ghost of miles

Man, I hope Peter Pullman's bio of Bud comes out some day. He supposedly wrote quite a bit about Monk's bust in '51 (when he evidently took the fall for Bud), after the two of them were stopped with drugs in their car; as a result, Monk lost his cabaret card and was unable to play legally in NYC for six years. Has anybody talked to Peter recently?

Bud Powell was the first jazz pianist whose sound I zealously, fanatically fell in love with. He was born on this day in 1924--thanks for all of the beautiful music that came from the fingertips of the Earl of Harlem.

Is Mark moonlighting for scrappleface?

Bummer! I'm at work today, emceeing at the Lotus Festival here in Bloomington tonight, and at work again tomorrow night... Anybody in the Indiana area should really try to make these shows, esp. that Sunday night one at the Fountain Square Theater (in a really cool, historic old part of Indpls.). Have a great time, sheldonm!

I have to admit that I'm more familiar with Mr. Plimpton as a literary man-about-town and cosmopolitan than I am with his work, but he certainly figures in the literary life of mid and late-20th-century America: Plimptondies

A bunch of things at once, per the usual... Barbara Foley's RADICAL REPRESENTATIONS: U.S. PROLETARIAN LITERATURE 1929-41 (a genre for which I definitely have a big ol' bourgeois fetish); the graphic novel adaptation of William Gresham's NIGHTMARE ALLEY; re-reading parts of Duncan Schiedt's JAZZ STATE OF INDIANA; and a new book by a friend of mine who's also a jazz-lover, Michael McGerr (he teaches history here at IU and appeared on my Bix radio special; his book is A FIERCE DISCONTENT: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT, 1870-1920). Also still plugging away at Dos Passos' U.S.A., as I just got the new Library of America volumes of his work in the mail and am hoping to do some kind of article on him. I need more time!

Thanks for the discography, Jim. He shot himself at the Topper, a bar on 34th St. in Indianapolis. David Baker led the house band there; in his absence they booked touring acts, including a young Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Winchester. Winchester also evidently played tenor sax & flute, but I don't know if he ever recorded on those instruments.

What was the line-up at that point?

While making a jazz mix CD-R the other day I came to a point where I wanted some haunting, slightly melancholic/dreamy late-30's Ellington tune, and happened upon "Night Song" (from CHRON. CLASSICS 1939 V. 2) as my choice. It was a Cootie Williams small-group tune, with Juan Tizol as co-composer on that particular track. I realized that I tend to like just about every Tizol composition that I hear, but that I can--off the top of my head--identify only three: "Caravan," "Pyramid," and "Night Song." Any other fans of Tizol's work as either composer or player?

Man, I ordered both Selects, the Mulligan, and the Gene Krupa--they're all shipping together, so I'll probably get 'em in October. Just in time for vacation!

Well, not to turn this into an ex-Borders' employee thread or anything--but, to turn this into an ex-Borders' employee thread for a moment: I think I was happiest as a music clerk. I did SPOs, took care of the jazz section (and yes, got the cream of the promos), sorted the multimedia skids, and tended the music-book section. We had a great staff, a good manager, and I truly enjoyed going to work every day. Once I became music manager I was miserable for about three months, but after adjusting to it I was pretty happy doing that as well. I got along well with everybody who worked for me, and we all had expertise in one area or another, enough to give the department great balance in terms of customer service. The feeling became quite family-like--we even exchanged presents at Christmas-time each year. We were also obsessed with driving multimedia sales, and took great pride in watching our percentage of the store gross climb. I have generally fond memories of that time. After the company re-structured in 2001, morale plummeted at our store, and I left later that year to work at our university's library. Within six months six other employees followed me here, three of them former Borders managers--we've re-grouped. Re: the coupon, I wouldn't feel guilty about using it at all, unless you knew for sure that it had been doctored by a third party or non-co-op partner. I mean, if you kept returning & trying to work it a second, third, or fourth time with a new clerk and/or manager-on-duty, that would be slippery. Certainly as a manager I would have honored such a coupon, unless corporate had sent us a warning not to. Even then, if the customer seemed sincere, I still might honor it--if we screwed up, we screwed up. If it was proven to be a doctored phony, that would be a different scenario, different response.

