ghost of miles

Started last night on U.S.A. and also re-started one that would make the Red Menace himself blush with pride: THE COMMUNISTS IN HARLEM DURING THE DEPRESSION.

I picked up a used hardback of Gene Lees' LEADER OF THE BAND for a song a couple of years ago. I've only skimmed it, and I'm hesitant to call any bio "definitive," but it might do the trick for ya.

Well, Pettite and Mussina bailed the Yanks out and gave them a split with the Bosox, keeping NY four games in first... they'll have a three-game re-match later this month at Fenway. Seattle's cooling off a bit... What do you guys think of the new All-Star game rule, giving the winning league home-field advantage in the World Series?

Yeah, I'm still on the fence about the Wilson CDs... I'd love to have the non-Holiday stuff, but there's so much overlap with the Holiday Columbia set--except for V. 7, which I already have, and V. 2, which I probably will order as well. I have both Jazz Factory Thornhills (purchased before I saw the light) and will probably ditch 'em for all of the Heps. I'm getting really addicted to this series!

Won't that make it impossible to bring back Connery as his father than? I mean Pt 2 & 3 were supposed to have happened before Pt 1. Wasn't Last Crusade set in the mid 30's? Wouldn't that make it 15+ years to get to the 50's? Connery would be 73 I believe in May. Anything on the rumors that they are going to bring back the screeching Mrs. Spielberg, Kate Capshaw? The Horror, The HORROR! Here's one of several rumor-sites on the web. You can find several if you do an "Indiana Jones 4" search: Indy4 Connery may indeed be in the new one, although one web wag has pointed out that he and Ford are more likely to look like brothers now, given that their age difference has proportionally narrowed... and Kate Capshaw may be doing only a cameo, along with Karen Allen from the first movie. No word on who the new villains will be, except that it won't be Nazis--the Soviets, perhaps? TEMPLE OF DOOM was my least-favorite, partly because I wasn't too crazy about Capshaw either.

Ford will be 62 when they start filming next May. Evidently the film will be set in the 1950's to accommodate his aging (the Jones character's dob is supposed to be 1899).

I've been going on a 30's/40's kick lately (again--seems to strike me every year or so), and I thank the re-issue deities for Scotland's Hep label. Recently picked up Bunny Berigan's GANGBUSTERS and have a lot more in my sights. Over the years I've bought the random stray title from Hep (like their collection of Teddy Wilson's 1939-40 big band sides), but I think it was deciding to opt for their Benny Goodman titles that really made me realize what a wonderful catalogue they're offering. I mean, they even put out compilations of people like Teddy Powell... bandleaders whom I can't imagine turning up on re-issues anywhere else, at least anytime soon: Hep

I'll seek out those Vernon CDs, Lon, given that you're one of the leading Teagarden authorities around these parts. I understand from my reading that financial problems forced Teagarden to alter the band's makeup somewhat after its first year of existence... It will be interesting to investigate this phase of his career.

Which was dubbed in, right? Interesting story about that in the liner notes. The Sounds seem to get pejorative references in some jazz discussions... but I really like their, well, sound. I'm really taken with the LIGHTHOUSE recording, for some reason, more so than I was with BABE'S BLUES, which I picked up at a greatly-discounted price a couple of years ago when a record shop closed. I've always enjoyed them as a backing band, but the live record has suddenly awakened my interest--and I knew that Organissimo was the place to advertise it, what with Mr. Gould & co. hanging around these parts.

A guilty pleasure, I'll admit... They're due in November, with lots of extras. Here's a link with info: IndyJones

Getting ready to take a crack at John Dos Passos' U.S.A. trilogy, which I've been meaning to read for years. The Library of America is bringing out more of his work this fall--his early novels and his travel writings/political essays from 1916-1941.

The other day I was listening to a Kitty Kallen collection that I recently picked up. The first 8 or 9 cuts feature her with Jack Teagarden's 1939 big band, with some wonderful trumpet work by Charlie Spivak. I have to admit that this is the first time I've heard Teagarden's big band, which evidently continued on in some form or fashion for the next several years. I'm guessing the Classics are probably my best route for exploring this particular unit... Any fans of big-band Texas Tea out there?

Thanks, Dan. I'm definitely willing to go the import route, so I'll look around for MOODS--and for BLACK ORCHID, if it's not extinct yet. The It date sounds promising too.

Recently listened to the Sounds' LIVE AT THE LIGHTHOUSE, which is the only CD I have under their name besides BABE'S BLUES. I have BLUE HOUR w/Turrentine and a couple of other dates where they're backing somebody, but where to go next? I'd like to pick up two or three more titles--and is there a rumored Mosaic Select in the works, and what will that include?

