ghost of miles

Up for broadcast later tonight. 9:10 out West, 12:10 on the East Coast. Here's a link to time zones. Hoping, within a week or two, to have a webpage and a link to archived programs. And several Organissimo posters will get an appreciative mention on next week's Miles/Sam Rivers program.

This comes from the website that Guy mentioned: Okay, but here's another pickle: if Rivers was too "outside" for what Miles was up to, why was he working as a musical director for T-Bone Walker, according to Peter Kaz? I love T-Bone and I know that a paying gig is a paying gig--maybe I'm showing my non-musicianship here, and Sam would've approached a frontline soloing gig w/Miles in a much different vein than a musical director chair for Walker. FWIW, Rivers doesn't sound as outside to me on the 7/12/64 concert as the above implies. But perhaps my ears are wearing the "40 years later" filters.

If I come across the source, I'll post it. To paraphrase another board member, Inferno affirmative!

Guy Guy, I'm planning on re-reading the Rivers Mosaic booklet tomorrow as I work on the show. Thanks much for the link & the other comments. Late, despite my reverence for Rivers, I realize that he is indeed human and that his 2000 comments might be tinged with revisionism... yet maybe this issue is much simpler than I'm trying to make it, and Miles just wanted somebody to keep the chair warm for Shorter. But I seem to recall Rivers himself once saying that his own musical inclinations at the time were more "out" than what Miles wanted... I'll have to see if I can track down the source for that comment.

For cultural-commodities freaks (i.e., most of this board), I wonder how much of a difference the Internet has made. You can now live in the middle of nowhere and order books, CDs, DVDs, etc., without any problem--no need to drive to a Borders or what have you. You can also "socialize" to some extent in places like these. Doesn't really replace the real thing, of course (though for some I suppose it does), but the whole phenomenon might make country living more palatable for a few folks--a way to stay connected while being away from it all. I've often fantasized about living on some rugged, isolated part of the Olympic Penisula, but I know I'd still be hitting Organissimo and ordering music, films, and literature like a madman from time to time.

Late, No doubt my statement was terribly reductive in and of itself. I'm so distrustful of much jazz history "conventional wisdom" that sometimes I'm inclined to dismiss theories and/or ideas that are solidly grounded in reality. The Rivers 2000 webchat may put the question paid in some respects, but I still wonder--I mean, if Miles had loved Sam's playing & how he fit in with the group, would he still have wanted Shorter back? Would it, or did it, cause a dilemma for Miles at all? (Seemingly it didn't.) Is that all that Rivers' stay with Davis was--a stopgap measure until Shorter was done with the Messengers? I'm the last person on earth to doubt Sam Rivers' word; he strikes me as close to a holy man of jazz. And I'm still trying to imagine what the Messengers would have sounded like with Rivers on tenor. Who did replace Shorter, after John Gilmore's abbreviated spell w/Blakey?

On the one hand... --Frank O'Hara, "Meditations in an Emergency" On the other hand, I love living in Bloomington--a small, friendly, pretty town that also offers a world of culture--much of it free or very cheap--because of Indiana University. (The School of Music alone gives us so much in the way of classical and jazz performances.) In some ways it's the best of both worlds; the owner of a local bookstore frequently tells me how he would have to pay several thousand dollars a year and take a cab or the subway to attend performances which he sees for free here (and to which he usually walks). Still, I see the jazz listings in NYC papers and groan... Side note: I just learned today that Adam Herbert, IU's new president, is Jason Moran's uncle. How cool is that? Hope it increases our chances for bringing Moran here as a leader--he came through with Greg Osby a couple of years ago and pretty much stole the show.

I just did some Googling and came up with this Jazz at Lincoln Center webchat that Rivers did about four years ago: Full webchat here. Rivers was supposed to join the Messengers?!

