ghost of miles

Peter Laughner?! Check out the essay on Laughner in Lester Bangs' PSYCHOTIC REACTIONS and posted here.

I'm hoping to pick up the Heps--right now nearly all of my Chick is with Ella, great stuff, but I'd like to hear the instrumentals as well.

You're hardcore, man... more hardcore than Art. Artpot Is something like this even newsworthy these days?

I think you've been smokin' some of what Art's been smokin'!

...and that he also wishes Blue Note would get off their cans and RVG The Gigolo!

Could it be... our Musicboy? B)

Patricia Willard wrote her essay for a 1988 Smithsonian LP (JUMP FOR JOY) that was produced by Martin Williams. It contains all of the surviving JFJ material that Duke recorded for Victor (also available on the red Duke Victor box), the transcriptions of "Bugle Breaks" and "Stomp Caprice" (currently available on Soundies' COMP. STANDARD TRANSCRIPTIONS 1941), the alternate "Bli-blip" with Marie Bryant on vocals, and the Wonderful Smith monologue as repeated for a movie he appeared in later that year. The LP was mail-order only, has never been put on CD, and, according to Willard, probably won't be, as it isn't long enough by Smithsonian standards to qualify for CD treatment. The show is entirely pre-produced; we'll be playing it off a CD-R. I don't have a copy of the script--I'm taking Ellington's monologue as it appears in Willard's essay. (She has two different scripts. There may be more floating around somewhere, as the show involved 15 writers and was revised constantly. Here at IU's Lilly Library there's even a treatment done by Orson Welles, to which I'll refer in the program.) The promotional medley comes from the CENTRAL AVENUE SOUNDS box-set. I, too, have wondered if Lincoln Center would ever re-stage JFJ. I met Marsalis briefly a couple of years ago and hoped to ask him about it, but never got the chance. However, I have heard there's a chance that a revival may be brought to Broadway. Given that Duke longed to take it to Broadway in 1941 but wasn't able to, that would be something--a 63-year-delayed triumph. It was revived by a community theater in Illinois in 1991, after much of the "lost" music re-surfaced (in leadsheet form) in the Ellington archives at the Smithsonian.

Brownie, I doubt that we will do a re-run, but I'm pretty sure the program will be archived soon after broadcast--meaning that you'll be able to go to the website and listen to it at your discretion. I'll bring the thread back up when that happens (we'll probably archive the Bix special I did last year with Richard Sudhalter around the same time).

I just wondered if something drove him away from here. No warning signs in his posts, and his last one was at least a week before the DEEP controversy began to boil over... Anyway, I hope he comes back.

Looks like the Sunshine Boys recordings are available here.

Hey all, I'm in the midst of completing a one-hour program about Duke Ellington's 1941 satirical, civil-rights-oriented musical, JUMP FOR JOY, which was staged in Los Angeles. A number of Hollywood luminaries floated around the edges of the production, including Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, and John Garfield; the musical itself included Ellington classics such as "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good," "Rocks in My Bed," and the title song. The program will feature interviews with Patricia Willard, who worked as Ellington's assistant from 1949-74, and who wrote extensively about the musical for a 1988 Smithsonian LP; jazz educator David Baker; Ellington biographer and Smithsonian music curator John Hasse; and cultural historian Michael McGerr. The program will also include a promotional radio medley, a recreation of two Ellington speeches by IU poet Kevin Young, the Soundies version of "Bli-blip" with Marie Bryant singing, a portion of comedian Wonderful Smith's monologue, and all of the surviving Victor music recorded by the Blanton-Webster orchestra. It airs on Sunday, Feb. 22 at 9 p.m. on WFIU. You can read another brief description here (I got Duke on the cover of our monthly public radio magazine): DirectionsInSoundFeb (Choose the February Adobe--the Feb. HTML hasn't been updated yet.) As always, feedback is more than welcome!

Sounds like a great candidate for a U.S. re-issue--hell, with that lineup, I'd even be willing to shell out for a Rhino Handmade, if that was the only way they could put it out.

Yes, because the silly prosecutors are still prosecuting.

This will be crushing news for Randy. but that's just because hardly anyone can play the damn thing decently. Name a top notch cowbell solo..... Max Roach on Bud Powell's "Un Poco Loco"!

Didn't Cal Cobbs play harpsichord on a couple of Ayler records? I also liked it as part of Artie Shaw's Gramercy Five...

Nope, but I'll look into him. And thanks for the CD links, King Ubu!

I just noticed that he hasn't posted since Nov. 27... and nothing in his last few posts indicates any kind of disillusionment or board controversy. Anybody heard from him or know what he's up to? He offered all kinds of valuable insights and information, and was quite a friendly guy to boot (I had a great time interviewing him for a special I did on Gigi Gryce). I know he's working on a Henry Grimes bio, and perhaps he's chosen to sequester himself from certain elements of the Internet for awhile. Wherever you are, Mike, you're much missed.

Staff? I'm jealous... so far I have only a flunkie.

I finally picked up that Blanche Calloway Classics CD but haven't gotten a chance to listen to it yet... didn't realize that Ben Webster played with both her and Cab.

No prob. I had just picked up the Henderson as one of my freebies for re-joining a couple of months ago--hope somebody else can nab it for the cheap price now and use their freebie pick for another! Right now I'm listening to JUKEBOX ELLA, which I also got by cashing in some of my free vouchers. If you wait long enough, BMG nearly always gets the Ella Verve re-issues.

Followup on this case deep in the heart--er, deep in some anatomical equivalent of Texas:

The Joe Mooneys are both excellent, as is the Earl Hines. Still waiting on the Don Redman... I'm definitely going to hit the Collectors' Choice sale again before August 1.

OTOH Joe Mooney has suddenly turned me onto jazz accordion. Who woulda thunk it?

I'm wishing with you, buddy! I'm waiting till the end of March, when I plan to pop for the Shank/Brookmeyer/Reece Selects all at once. Will probably pick up the Liebman sooner or later as well... but it's the big boxes coming down the line that really excite me--the Herman, the Farlow, the Jazztet--wowza!

"I'm preaching neutrality..." Or was it "Make love not war"?