ghost of miles

A wonderful appreciation of Williams by Doreen St. Felix in the New Yorker: Remembering Michael K. Williams, Defender Of Black Fictions

Excellent article, Mark, with plenty of trademark punchy writing and succinctly detailed musical analysis—thanks much for sharing it here. DeVeaux’s The Birth Of Bebop was an eye-and-ear opening read for me when it came out, especially in regard to McGhee.

From the Remnick article (with bonus Monk anecdote!): Musicians were beginning to tune in. During a Thelonious Monk festival, one of the d.j.s went on about how Monk created art out of “wrong notes.” Monk, who rarely spoke to anyone, much less a college student, called the station and, on the air, declared, “The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.” In 1979, Schaap was at the center of a Miles Davis festival at a time when Davis was a near-recluse living off Riverside Drive. Davis started calling the station, dozens and dozens of calls—“mad, foul, strange calls,” Schaap recalled. Davis’s inimitable voice, low and sandpapery, was unnerving for Schaap. But then one day—“Friday, July 6, 1979”—his tone changed, and for nearly three hours the two men went over the details of “Agharta,” one of his later albums. Finally, after Schaap had clarified every spelling, every detail, Davis said, “You got it? Good. Now forget it. Play ‘Sketches of Spain’! Right now!”

Picked that up myself recently, but haven’t listened to it yet. Your post has inspired me to move it up front in my listening queue. Spinning this right now! My second time listening... Bud’s in very good form here.

Iirc there's been a Japanese single-CD reissue of this material that was also corrected (in addition to the box Chuck mentions above)... Jazzbo may be able to verify.

Remnick mentions Davis’ real-life phone calls to WKCR around that time in the New Yorker article. And yep, there’s a scene in the movie where Davis calls Schaap.

Yes—and the beacon is shining once more!!

David Remnick’s lengthy (what else would it be? ) and poignant 2008 profile of Schaap for the New Yorker.

A friend just sent me a link to this tweet from Schaap’s cousin: Phil Schaap has died

Listening to this one for the first time in quite awhile:

On disc 7 right now--the sound on this set is so good! Not to mention the, er, music... very glad that I got it.

Recently re-read William Maxwell's So Long, See You Tomorrow and am now re-reading his earlier novel the Folded Leaf, both via Library of America volumes of his work. Beautifully-written books, and while it's hard to say that a writer canonized in the LOA is "underrated," I think more present-day attention would not be unwarranted:

Organissimo poster and jazz writer par excellence Mark Stryker contributes to this Times overview with praise for Kenny Dorham: Five Minutes That Will Make You Love The Trumpet

Sounds logical—thanks much! Right now:

... so as far as I can tell, the Jazzland LPs Southern Horizons and Free Form were never reissued on CD by Fantasy? Strikes me as odd, because IMO there was already a revival of interest in Harriott by the mid-to-late 1990s, when Fantasy was reissuing so much of the label catalogue under their purview, and they could have paired these albums together on one CD, as they did for so many other artists.

We re-aired Ornithology: A Brief History Of Charlie Parker this past week, and I’m upping it today in honor of his birthday.

I've devoted several Night Lights shows to single years in Coltrane's life--1957, 1962, and 1963--and I've long contemplated doing a 1965 episode. But it is a daunting year to try to fit into a 59-minute show and feel as if I'm at least doing it basic justice.

I had a couple of those 3-D cards! Again, acquired from kids who'd inherited them from older siblings. I'd forgotten all about those.

My brothers and I also had quite a few of the Hostess Twinkie cards that came out in the mid/late 1970s:

Sad news, had not seen that. As a kid I think I eventually had the 1975-1980 seasons complete (from 1978-80 I was buying the newest sets wholesale through mail-order). Lost interest as a teenager and sold them all off in 1985... would cost me a pretty penny and then some to reacquire them today. Also had a lot of early-1970s cards that I’d picked up in trades with other neighborhood kids (passed on to them by older siblings) as well as some 1950s cards that my dad had given to me. (He even had some Bowmans from the year when they were designed to look like TV sets). On a lighter, or should I say lightning note: The incredible story of Ray Caldwell, the pitcher who was struck by lightning and still completed the game ... hipped to this story by Paul O’Neill’s reference to it during the Yankees game the other night. “... after they revived him, he said ‘I’ve still got one more out to get!’” And he got it. 😄

We re-aired Making A New Kind Of Scene: New York City’s Five Spot this past week, and it remains archived for online listening.

Much love! Will be featuring some live recordings of his compositions with Blakey, Miles, Weather Report, and his own quartet on my afternoon show today.