Thanks for your memories & reflections, Chris. I had a feeling that you might have known him. What a tragedy--my source (David Baker's essay in JAZZ SHRINES) says he'd just given up his police gig the previous year to devote himself fulltime to music. I think he was only 33 when he died.

Came across another reference yesterday to J.J. Johnson's stint in Miles Davis' band around 1961 and '62. While I know J.J. recorded w/Miles in the 1950s, are there any airshots or bootlegs of him playing with Miles in the early 1960s? I'd be intrigued to hear anything that's out there...

I was introduced to this musician's fine vibraphone work via Oliver Nelson's NOCTURNE about a year ago or so. Recently, as I was re-visiting some of my Indiana jazz sources for a presentation, I learned that Winchester accidentally shot himself to death at one of the better black jazz bars in Indianapolis in 1961. I'm hoping to pick up some of his leader dates in the Fantasy catalog and wondered if anybody else had an opinion to share about this policeman-turned-musician.

Bro, you ol' fellow MOD, you! C'mon, man, suck it up, suck it up! Don't forget that buzzing sound that indicates eight skids of remainders have finally, belatedly arrived for that big tent sale that you need to set up by TOMORROW MORNING! No excuses--move it, man, move it! Oh, and btw, the cafe drawer's under by $200.

All right! Glad you got to use it, jacknife.

Hmm...maybe I just got lucky but the only thing the clerk said to me is "that's a darn good savings on this". This seems like one of those situations where we might require the assistance of some former Borders employees (Ghost? Berigan? etc.?) to throw a few clues our way so that we can positively identify the.....um, weakest link in the chain sort of speak, employee who'll not think twice about ringing up that little 40% jobber. B) Not sure what my erstwhile colleague & friend across the aisle would say, but I would recommend politely but firmly pointing out that this is a legitimate Borders coupon and that it clearly indicates 40% is to be taken off any item that isn't already discounted. (Actually, it doesn't clearly indicate that it's for a single item--at first glance it appears it could be for any number of items--but just put it that way.) Tell 'em you signed up for the Dell giveaway, even if you didn't. Ask to speak to the manager if they continue to refuse. Ask why Borders is putting out this coupon if they're not accepting it. Make negative noises about the corporation (ask for the customer care number if you want and then, when you're told that that service has been discontinued, get even more agitated). Raise your voice, wave a gun... just kidding. Steady, slightly irritated persistence usually pays off in the manager basically saying, "OK, yeah, just this once, whatever, let's just get rid of this guy!" At least that was my experience. Mr. B may have a different perspective.

Happy birthday, JC, and hope you're blowing in the cosmos somewhere. Much thanks for your love supreme.

Hey, thanks for the tip there, Berigan, I'll try to run it down. Did you ever snag any of those Heps?

The new catalog arrived today. I always scan Cuscuna's note to the customers first, to see if he drops any hints about forthcoming sets. In this one he says that if the new Mulligan set does well, they'll try to get access to all of Norman Granz's live tapes of the band. Hope so!

Yikes! Would keep me away if I were the thievin' kind!

It should work for a single item. I ended up using it last night to buy a birthday present for my brother and had no problems. However, they won't give you more than 20% off if you try to buy a DVD or DVD set with it.

Well, this much-loved CD arrived on Friday, and you're right that Quebec and Green aren't too prominent, although there's enough tasty playing from Ike to make me happy that I got it. I also happen to like Dodo Greene's voice, much more than I thought I would--but the arrangements have a workmanlike quality that gives the album a certain quality of sameness. I've listened to it only once so far, but about halfway through it does start to seem a bit static. However, I think it could be a grower, and I'm glad I got it. Interesting that Dodo is portrayed as a singer's singer in the liner notes--also interesting that the CD (like other Conns) tacks on a second session, its release presumably doomed by consumer indifference to the first. (Wasn't this the case w/the Sonny Red & Fred Jackson titles?)

Hey, that's great news, Vibes! I'll piggyback it on the Eldridge (assuming that that's out too), but either way I'll make sure to get it in time for December. My Christmas season just got even jazzier... hoping Santa puts Red Garland's COMP. PRELUDE & a few other choice imports under the tree this year as well.

I didn't realize that it's part of the forthcoming Select. Great! Guess I'll stick with playing the vinyl on-air this December, as that Pearson isn't due until January--is it? I'm always looking for "new" holiday music to spin.