ghost of miles

I love it... It's jazz and yet it's the rock 'n roll of the 40's. Been meaning to re-visit it sometime.

I think we're experiencing the Kubler-Ross five stages of grief. But I've pretty much let go of it already. Their loss, as far as I'm concerned, if they want to alienate several hundred customers in one of the few businesses where that might actually make a difference.

And he was a Hoosier! What about that crazy story, told in LOST CHORDS and repeated in Michael Brooks' liner notes, about Purvis dying in 1962 and then turning up again in 1968? He allegedly committed suicide by turning on the gas in his apartment--except that the autopsy indicated he died from cirrhosis of the liver. Then some man claiming to be him, with a physical resemblance and detailed knowledge of the 20's/30's jazz scene, talking to a musician in a club in '68? A perfect ending--or non-ending--for the Jack Purvis legend.

I know this is the new Harris CD, but every time I see the title of the thread I think that it has something to do with Organissimo and the AAJ board.

Lon, I've been so busy that I've had time to listen to only most of the first disc, but yes, this set's a beaut. Highly anticipating the rest of it.

I remember somebody on the old board posting to the effect that they had heard from Fresh Sounds that there would be a V. 2. I just got V. 1 and have been enjoying it quite a bit--I'd be interested to see what a second set might contain.

Yes, I have this cinematic image in my mind of Ed being one of the last to escape from the refinery just before it explodes. By the way, Pharaohrock just posted a note of apology to the BNBBers over on AAJ.

Is it really going to take them seven weeks to overhaul it, or are they just trying to make sure that most of the former regulars never come back?

The Bad Plus, THESE ARE THE VISTAS Carla Bley, VERY BIG BAND/BIG BAND GOES TO CHURCH/BIG BAND THEORY Roscoe Mitchell, SNURDY MCGURDY & HER DANCIN' SHOES Various artists, THE WOMEN: CLASSIC FEMALE JAZZ ARTISTS, 1939-52 Art Blakey/Joe Gordon Verve Elite, BLAKEY

I'll be doing a radio show on Gigi Gryce and the new bio, Rat Race Blues, co-authored by our resident jazz scholar Michael Fitzgerald, on Monday, March 24 and Tuesday, March 25 from 3:30-5 p.m. Eastern time. Michael will be lending his expertise as a guest via long-distance telephone. There is a possibility that the show will be expanded into a two-part program continuing on the next day; I should have this finalized by the end of this week. You can find the link on Michael's web-page at Gryce or here: WFIU. I'll up this thread a day or so before broadcast, but wanted to let folks know in advance about the show.

A nice record that I just spun today--it's an all-Detroit line-up, with Hank Jones on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. What about Red's mid-60's work with Donald Byrd? As I recall, opinion about this period was rather divided on that old--you know, that other board where we all used to hang.

I'm actually kind of glad to see it temporarily put out of its misery... though I'll admit to occasionally enjoying the perverse desecration that was going on in the past week. And where will such BN stalwarts as Junk Bond, Dr. Achtung Freud Calling, and the Red Menace now roost?

Anybody hear the Ron Carter title? I'm still waiting/hoping like a ravenous necrophiliac for Carter's ALL BLUES. (But wait--Carter's still alive! Guess I'm off the hook.)

Somebody was hanging a dumbly reductive label on the box, which is wonderful, BTW, one I have no hesitancy in recommending. This is Illinois' so-called "Little Big Band," and yes, it did incorporate some of the late-40's jump blues sound--some might say a lot. I've always found that whole convergence of "blues, boogie & bop" (to cop a line from a Verve set) intriguing and pleasing, but the Illinois set comes with a healthy serving of straight-up swing/bop jazz, IMO. Some beautiful ballad-playing by Mr. Jacquet as well. For me, it's one of the most consistently satisfying sets to listen to, and all the more remarkable in that Mosaic had to license from a wide variety of labels; I doubt such a set would even be possible for them these days.

