ghost of miles

Don't know what to think about this:

AB, I showed it to him & he really liked it... pretty cool, man! His fame is spreading.

Went home & read most of the Mosca interview last night (I'm usually about two-three issues behind on Cadence). I never really thought about it, but Tristano seems in some ways the progenitor of the modern approach to teaching jazz. I know there were many, many superlative teachers in American high schools (in fact, once started a thread about them on the old board, to which Jim contributed a wonderful story); but had anybody specialized it to the extent that Tristano did? Jazz educators, feel free to jump in here and tell me if I'm getting it wrong--just an idea that I'm positing.

Has anybody else heard the entire CD? I sampled a cut last night for my community radio station program and ended up playing it on-air: a wonderful small-ensemble version of Beiderbecke's "Flashes." Beautiful! I'm going to try to give the whole CD a listen ASAP, but wanted to alert others--Bix fans & otherwise--to this interesting title.

Today mullet.com posted the other picture he sent in as well:

Up for some Monktail following Don Ellis & Jaki Byard's "Waste."

Yet another reason for me to check out that Marsh bio. Yeah, I definitely get the impression that LT was a disturbing person in some respects. Some shadows thrown by more than just the magnitude of his music. I'm also curious about what he was up to the last 10 years or so of his life--still teaching? Still recording? (Little if anything's been released from that time.) As Lawrence Kart says, it might be difficult to find a writer who could approach him objectively. I'd love to read something by, say, John Litweiler (who may have written about Tristano in THE FREEDOM PRINCIPLE--can't remember, will have to check my copy of it when I go home tonight). But yeah, the protectiveness around his "cult" might make research/access difficult as well. I will give that LaPorta book a look--thanks, Lawrence.

Isn't Tarantino's KILL BILL PT. 2 coming out in just a few months as well? Although I don't think the film was originally intended to be broken into two parts.

Agree w/you on both counts, Dan. I've followed Johnson for a long time, and I think he's a keeper. Glad to see Mattingly back w/the Yanks in some onfield capacity as well. Hopefully he can draw some more fire out of the NY bats.

Anyone know of anybody at work on a Lennie Tristano biography? Or of a good online account of Lennie's life? I'm familiar w/Gitler's piece on him in JAZZ MASTERS OF THE FORTIES and would like to read more, as Tristano is a musician who's always intrigued me. I went through quite a Lennie spell a few years ago and have felt another one coming on lately.

A friend of mine went as a redneck for Halloween and had his long hair trimmed into a mullet before getting it all shaved off. He sent the following picture to Mullet.com, where it was awarded "Mullet of the Month":

Hey all, I'll be playing music from Monktail's NON GRATA, a Seattle out release that features our very own Johnny E. on percussion, tomorrow night (Wednesday) on my community radio show. At least two selections will be included in the 8-9 p.m. timeframe. Here's the link: WFHBWed6-9 I'll up it tomorrow before broadcast.

Monktail Creative Music Concern, NON GRATA Andrew Hill, PASSING SHIPS Hank Mobley, THE FLIP Cassandra Wilson, GLAMOURED Lucky Thompson, LUCKY STRIKES Les Brown, BEST OF THE BIG BANDS

Agree w/you on that. I think he gives 1965--a huge year in the Coltrane canon--all of 4 pages. And the 1961 VV sessions w/Dolphy hardly get mentioned at all. Curious omissions in an otherwise fairly solid book.

We be cookin' with gas!

I love what Frank Morgan I've heard. A couple of weeks ago in our local used bookstore I ran into a guy named Pete Amaral, who plays drums with Junior Brown, and who has played with Frank a lot in the past. He just went on & on about what a great guy & musician Frank Morgan is; had nothing but praise for him. He really is one of the last of the old Central Avenue scene, isn't he? At least I can't think of anybody else still alive who emerged from that particular world. (I must be overlooking some folks here--Snooky Young? Others?)

Yes, some friends & I did it once. Pretty psychedelic & much easier on the ol' brain cells. As I recall, you're supposed to cue the CD at the third roar of the MGM lion.

I knew I hadn't heard it all when it came to Bird's death... I eagerly await Jerry Falwell's next videotape, in which he will substantiate his claim that an eight-year-old Bill Clinton coolly murdered Bird for his mojo.

Who the hell is Dr. Progresso?

Contemplating this ever since the recent suicide of singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, which sparked quite a wave of grieving on the Internet. Although known mostly to the mainstream listening public for his Oscar-nominated "Miss Misery" (from the GOOD WILL HUNTING soundtrack--he lost out to Celine Dion for the TITANIC theme), he had an intensely devoted following in the indie-rock world. His fans tended to regard him in religious-like terms; he was called things like "the pop messiah" and "the Buddha of the brokenhearted," and his death therefore provoked a similarly passionate response. Smith was 34, the same age as Charlie Parker when Bird died in 1955. I know some board members were alive & cognizant of the jazz world at that time; how quickly did word travel in that Internet-less, much-less-media-connected world? Did those who knew him only through records and performances feel like weeping, grieving, etc.? I just compare Parker to Smith because they both were all but worshipped in their respective musical worlds (both also had enormous problems with heroin and alcohol). Parker was obviously much more of a revolutionary, who changed the course of jazz far more than Smith did the course of indie rock; nonetheless both had a messianic appeal to their followers. I've read several Bird books, with the stories (apocryphal?) of "Bird Lives" appearing shortly after his death on walls around NYC. (And let's not forget the story that there was a tremendous clap of thunder at the time of his death.) Somewhere I read a story about Jackie McLean seeing news of Bird's death in a newspaper headline, and feeling even more devastated because he had been rude to Bird the last time that he saw him (I think Bird had borrowed Jackie's horn and then hocked it). Some artists become legends when they die. Seems to me Bird was already a legend when he died, and that the true history of it is hard to determine through all of the mist of mythology. Grist, I suppose, for whomever the gritty, levelheaded writer is who sits down to write a no-nonsense Bird bio.

Reminds me that I need to get a new battery for my old Blue Note Connoisseur timepiece. I'm not normally a watch-wearer, but I love that one.

No takers for Manny: Ramirez I think the Yanks should give Boone a chance at third. But agreed about two pitchers, right field, and middle relief. Those positions needed to be dealt with whether or not NY won the Series, though; my anxiety now is that Steinbrenner will tear everything up. Much of their success in the mid-to-late 90s, IMO, stemmed from the two years he wasn't involved with the team. They were able to build in a way that they've rarely been able to do during the Boss's tenure.

I think there was some discussion of this on the old BNBB. If you can find it used (or remaindered--I hear they really overprinted it), I'd definitely pick it up. Giddins' portrait of the late-20's/early-30's Whiteman/Bix/Bailey scene really made the book for me. Yes, Giddins is exhaustive regarding Bing's childhood & other areas that might not be quite as interesting. The evolution of BC as a cultural icon is fascinating to me, though, so I didn't mind it as much, and look forward to reading at least the 1940s part of the second volume (Part 1 ends around '39, I think). Lon read this book as well & might have some comments to offer.

I'm listening to this CD all the way through for the first time after having sampled some of it the other night. What are others' impressions? I find myself liking it a lot, but perhaps that's because the sound seems to harken back to that of NEW MOON DAUGHTER, which remains my favorite BN album of hers.

Have any of the Rogers Atlantic or EMI recordings been available recently as single CDs?