ghost of miles

Excellent advice. Yes, I always end my interviews with this question. (Great minds and all that, right, Dan? ) I also agree with the comments about thorough research and finding or framing questions that, by virtue of being somewhat fresh, are more likely to generate thoughtful responses. Some artists and writers who are frequently interviewed may have (understandably) some pre-programmed responses to certain inquiries, simply because they've been asked so many times about incident X or person Y. The toughest interview I've had so far was Odetta. It was a telephone interview, and we got off to a rocky start because she thought I was a print reporter and was asking her questions that were already answered in her press release... but I simply wanted her to talk a little bit about her childhood, as opposed to me reading some info off a sheet. First she became irate, then startled when she found out I was a radio interviewer--"Are we on the air?" she asked. I assured her that we weren't, and we ended up having a really good interview. But man, I was on edge for a few moments there! She's tough!

Bit on a couple of used Artie Shaw Heps that I found online--EVENSONG (the early-40's band w/strings) and 1944-45, a 3-CD that collects just about all of that edition's studio recordings. There's some slight overlap with SELF-PORTRAIT, esp. on EVENSONG, but I love nearly all of Shaw's bands and am eager to hear the extra material that's not on the BMG set. BENNY GOODMAN PLAYS FLETCHER HENDERSON and Roy Eldridge's HECKLER'S HOP are on the way, too, so I'm hoping for a Hep a day in the mail this week.

Still in a state of disbelief, but through an unexpected series of conversations, it now transpires that I'll be interviewing Anita O'Day via telephone for a two-part radio program in August. I'll be sure to post the link when we broadcast...

God help me, Mny, I took up another last night and am more than halfway through it, as I set aside U.S.A. and the Harlem book for the weekend. I've had a 1970's Modern Library edition of this book for a long time, but some recent discussion on the board concerning McCarthyism inspired me to pull it out, and I ended up being completely engrossed: E.L. Doctorow, THE BOOK OF DANIEL. It's a fictionalized account of the Rosenbergs, told by a fictional son. (Note to jazz fans, a Mnytime-factoid, if you will: the actual Rosenberg children were adopted by Abel Meerepol, who, under the nom de plume "Lewis Allen," wrote the lyrics to "Strange Fruit.")

Or what happened to Michael Jackson...

Can you imagine? And the guy essentially went straight from age 19 to 39... coma

These are on my Hep want list, WL (which totals 25+ so far). Are they all live performances? I'm wondering if there's any overlap with the '45 Carter band sides that appear on the Capitol Sessions Mosaic set. I picked up the Moten set used a year ago and love it. Man, I'm just so into this label right now!

And you don't? My friend, I think you're the most voluminous reader on this board! I, at least, stand in awe of your literary intake... My problem is that I get interested in too many titles & topics at once. I forced myself not to start LIGHT IN AUGUST because I was starting these other volumes as well (God help me, I will never call a book a "tome" again, and you know the reason why). I'm trying to restrict myself right now to books that I need to read for literary and radio projects.

Started last night on U.S.A. and also re-started one that would make the Red Menace himself blush with pride: THE COMMUNISTS IN HARLEM DURING THE DEPRESSION.

Yeah, I'm still on the fence about the Wilson CDs... I'd love to have the non-Holiday stuff, but there's so much overlap with the Holiday Columbia set--except for V. 7, which I already have, and V. 2, which I probably will order as well. I have both Jazz Factory Thornhills (purchased before I saw the light) and will probably ditch 'em for all of the Heps. I'm getting really addicted to this series!

I've been going on a 30's/40's kick lately (again--seems to strike me every year or so), and I thank the re-issue deities for Scotland's Hep label. Recently picked up Bunny Berigan's GANGBUSTERS and have a lot more in my sights. Over the years I've bought the random stray title from Hep (like their collection of Teddy Wilson's 1939-40 big band sides), but I think it was deciding to opt for their Benny Goodman titles that really made me realize what a wonderful catalogue they're offering. I mean, they even put out compilations of people like Teddy Powell... bandleaders whom I can't imagine turning up on re-issues anywhere else, at least anytime soon: Hep

I'll seek out those Vernon CDs, Lon, given that you're one of the leading Teagarden authorities around these parts. I understand from my reading that financial problems forced Teagarden to alter the band's makeup somewhat after its first year of existence... It will be interesting to investigate this phase of his career.

