ghost of miles

I just e-mailed Mosaic about the Shaw material & will post their reply.

Are these CD reissues? Jim Sangrey will probably have something to say about Mr. Caliman.

And now--the man, the legend, the BNBB superstar... AricEffron! Welcome, Aric.

Oh, the links my co-workers send me when they're bored... I gotta admit that I perused this one for awhile: TheAList

Rub it in, Tod, just rub it in! I'm hoping mine arrives tomorrow, along with the Weston and the Green.

Praise be to ye, because that sounds wrong. It's a frequently-used allusion in headlines for stories about the Potter phenomenon... in fact, I came across two today after I posted.

Ralph Ellison had some association, too. For whatever reason, good or bad, the Communists were more aggressive about promoting civil rights in the 1930's than anybody else, including the NAACP. There's a good book, COMMUNISTS IN HARLEM DURING THE DEPRESSION, by Mark Naison, that's not too hard to find used online. Also HAMMER AND HOE, by Robin Kelley, which looks at the Communist Party and African-Americans in Alabama during the Depression. James Goodman's STORIES OF SCOTTSBORO provides a lot of insight into the machinations of race and American Communists in the 30's in the context of the Scottsboro trials.

I've used PayPal with him, and he also takes International Money Orders, if you're wary of PP.

Thanks for the tip on this--what issue did it appear in? I've wanted to find that Hamilton album for a long time. Much of THE SUBTERRANEANS, which was out on CD in the early 90's, re-appeared a couple of years ago on a 2-CD anthology of MGM soundtrack jazz: I love Carmen McRae's "Coffee Time"...

I know many will prefer the TOJCs anyway, but isn't GOIN' WEST being "considered" for Connoisseur release? That said, I'm tempted to go for it anyway, along with Mobley's A CADDY FOR DADDY, one of the few Mobley BNs I haven't picked up, on the premise that it will eventually be remastered.

I remember talking about this artist and this release on the old board, and pulled it out this morning for another listen: Newton may be best-known for being the trumpeter on Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit," but he led a number of dates of his own. The Jasmine, a 2-CD set, has good sound and features him with Bessie Smith, Teddy Hill, Mezz Mezzrow, and a number of others in addition to his own leader work. A 20-page booklet provides some historical background on Newton, who was also a painter and a participant in leftwing politics. Plus, Deep Discount has it on the cheap: FrankNewton

I just finished a couple of poetry books myself--JELLY ROLL, a collection of blues poems by Kevin Young (who teaches here at IU) and DISCOGRAPHY, a book of poems with jazz motifs by a former IU student and friend of mine, Sean Singer (he won the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize for it). Right now I'm absorbed by Graham Greene's THE QUIET AMERICAN (anybody see the movie they made of this? Not the 50's one, which I hear is atrocious, but the recent one) and Eric Porter's WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED JAZZ?, which I think would be enjoyed by anybody who liked Scott Deveaux's approach in THE BIRTH OF BEBOP.

Shrdlu and Greg are here now--can "Warne's World" be far behind? Glad to see you here, Shrdlu.

Your nephew has nosed out my wife, Lon. She started around 10 yesterday morning and was up until 3 a.m. in a similarly absorbed state--then resumed and finished this morning. The books aren't my cup of tea, either, but (on the basis of having read the first one) I respect what Rowlings is doing, and it is great to see such excitement over a literary endeavour. I don't think any adult readers need to make excuses for getting caught up in the series. I've been thinking about giving Hammett another spin myself, Mark, but I'm too immersed in Graham Greene right now--THE QUIET AMERICAN is great!

While I've gotten great entertainment kicks out of following the Heaney-Albertson wars on other boards re:Marsalis and other matters, I found this one less amusing, because it seems Heaney was out to impugn Chris' professional reputation. Pretty low, crossing the line from obnoxious to personally offensive, and I'm glad you were able to fend him off so adeptly, Chris. Why doesn't he just stick to moaning about the Mets?

