights" program) and NEW YORK, NEW YORK, and was looking to form his own small group. Baker and his colleagues were young, energetic, and ready to embrace new musical modes of thinking, despite their roots in bebop. In the next year and a half, after intensive rehearsals with Russell in Indianapolis, the George Russell Sextet--comprising Russell, bassist Chuck Israels, and the nucleus of David Baker's Indianapolis group--Baker on trombone, David Young on tenor sax, Al Kiger on trumpet, and Joe Hunt on drums--played a well-received three-week gig at New York's Five Spot club, toured the Midwest, and recorded three albums. The results--AT THE FIVE SPOT, STRATUSPHUNK, and the rarely-heard KANSAS CITY--can be heard this week on "Night Lights" at 11:10 Saturday night on WFIU and on the web at WFIU. Here's a Darius Brubeck interview with David Baker about Lenox: BakeronLenox And, of course, Michael Fitzgerald's research, replete with photos, program lists, and much more: Lenox Next week: the 1960s Blue Note recordings of Jackie McLean and Grachan Moncur.

Hey montg, that just happens to be my choice for AOTW this week! Solitude You picked a good one.

Courtesy of Da Capo, which has brought many other fine jazz books back into print.

JamesJazz (aka Jim Gallert) has registered here, but posted only once--he's involved with one of the websites that Mike posted, and is co-author of BEFORE MOTOWN, a book that you really should check out if you want to delve into Detroit jazz: BeforeMotown

Glad to hear that he's OK!

Steve, I'll still try to catch it... I'm usually up at that hour (10 in Indiana). Any chance to hear more Eddie Costa is worth it! Are you going to be playing any of the material with Farlow from the new Mosaic? Three straight CDs on that set including Costa--a real treat for fans.

Nice article on the show in the NY Times: UndergroundGarage

That is unusual--maybe one of us should drop him a PM? Or did he take a sabbatical?

Yes, I've been following this... some interesting discussion. Most of KV's book picks are right on, although DANCE OF THE INFIDELS is chock-full of errors or downright falsehoods, almost better read as a jazz "novel." He's sure right that Jost's FREE JAZZ remains, several decades later, one of the best books on the topic, though I'm surprised that he left John Litweiler out of the mix. I'm enjoying KV's talk re: critics and such, and hoping to hear more about his approach to improv in the various settings/contexts that he enters or creates for himself.

I've wanted to do a program on EC myself, but Stevebop has beaten me to it with what will be, I'm sure, a thoroughly prepared and enjoyable program about Mr. Costa: CostaonWGBH This Friday night at 7.