ghost of miles

Elliott Smith, FIGURE 8 Marshall Crenshaw, MARSHALL CRENSHAW (deluxe ed.) Benny Goodman, BILL DODGE RECORDINGS Anita O'Day, LET ME OFF UPTOWN

Thanks for the salivating update, Steve. It may not be complete, but it sounds like a set I'll go back to as much as I go back to the 3-CD Ellington that came out several years ago. I already have the Billie airshot and a lot of the Famous Door material, but I'm sure there's a lot there I've never heard before... and I'm guessing the sound will be really good, too.

Realized he might not see a PM if he's not checking in here, so I e-mailed him as well.

I think I'm gonna drop a PM his way. He is sorely missed by this poster--particularly in the "now reading" thread.

You can also hear a bunch of them on the Sweet Adeline website. Here's the link: liveunreleasedElliott

Been meaning to post this--it appeared a couple of weeks ago on the Sweet Adeline site: Here's the link for Suicide Squeeze, if anybody's interested in ordering the seven-inch. I've heard a live version of "Pretty" and it's a high-par, quite-catchy Elliott Smith song: squeeze

The Who, MY GENERATION (deluxe edition--get it if you're a Who fan!) Artie Shaw, EVENSONG (Hep collection of 1941-42 big-band-with-strings) Artie Shaw, 1944-45 (Hep) Teddy Wilson, COMP. VERVE TRIOS Benny Goodman, PLAYS FLETCHER HENDERSON V. 1 Rachmaninoff, RACHMANINOFF PLAYS RACHMANINOFF: SOLO WORKS AND TRANSCRIPTIONS. ...and a ton of Benny Carter. I devoted a three-hour program to him the other night.

I'll second the recommendations on the Gioia and Stoddard books, and yeah, Late, I've got that Fantasy JAZZ SCENE: SAN FRANCISCO record. It's a good 'un--the Jerry Dodgion Quartet sides feature everybody's favorite, Sonny Clark.

BURNT OFFERING on Black Saint (duets with Andrew Cyrille) and JUMP UP on Hat Hut (w/Sunny Murray and John Lindberg) if you can find 'em.

Chuck played this tape for me when I visited him up in Michigan. It's everything that Jim so expertly described--a real mind-blow, some of the best live Bird I've ever heard. The intro is a far better audio snapshot of a late Bird arrival than the JATP "Hey, man, where you been?" moment. But the music, good Lord! Primordial bebop.

Yeah, I realized that last night (that it had been posted at BN before), but thought I'd put it up again here for anybody who didn't catch it the first time around. I really think that Mingus Uptown is the greatest historical re-issue of all time.

We've knocked on the door... maybe it's time we banged? Or at least TP the house.

As I was prowling the Jazz Institute of Chicago tonight, I came across an interview with Chuck Nessa about the Mingus Uptown CD, conducted by Lazaro Vega, a very cool DJ I had the pleasure of meeting when I was chez Nessas last month. Great stories about all of the work that went into putting the CD together. I can't seem to get the article to link directly from the Institute's page, but I found it on AAJ instead: NessaonMingusCD

I srent off a politely-worded suggestion as well. Anybody heard back from them yet? Not that I'm on tenterhooks or anything...

Wow, so Chamber's doing a full bio, huh? I read what he's posted online a couple of years ago, but didn't realize it was part of a larger work-in-progress... That will be an interesting book. Always glad to see more coverage of the late 1940s/early 50's Boston scene as well.

I am all over THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. I had signed up on Amazon's notification list for that one... really happy to see that so much is coming with it. My wife and I watch it every year on Thanksgiving Day, and I was really getting tired of hooking up the old VCR for the occasion. I'll definitely bite on TREASURE OF THE SIERRE MADRE as well. You're right about the CASABLANCA transfer, Berigan. If they've improved on the 2000 edition I'll really be impressed--only problem with these superlative transfers of older movies is that sometimes it's much easier to see how fake the sets can be! I've gotten used to it, but sometimes the fuzzy ambience of an unrestored pic can actually enhance the atmosphere for me.

Harold, This is what the new one contains: The one I bought last year, which came out in 2000, had this: I'd like to hear the radio production, and I think there are more outtakes in the special edition (I don't remember 10 minutes' worth in the first DVD edition). The commentaries interest me too... normally I don't go for movie upgrades, but I'm such an unabashed, unapologetic fan of this film that I think I'll take the plunge. Have you ever read Aljean Harmetz's book ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS? It's all about the making of the film--fascinating stuff. There were so many ways in which it could have gone awry. And it was originally cast with Ann Sheridan and Ronald Reagan!

I read it years ago when it first came out, and remember really liking it. I remember thinking that Dyer traversed risky waters and came back with some haunting, poignant stories.

Amazon has the Hazel Scott streeting Aug. 26. I'm definitely going to snap that one up--her early work has been hard to find.

I just bought the regular DVD of this a year ago, but I'll probably be a sap for the new one when it comes out in August. "Welcome back to the fight... this time, I know our side will win." CasablancaDVD

Could it possibly be their reluctance to endorse a site that's affiliated with a specific group? Again, far be it from me to defend Blue Note these days... Perhaps we should all use the "Contact us" function and suggest, in oh-so-loving-terms, that they add this board to their list.

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.