I had a feeling, Chuck--didn't he write the liner notes for one of your Von Freemans? I read the Clarke book back in '95 and wrote a very positive review of it for a local arts magazine. Is Clarke currently at work on any new projects?

Damn, that Kenny avatar is hard on the eyes! What's going on at the old board anyway? Greg still slugging it out over SACD? Which regulars are still posting there?

I've read WISHING ON THE MOON as well as the Nicholson book. I don't recall Clarke's style as particularly "singing," but he did have one advantage over Nicholson: access to dozens of interviews that a previous would-be Holiday biographer had conducted in the early 1970's with compatriots of Holiday's, many of whom were dead by the time Nicholson started his book. So Clarke has a lot of stories that are not in the Nicholson book, and I found myself preferring his bio overall--he also seemed slightly more sympathetic to his subject, though not afraid to offer up the more unflattering aspects of her tale.

Well, I am but a lonely one, but I'd snap it up. Cherry, Blackwell, and Grimes in a trio setting sounds mighty tasty indeed.

David Baker's presence on cello was one reason that I picked it up--it was recorded in Indianapolis and I hope to use it in a series on Indiana jazz. We need to line Mr. Nessa's pockets with loot so that he can re-issue SAGA OF THE OUTLAWS.

Start with either ELLIOTT SMITH or EITHER/OR, in the case of Elliott Smith. (You've asked an impassioned zealot--I'm giving fair warning!) They're both primarily-acoustic albums that he recorded for Kill Rock Stars in 1995 and 1997. Beautiful, beautiful songs, hushed and edged with lyrical menace, junkie lullabies is how I always think of them, a kind of musical heroin. For a long time he just about ruined other singer-songwriters for me. Great hooks and harmonies, and it sounds as if he recorded it in his living-room--I mean that in a good way. Those records have a really unusual intimacy to them. XO is also outstanding, but much broader-sounding, more produced, with keyboards and strings added on some tracks. It was his Dreamworks debut, coming out not long after he received an Oscar nomination for "Miss Misery," one of several songs he contributed to the GOOD WILL HUNTING soundtrack. FIGURE 8, which came out in 2000, is probably the brightest of his records--several outstanding songs, maybe not quite as many as on previous records, but the album is sequenced brilliantly. Another pop tour de force IMO, although many fans didn't like it as much as the KRS records and XO. His earlier work, both with a band called Heatmiser and on a record called ROMAN CANDLE, is worth seeking out too. He's been in limbo for the past couple of years because of on-again/off-again drug problems and a falling-out with Dreamworks (they supposedly rejected an album he recorded called FROM A BASEMENT ON A HILL because it was too "dark"--rumor has it he'll release it on another label or put out a double-CD of even newer material). Interestingly enough, Brad Mehldau has recorded Smith's "Bottle Up and Explode" (from XO) on a radio-only promo called DE-REGULATING JAZZ. Have I yakked enough about Mr. Smith?

Rich? I ain't no filthy steenkin' reech man! My jazz habit is eternally grateful to Borders' employee discount and the "super" discount days. And Weizen--well, I thought I had him figured, but now I learn he believes the UN is the leading governmental authority and that he has a federal job. Wolf-Weizen has shed his costume to reveal that he's really a tender liberal lamb! Now that his hidden leftist agenda has come to light, I feel even happier to share with him the desire for a Jutta Hipp Mosaic Select set. Regarding the Hipp BN material, sounds like they could do a 3-CD set, a la Jones & Moncur.

Jack Purvis, 1928-36 (new Jazz Oracle set, and it's sweet, too! Well, not sweet sweet. Offbeat and hot, rather!).

Reply from Mosaic this morning:

DeepDiscount generally doesn't charge for shipping. I've ordered several items from them and have nothing bad to say about their service--just got a back-ordered item the other day: Charles Tyler's EASTERN MAN ALONE, $13.79 total.

Shameless up for broadcast in 45 minutes.