Me too, Brownie! I'd like to do a Jackie & Roy show, actually... Jim, thanks for stimulating my interest in the Hi-Lo's. One of our local DJs played their "April in Fairbanks" song this past spring, providing me with a much-needed laugh during some difficult times. I'll look into their Starlight work.

Hey all, I know there's a Sam Rivers discussion going on elsewhere, but this is a kind of offshoot... I'm putting together a "Night Lights" program that focuses on Rivers' time with Miles in 1964, as well as some of Rivers' recordings for Blue Note with Miles sidemen in 1964-65, and wondered what your thoughts were as to why Sam's stay with Miles did not "work out," as it were. The conventional wisdom seems to be that Rivers was not willing to accommodate himself to Miles' aesthetic vision, or that he was more avant-garde in his direction than Miles was willing to be at that time. I'm not sure I really buy that, listening to what I've heard of both Rivers w/Miles in 1964 (two live performances in Japan that exist outside of MILES IN TOKYO) and Rivers' own work for Blue Note shortly thereafter. I mean, there may be some grains of truth there, but such explanations strike me as terribly reductive.

Solid news regarding FROM A BASEMENT ON THE HILL, by way of Sweet Addy:

Thomas Merton, NEW SEEDS OF CONTEMPLATION.

Definitely "Ramblin'"--the bass line is a great hook. Also "Peace."

I loved Von's last... the man is goin' out blowin' (and hopefully goin' out blowin' for many years to come).

I drink about 7-10 cups a day as well, including one or two in the early evening... and then in the mid-early-mid evening... but never at dusk!

Yeah, Mojo (I think it was) ran an article on Lee Mavers several years ago, calling him the Syd Barrett of the 80's indie scene. He was a perfectionist to begin with (Steve Lillywhite finally had to finish the album) and got pretty deeply into heroin... none of this too conducive to producing a followup. And by now, how could he ever compete with his legend? It's still one of my favorite alltime rock albums. And yes, "There She Goes" has been played (and covered) to death. It fit in well with the mix, so I included it, but my favorite songs off that record right now are the first and last--which are also the first and last on the mix. I also like "Doledrum" and "Timeless Melody" very much.

Is their audio even better than SACD? Inquiring Greg M's want to know.

Datz some pretty ballsy segue-in' there! I live for thrills--in a small, aesthetic way, that is. Actually, I was quite happy with this mix. "God Only Knows" is a hard song to follow, but the La's "Looking Glass" is just shattering, a tour de force that nips at the heels of "A Day in the Life." IMHO, of course.

Yeah like Ha, Ha! You don't have the resources the Evil Yankees have! No, no, nothing so crude as that... rather a pleasant inquiry as to the significance of recounting any past exploits of said team, owing to... ahhh, don't want to goad the Gouldster.

It's the HIGH FIDELITY reader in me... I just made a mix CD-R for an old, ahem, "friend." Actually, I made it about a year & a half ago and never got around to sending it till two days ago, with a slight shuffling of the song order. Here it is: The La's, "Son of a Gun" The Kinks, "Where Have All the Good Times Gone?" The Yardbirds, "I Wish You Would" The Strokes, "Modern Age" Aimee Mann, "Ghost World" Oasis, "Going Nowhere" XTC, "Meeting Place" The La's, "There She Goes" Beatles, "I'm Only Sleeping" Sardina, "I'll Be Around" Go-Go's, "Turn to You" My Bloody Valentine, "Slow" Galaxie 500, "Ceremony" Mercury Rev, "I Only Have Eyes for You" Artie Shaw, "Nocturne" Psychedelic Furs, "She Is Mine" Amos Milburn, "In the Middle of the Night" Miles Davis, "Blue in Green" Norah Jones, "Don't Ask Why" Beach Boys, "God Only Knows" The La's, "Looking Glass"

Hey Berigan, Santa Claus came in the spring one year, don'tcha know...

Got 9 for the same PM from one board member.

Not so fast, buster! LawrenceWelkuncorked

(with manly effort, resists urge to take jab at BoSox) B)