ghost of miles

Excellent advice. Yes, I always end my interviews with this question. (Great minds and all that, right, Dan? ) I also agree with the comments about thorough research and finding or framing questions that, by virtue of being somewhat fresh, are more likely to generate thoughtful responses. Some artists and writers who are frequently interviewed may have (understandably) some pre-programmed responses to certain inquiries, simply because they've been asked so many times about incident X or person Y. The toughest interview I've had so far was Odetta. It was a telephone interview, and we got off to a rocky start because she thought I was a print reporter and was asking her questions that were already answered in her press release... but I simply wanted her to talk a little bit about her childhood, as opposed to me reading some info off a sheet. First she became irate, then startled when she found out I was a radio interviewer--"Are we on the air?" she asked. I assured her that we weren't, and we ended up having a really good interview. But man, I was on edge for a few moments there! She's tough!

Hey, thanks, couw. I saw that CD on AMG but couldn't find a retailer who carries it... I'll check 'em out. A friend of mine here at IU thinks he has the material but isn't sure, and the Ellington CD looks like it might be a good one to have regardless.

(Unless I missed it earlier in the thread) A GREAT DAY IN HARLEM: I watch this about once a year and never tire of it. There's some amazing movie footage from the day that they took the picture, filmed by Milt Hinton's wife. The DVD adds a short documentary about Dizzy Gillespie and the infamous "spitball incident" that occurred while he was playing in Cab Calloway's band.

Wow, sounds fantastic! I love that pre-Third Stream Third Stream kind of stuff.

Just tried to drop in again on AAJ to check on a couple of threads and now I can't get on over there... ...OK, now it's there.

I'd be curious to hear it, being a longtime Bernie (and Yankee) fan. I remember seeing him play on Letterman after the Yanks won the Series in '96, and he seemed genuinely joyful to be playing with Paul Schaeffer's band. Can't remember much about his sound, except that it was pleasing (and I mean that as a compliment). He's a great guy; man, was I happy when he stayed with NY and didn't go to Boston after '98. How was/is Wayman Tisdale as a bassist? Gotta confess that I never checked him out--thought the marketing smelled of smooth.

Somebody posted this quote on AAJ, from a person who met Carter several years ago: I've been bumming all day about him.

Me as well... headed over to AAJ and saw a few other Organissimos about...

I noticed that today as well. Frequently there were 15-20 members online and just as many, if not more, guests. Or are more and more regulars going undercover?

Bit on a couple of used Artie Shaw Heps that I found online--EVENSONG (the early-40's band w/strings) and 1944-45, a 3-CD that collects just about all of that edition's studio recordings. There's some slight overlap with SELF-PORTRAIT, esp. on EVENSONG, but I love nearly all of Shaw's bands and am eager to hear the extra material that's not on the BMG set. BENNY GOODMAN PLAYS FLETCHER HENDERSON and Roy Eldridge's HECKLER'S HOP are on the way, too, so I'm hoping for a Hep a day in the mail this week.

Great record--I'd been searching for it for years, ever since reading David Rosenthal's mention of it in HARD BOP. (If memory serves me correctly, there was a certain tone of pathos in the way Rosenthal described the record's concept.) Recently a board member hooked me up with a copy. Weird, too, that John Gilmore, who doesn't turn up on very many non-Sun Ra albums, should be here as well. Francois Paudras' story in DANCE OF THE INFIDELS of Bud Powell finding Elmo Hope in mid-60's New York is very touching. (And presumably true, too--I don't write off everything in that book.)

Er, sorry. Thought this was a thread about the Organissimo board... well, toodle-oo, chaps, I'm off to the club, after putting in an hour of hard labor on my forthcoming memoir, BREAKFAST AT NOON: A MAN OF LEISURE LOOKS BACK ON LIFE.

Duke Ellington, THE V-DISC RECORDINGS Anita O'Day, I TOLD YA I LOVE YA, NOW GET OUT J.J. Johnson, JAI AND KAI (Savoy) Mary Lou Williams, 1949-51 (Classics)

Man, he lived and played a long life, though, didn't he? An incredible career and an incredible artist. I'll go home tonight and listen to "Harlem Wednesday" from JOURNEY TO NEXT--just one of the many, many wonderful compositions this musician bestowed upon the world.

It's come out on a double-LP of the second annual Esquire Jazz Concert (1945) and also on DUKE ELLINGTON: VOLUME 5, FRIENDS (part of a box set?). It's Anita O'Day singing "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" with the Duke (just over five minutes in length), and I'm hoping to procure a CD-R copy of it for a two-part radio program I'm doing on Ms. O'Day. If anybody has it and is willing to trade, I'd be happy to copy something OOP in exchange... drop me an e-mail or PM if you're inclined, and thanks in advance to anybody who responds!

Still in a state of disbelief, but through an unexpected series of conversations, it now transpires that I'll be interviewing Anita O'Day via telephone for a two-part radio program in August. I'll be sure to post the link when we broadcast...

I was going to start a separate thread about this (and probably still will), but through a strange series of events that transpired over the past several days, it now turns out that I'll be interviewing Anita O'Day for a two-part program that's scheduled to air on our local public radio station on Tuesday, Aug. 19 and Wednesday, Aug. 20. Please understand that O'Day is my second-favorite jazz singer of all time, right behind Billie. I ran cackling with joy across the parking lot after I got the e-mail reply from her manager--and Lord, am I nervous! I went home and listened to "Let Me Off Uptown" right away. I'm freakin' out, guys!

God help me, Mny, I took up another last night and am more than halfway through it, as I set aside U.S.A. and the Harlem book for the weekend. I've had a 1970's Modern Library edition of this book for a long time, but some recent discussion on the board concerning McCarthyism inspired me to pull it out, and I ended up being completely engrossed: E.L. Doctorow, THE BOOK OF DANIEL. It's a fictionalized account of the Rosenbergs, told by a fictional son. (Note to jazz fans, a Mnytime-factoid, if you will: the actual Rosenberg children were adopted by Abel Meerepol, who, under the nom de plume "Lewis Allen," wrote the lyrics to "Strange Fruit.")

Love Oscar Brown Jr., love him! A big second to all of P.D.'s recommendations, and hopefully BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL will make it to CD. And yeah, if FREEDOM NOW SUITE hasn't been re-issued in the States again, you might try Amazon UK--that's where I scored my copy a couple of years ago. Another fave: "Jeanine," a Duke Pearson tune to which Brown put words. And how about the classic "40 Acres and a Mule"?

(Sigh) Damn, am I gonna go broke this year. Of course it's not too early to start the birthday/Christmas list...

New record just set:

Shrugs, here's a link to the set on AMG: Duke1946-47

They're actually transcriptions recorded for broadcasts, rather than broadcasts themselves. It's a great set, and you can often find it online for about $25 or so... Some material on there, such as "Magenta Haze," that I don't think Ellington recorded anywhere else. In fact, it's the first Ellington on CD that I ever got, a Christmas present from my wife years & years ago.

Rooster, I haven't seen much beyond David Rosenthal's mention of Hill in HARD BOP and the booklet that accompanies the Hill Mosaic. But yeah, I'd like to read a bio too.