ghost of miles

I think you’re quite possibly right about the Yankees pursuing Seager, especially because they could easily shift him to third in another year or two when Anthony Volpe hits the majors. Rizzo I’m not so sure about; depends on what the market’s like for him. NY’s already got several big long-term commitments to players over 30 (Stanton, Cole, and LeMahieu) and presumably will be adding Judge, who turns 30 next year, to that list. On a league-wide scale there’s the whole impending CBA issue—another factor that could influence the market for free agents (let alone have a potentially damaging impact on the 2022 season in general). I don’t know enough about it to make a prediction, except to say that it probably won’t be pretty.

A good friend of mine who's quite a jazz fan told me that his father, who's a doctor, recently had Lou as a patient!

Back to jazz:

Jim, is there any chance that you'll ever bundle these into a book of some sort? (I enjoy reading the blog entries, but I'd snap up a book of them as well. I also purchased your Stars Of Jazz volume.)

Hey fellow Percy fans, the Night Lights Percy France show (developed with considerable assistance from Dan Gould!) is finally up for online listening, with some extra goodies included in the web post: Out Of The Shadows: Percy France

Hey gang, here's a new Night Lights show about saxophonist Percy France, subject of Dan Gould's recently-launched website. And this Night Lights episode was developed with considerable assistance from Mr. Gould! Hope you enjoy it: Out Of The Shadows: Percy France

Posting this a bit early, since the holiday's coming up this weekend: Night Lights in the key of screeeech, with stalking monsters, road-weary Draculas, and the true tale of the jazz-loving New Orleans Mysterious Axman all part of this week's Halloween celebration. (As well as an early Gil Evans arrangement) Strange Enchantment: Jazz For Halloween

As well you should be! Read this after seeing your link on Facebook (er, "Meta" ) this morning... great article.

Nice comment from drummer and jazz DJ Jae Sinnett on his Facebook (er, “Meta”) page: “There are a couple of notable things on this record but the one that stands out to me is the performance of Pursuance. Trane doesn't solo oddly enough. Pharaoh does and McCoy but it's McCoy's solo that absolutely blows me away. They play it way up. I mean up. The fastest I've ever heard any of them play. Well over 300BPMs and they're walking it. Not rubato and floating. It's swinging and McCoy's solo is almost 10 minutes long. They took the gloves off on this one. Seriously. I have never heard McCoy play like this. Or Elvin. I mean we've all heard them open up but this performance is on a different level. I don't know if that's Garrison playing bass because there's another bass player on the record and it's difficult for me to tell at that tempo. No second drummer. Pursuance alone is worth the purchase of the release. I'm guessing Elvin, McCoy and the bassist were 5-10LBS lighter after this hit.”

So glad Mosaic did this set:

*Very* underrated Mosaic set! I have it as a part of this excellent two-CD Verve Konitz collection that also includes albums by Jimmy Giuffre and Ralph Burns--OOP but reasonably-priced used copies can be had: Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre Always wanted Mosaic to do a Konitz Verve set. They seem to have considered it at some point, but it never came to pass. See Discogs listing above for the Konitz Verve Take Two collection (a great series in general). Here's the listing for the U.S. release as well: Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre

Part of the appeal of J Moods for me is the group, with Marcus Roberts, Bob Hurst, and Jeff Tain Watts. Not a Wynton expert but I think this was his first outing with that particular lineup.. I just ordered a used copy of Live At Blues Alley, which features the same quartet a few months later.

We'd have to cut the music tracks down to a minute or less in order to do that, unfortunately. We've discussed doing a short mini-version of each episode that would be downloadable or available through streaming services, but that would probably require some part-time production help. (Like WFIU's other syndicated shows, Night Lights is a one-man band. Not at all a complaint, as I'm grateful for it to be a part of my job duties, but it does make it difficult to take on any additional tasks.)

Bob Graettinger. (I keed, I keed!!)

The new box-set reissue of the Replacements’ first album:

Agreed—I’ve been revisiting and reassessing the albums that led up to The Majesty Of The Blues, which seems to me like a turning point, where he goes all-in on Crouch revivalism. Black Codes is generally cited as the standout from his 80s period, but I’d put J Mood right up there with it.

New book by my friend Kyle Barnett, who'll be discussing it with me on my weekday afternoon show this Thursday:

We re-aired Young Wynton: Early Marsalis this past week, and I'm bumping today in honor of his 60th birthday.