Bunny Berigan, GANGBUSTERS Teri Thornton, DEVIL MAY CARE Miles Davis, IN PERSON AT THE BLACKHAWK SATURDAY NIGHT Frank Newton, STORY OF A FORGOTTEN TRUMPETER Various, SONGS FOR POLITICAL ACTION (Bear Family) Billie Holiday, COMP. COLUMBIA disc 7

Styron has a beautifully lyrical touch, Thomas Wolfe with much more restraint, IMO. I was a big fan of his as a teenager and read everything but THE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER, which I'm planning to read and write about for a local weekly come next February (it engendered a very controversial response, embodied best in a book called TEN BLACK WRITERS RESPOND). I wrote to Styron and he sent me an encouraging postcard, which I keep to this day in my copy of SOPHIE'S CHOICE. Sadly, I've come to think that he's overrated in some ways. SOPHIE'S CHOICE reads to me like a botched masterpiece, sabotaged by periodic bouts of self-indulgence. As a teenager I found SET THIS HOUSE ON FIRE pretty turgid going; I finished it only because I was a fan. I'd recommend Styron's 1953 novella THE LONG MARCH and his 1990's collection A TIDEWATER MORNING as a good introduction to his work; if you enjoy those, try LIE DOWN IN DARKNESS, and, yes, SOPHIE'S CHOICE, even though I hold the heretical opinion that the movie was better (I felt it eliminated the authorial self-indulgences which seemed so striking when I re-read the novel a few years ago). I can't say anything about TURNER because I haven't read it yet. Re: Eudora Welty. "Powerhouse." Re: Carson McCullers. REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE and BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFE. Library of America published a nice volume of her work (they did a two-volume set of Welty, too--I love the LOA editions and try to pick those up whenever I can find them used or for a decent price).

Sitting here at WFIU playing Ellington's version of "Rhapsody in Blue." Happy 4th to all!

But whadda youse guys think of A FABLE? That one gets routinely drubbed... which, for some perverse reason, makes me curious about it.

I'm trying to think of stray late 30's/early 40's Lester sessions--there's one on the 3-CD FROM SPIRITUALS TO SWING Vanguard box of the '38/'39 concert (a small-group studio date that was presented as being "live"--the box also includes truly live Lester). And I think another shows up on the recent Sony 4-CD Charlie Christian box. These weren't led by Lester, but his presence on them is strong. I'll have to look up the dates and info when I get home from work.

Pryan, it may be obvious, and you may already have it, but don't overlook Lester's work with Basie. Even though his solos are shorter and not as plentiful, there's lots of prime Prez on Basie's COMPLETE DECCA RECORDINGS.

I generally prefer the approach that favors presence over surface cleanliness, although I know others who vastly prefer, say, the previous Sony Benny Goodman 1938 Carnegie Hall issue to the current one. One thing I noticed on several of the earliest Ellington sides when I picked up the red BMG complete set was a squeaky, squealing sound that grew louder as the track approached its end. I called BMG and talked to Joshua Sherman about this, and he explained it to me as "groove squeak." Anybody else familiar with this phenomenon? In any case, I'm so happy with the greatly enhanced sense of space and warmth of the new re-masterings over the old Blanton-Webster set that I don't mind--though it does seem that perhaps they should have made an exception in the case of "Jack the Bear."

I know, Mny, I was just playing dumb... (and no wisecracks from the peanut-gallery regarding the impressiveness of my performance!)

Whuzzat? Who needs to be whacked?

I've listened to the first two discs so far and am going to listen to disc 3 later tonight (traded in my old Roulette HIGHLIFE/UHURU AFRIKA before this came out, so I've already heard it, but I'm looking forward to the improved sound). Agree with Tony that the unreleased session is a real gem--in fact, I've gone back to that and PIANO-A-LA-MODE more so far than I have disc 1, which is also outstanding. Hawkins seems like a good fit for Weston on FIVE SPOT--did they ever record together elsewhere? In any case, I can see this set having a pretty broad appeal and drawing in a lot of people who haven't listened to Weston before.

Exactly the ones I was going to mention, Joe (except for "Mistral," which I haven't read yet). The Zombies actually wrote and recorded a song called "A Rose for Emily," although they didn't really carry over the story's plot... no grim surprises awaiting upstairs at the end. I guess they just liked the title. I've been shamefully negligent regarding the novels--have read only AS I LAY DYING all the way through. It's getting nice and hot and muggy in Indiana right now, good weather for Faulkner reading, so maybe I'll pull out my old Modern Library copies of ABSALOM, ABSALOM and SANCTUARY and give 'em a go.