I had a nice moment of serendipity with this one. Thursday night I was doing some research for a radio project and checked it out from the library where I work. It's a nice-sized volume--a "tome," as some (one in particular) might call it--with a wide variety of articles discussing Ellington and his music, beginning in the late 1920's and going all the way up to the late 1980's/early 90's. Especially fascinating is Richard O. Boyer's three-part New Yorker profile, "The Hot Bach," published in 1944. The volume is edited by Mark Tucker, whose bio EARLY ELLINGTON is high on my to-get-list. Friday afternoon I ambled over to our downtown used bookstore, thinking how great it would be if a used copy of THE ELLINGTON READER were to suddenly appear on the shop's "new arrivals" shelf. I entered the bookstore, and lo and behold--there it was! Dear readers, I fairly whooped with delight! I am currently wishing for a nice, reasonably-priced used copy of the Ike Quebec 45s Mosaic set to appear in the window of my local used-CD store...

I noticed Greg posting vigorously in the audio forum last night and was glad to see him here. Felt like another member of our online, slightly dysfunctional family had finally shown up. Here's to knowledge and spirited, lively repartee! Welcome to the board, Greg.

Charles Mingus, MINGUS PLAYS PIANO Art Pepper, HOLLYWOOD ALL-STAR SESSIONS Duke Ellington, Discs 8-10 of the RCA box Charlie Parker, various big-band sessions Miles Davis, disc 3 of the Blackhawk box Andrew Hill, BUT NOT FAREWELL (thanks to a kind fellow board-member) Dave Brubeck, VOCAL ENCOUNTERS

So, I read the first book years ago and didn't get hooked, but I trotted down to our downtown indie bookseller last night to pick up the latest as a surprise for my wife (a doctoral candidate in Victorian lit, so no literary slouch she). A longtime fan of the series, she's been immersed in HP5 all day... I think the whole phenomenon is pretty cool, actually. I was hoping to have my own Harry Potter moment of magic on Friday, in the form of a Bunny Berigan Mosaic set arrival, but alas, alas! I must wait until Monday, at the earliest. (Did luck into a copy of Mark Tucker's THE ELLINGTON READER late Friday afternoon, though--I was as excited about that as the rest of the world was about J.K. Rowlings' latest.) I'm certain that those on the board with children have vicariously experienced Pottermania, but how many of you have read the books yourselves? I know quite a few adults who do--and Michiko Kakutani's review of the newest entry was on the front page of the Times today. Interesting to think that all around the world today, hundreds of thousands of people are reading the same book. No wonder it's been so damned quiet!

On the website today: Now we simply have to hope that a series of disasters does not befall our individual orders...

It is a pleasant enough record, but am I ever going to feel compelled to pull it out and listen to it again? I think I can say, with some certainty, no. In fact, the only CDs of Hargrove's that I ever return to are PARKER'S MOOD and WITH TENORS OF OUR TIME. This hiphop/funk release is the latest in a series of projects (Afro-Cuban, with-strings) from RH that I've found to be competently forgettable. I'll keep following him, because I still think he has the potential to make a wonderful, artistic-breakout record--how about something live?

Yes, yes, yes to the Pullen/Adams, Braxton, and Orchestra U.S.A. suggestions. And is there anything in the vaults from George Russell's Decca era? FIVE SPOT came out as a Verve Elite; KANSAS CITY remains unissued on CD; and I'm pretty sure that David Baker told me there's more that was recorded but never released. If it still exists, there might be enough there for a 3-CD set.

... a bandleader I've never really bothered to check out, but the other day I came across Gunther Schuller's glowing references to him in THE SWING ERA, and now I'm intrigued by the 1939-45 era. Any suggestions on where to start, compilation-wise?

I noticed that on the website and thought it must be a new release, but it's been around for several years. Looks really good, though, and I might order it--but not from True Blue. It's four bucks cheaper at Borders/Amazon, and probably even cheaper elsewhere.

What about the drummer (whose name I forget)? He was a pretty notorious junkie... although in the end you can't blame anything but the power of heroin.