ghost of miles

WBGO obituary: Slide Hampton, trombonist who also made a lasting impression as a master arranger, is dead at 89

Seems as if the conventional wisdom is that Some Girls was the Stones' last "great" album... does Tattoo You qualify for the honor instead? (and gotta confess I'm not sure I've heard any of the subsequent Stones albums all the way through) It at least deserves extra credit for the presence of Sonny Rollins. EDIT: looking around online a bit leads me to think that perhaps the CW already *is* that the title below is the "last great album." (And yes, ironic that it's essentially a pulled-together album of 1970s outtakes that Jagger finished off)

Underrated record... thanks for highlighting it!

Up in memory: Slide Hampton: Slide At 75

Just commented on this in the Hasaan Ibn Ali new-releases thread and second Lon's "Wow." Wow!

Only a third of the way into disc 1, and uh--feeling a little slack-jawed with wonder so far. On first listen it's hitting me the way hearing Bud for the first time did back in the early 1990s. And there's certainly Bud influence here, some Monk and Tatum and even Cecil at times, perhaps? all turning into the highly distinct kaleidoscope of Hasaan Ibn Ali. The most invigorated (and invigorating) take on standards I've heard in quite awhile.

It's one of the better-done making-of-a-movie books that I've read (a genre that I've dipped into increasingly over the years).

Tristano release date now December 20th, per the Mosaic email that I'm sure many of you received as well. (The email says a discography for the set is now posted, but I'm still getting a "coming soon" message when I click on the link for it.)

And didn't Richard Groove Holmes score a hit with it in the mid-1960s?

Picked up my copy of the new Omnivore release at Landlocked and will be listening later today!

Looks great--thanks for the heads-up, just added to my book/CD budget for next July when it comes out. (Gives me some time as well to finally finish George Lewis' book!)

Second Jim's recommendation of Lighthouse '68. Includes one of the better jazz-goes-Beatles 60s moments IMO with their rendition of "Eleanor Rigby."

Bumping for Veterans Day today, and because we're re-airing this week: The Duke Is On The Air: Duke Ellington's Summer 1945 Treasury Shows

Via NPR (of course!): Local stations across the country celebrate Public Radio Music Day Grateful that the public radio station which I work at and listen to gave me the chance to start Night Lights and take over our weekday afternoon jazz show. What commercial station would afford me the opportunity to play the "Pursuance" passage from the new live recording of A Love Supreme this afternoon, as I'm planning to do? Or devote an entire two-hour programming block to paying tribute to a beloved local jazz musician and educator? I'd be the first to admit that, broadly speaking, public radio music programming isn't always all that it should be or as good as it should be... but it's also a place where you can hear Lazaro Vega and Ken Dryden, for starters, or Kevin Whitehead reviewing Albert Ayler releases on Fresh Air, or Felix Contreras, Nate Chinen, and Christian McBride honoring living jazz artists as well as those who've just passed on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. (And sure, I'm being a propagandist here, but it's propaganda in which I truly believe. Maybe that makes me an "advocate.") Anyway--big, big thanks and gratitude to everybody who listens and supports public radio and public radio music programming in one way or another. Planning to do my best over the next few years to help justify that support!

... or else spring right out! Re Zoot Sims' legendary "Stan's a nice bunch of guys" quip, think of the possibilities in our age of virtual replication... a whole gaggle of AI humanoid Stan Getzs. A veritable Four-Brothers-Of-Stan-Getz-Only! A 15-piece big band of Stan Getzs backing Kenny G on "The G From Ipanema." An army of zombie-bot Stans who turn on their soprano-sax master and shuffle after him in pursuit, till he falls to his death from a high precipice as he tries to escape. Or something like that.

I got a promotional email about this as well, Ken. Let me choose my words with care--"a fucking abomination" is what comes to mind.

Bob Blumenthal just posted this news to a jazz listserv, via a NY Times notice. Glad that so many of McNeill’s albums got reissued in recent years before his passing: Lloyd McNeill R.I.P.

One more go-around this past week for Hope Lives: A Portrait Of Elmo Hope.

Thanks to Jsngry for his recent post rehipping my ears to this:

Will do! Though you can listen to it at any time in the link that I posted. Pulled out this warhorse tonight for revisiting:

OMG yes. I actually bought this at the record store where I was working when it came out in 1994, and still have it all these years later (a little worn from use and wear!). I did a whole Night Lights show about the set that we'll be re-airing in several weeks. I also inherited the original 78 collection from a friend's spouse--it's missing the front of the booklet but otherwise in great shape, the 78s near mint. And you know, it was *marketed* as a sort of box-set, a real forerunner to how the major labels and Mosaic would later anthologize and present the music, and how boutique labels continue to do so today (Mosaic still at it, obviously). Anyway, a beauty of a release, for sure. Right now I'm on disc 1 of Craft's recent Bill Evans overview. Very nicely done, so far as I can tell--I haven't dug into Neil Tesser’s liner notes yet or glanced through the booklet much, just put on the first CD, and it's a well-sequenced track list of early Evans trio sides.

What's the deadline for JD deciding whether or not to opt out? I'm thinking that he'd have an even better market if MLB adopts the universal DH, which seems likely--but won't happen until a new CBA is adopted, correct? It's hard for me to imagine an NL team pursuing him if he has to play in the field all the time.

Oh so agreed!

That website is amazing--pretty sure it was around and that I utilized it back in 2007 when I did the Night Lights Second Magic City: Sun Ra In Chicago program, but a glance at the link today reveals that it's been updated considerably. I also picked up the Sun Ra Transparency box set from a fellow board member a couple years back, but have yet to delve into it. What was your ultimate verdict on the recent Sun Ra's Chicago: Afrofuturism and the City book?