Getting ready to take a crack at John Dos Passos' U.S.A. trilogy, which I've been meaning to read for years. The Library of America is bringing out more of his work this fall--his early novels and his travel writings/political essays from 1916-1941.

The other day I was listening to a Kitty Kallen collection that I recently picked up. The first 8 or 9 cuts feature her with Jack Teagarden's 1939 big band, with some wonderful trumpet work by Charlie Spivak. I have to admit that this is the first time I've heard Teagarden's big band, which evidently continued on in some form or fashion for the next several years. I'm guessing the Classics are probably my best route for exploring this particular unit... Any fans of big-band Texas Tea out there?

Hey, thanks, Dan, I'll look around for that. I'd like to find the date Clay did with Billy Higgins for Contemporary, too (BRIDGEWORK). And thanks, too, Joe, for the discography and the reminiscences. Picking up the Morgan GNP will be an added bonus, as I'm a Morgan fan as well.

Yeah, I've been scouring AMG's discography, because I'd like to do a whole program devoted to Clay sometime. This is a longshot, but are there any Ray Charles tracks on which he takes a solo?

Man, until last night I'd heard Clay only on Don Cherry's ART DECO and Wes Montgomery's MOVIN' ALONG. Then the package from Mr. Tanno arrived and I finally got to check out TENOR MAN--was he really only 20 when he made that record? He sounds as if he's 40, and I mean it in a good way. How do his Riverside dates compare? And does anybody around these parts have a copy of his TEXAS TENORS record with Marchel Ivery that they might be able to dub for me? I'd gladly send something in exchange. (I'm assuming, by the way, that it's OOP--if not, I'll definitely buy it.)

Love Geri Allen's work on that one.

It is an interesting period, what with the Americans and the Soviets racing to divvy up Europe, allies who were already viewing each other as future Cold War enemies. That's one of the reasons why I'll probably give THE FALL OF BERLIN a read.

Dave, is THE FALL OF BERLIN written by the same author who did STALINGRAD a few years back? That was a grim read... Late, I'll ask Sean about the Oxford. Good to hear they're putting together that anthology. Another acquaintance of mine, Sascha Feinstein, did his graduate work here and helped Yusef Komunyakaa edit two anthologies of jazz poetry in the 1990's; he now edits a jazz literary magazine called BRILLIANT CORNERS. Melville: I've read only MOBY DICK, BILLY BUDD, and "Bartleby." Meaning, I've read what I had to read in high school. However, my grandfather was a huge Melville-head, and I'd really like to read PIERRE and some of the short stories.

And now--the man, the legend, the BNBB superstar... AricEffron! Welcome, Aric.

Praise be to ye, because that sounds wrong. It's a frequently-used allusion in headlines for stories about the Potter phenomenon... in fact, I came across two today after I posted.

I just finished a couple of poetry books myself--JELLY ROLL, a collection of blues poems by Kevin Young (who teaches here at IU) and DISCOGRAPHY, a book of poems with jazz motifs by a former IU student and friend of mine, Sean Singer (he won the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize for it). Right now I'm absorbed by Graham Greene's THE QUIET AMERICAN (anybody see the movie they made of this? Not the 50's one, which I hear is atrocious, but the recent one) and Eric Porter's WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED JAZZ?, which I think would be enjoyed by anybody who liked Scott Deveaux's approach in THE BIRTH OF BEBOP.

Shrdlu and Greg are here now--can "Warne's World" be far behind? Glad to see you here, Shrdlu.

Your nephew has nosed out my wife, Lon. She started around 10 yesterday morning and was up until 3 a.m. in a similarly absorbed state--then resumed and finished this morning. The books aren't my cup of tea, either, but (on the basis of having read the first one) I respect what Rowlings is doing, and it is great to see such excitement over a literary endeavour. I don't think any adult readers need to make excuses for getting caught up in the series. I've been thinking about giving Hammett another spin myself, Mark, but I'm too immersed in Graham Greene right now--THE QUIET AMERICAN is great!