ghost of miles

Just read this quote in the liner notes to Film Score Monthly's CD of music from The Split (where the Parker character--renamed McClain, iirc--is played by Jim Brown). Right now, inspired by my re-reading last year of Dog Soldiers: I had assumed the title was an ode to high-grade weed, but apparently Stone's referring to "green light that washes over the rainforest at dawn." Still, I'm sure he wouldn't have minded it working the other way as well.

I'd be interested in that as well.

Nice historical overview via a Bandcamp article: The Real Swinging London: The Legacy Of Brit Jazz

This is an ongoing conundrum when it comes to the parameters of year-end polls (whether we're talking historical or modern recordings). Iirc Francis Davis advises those who vote in the NPR poll to use Thanksgiving or thereabouts as a cutoff date. The Hayes box came out quite late in 2019, and I don't think I got my copy (I bought it through Amazon UK) until right around Christmas. Same thing happened with Mosaic's Mobley and Herman sets. Releases that come that late in the year often don't get attention in the form of media/online response until the next year's already started--not to mention that listening all the way through something as large as the Hayes box, while an absolute pleasure, takes a fair amount of time. Anyway, the Hayes box didn't get nixed when I submitted my NPR ballot, so they're evidently cool with counting it as a 2020 release.

The NPR jazz poll requires that entries be ranked--so for the three historical-related titles that I was allowed to choose, I put the Hayes box first. It made such a huge swath of previously-hard-to-find music available in one fell swoop and did a great service in elevating the profile of a musician not well-known at all (or so it seemed to me) outside UK jazz circles. Not to mention the extensive booklet that Simon Spillett wrote for it.

I just mentioned in a response to Ken Dryden in my "best historical releases" Night Lights thread that I avoid ranking of any kind in that list that I do each year--and I don't cap it at 5, 10, or what have you. Some artistic endeavors clearly succeed--however that's defined--more than others. But attempting to apply some sort of sports-stats or election-count methodology to jazz recordings, or any other works of art for that matter, may be a fun game... but not really an accurate way IMO to reflect the worthiness of such works. Your point about the value of such lists in introducing records and artists to those, both broader-audience and more deep-dive listeners like us here on this board, is one I definitely agree with, though.

Agreed about servicing. And I may not be quite as vigilant about keeping up with all manner of historical releases and reissues as I have been in the past--this board and other forms of social media are helpful in that regard. I'm also fortunate that my local record store does a great job of displaying such titles of interest--that's how I found out that the Pullen/Graves Yale concert had finally been reissued on CD. It's also hard at times to keep up with the flood of new material by modern-day artists. Re Monk Palo Alto, I've always stayed away, in my own year-end lists, from any kind of ranking. I'll add these to the listener-and-reader-suggestions list. Hadn't heard of them, so thanks for the heads-up... I am a Rivers fan.

Great article--thanks so much for posting. (Full disclosure that I've been asked to vote in this poll for the past several years.)

That one somehow slipped by me... I'm sure I missed discussion of it here on the board. Btw I've added posters' suggestions and favorites here to the bottom of the post (as I did for last year's program). Also tacked on the Blakey, which was one that made it into the show, but which I inadvertently left off the overall list. Best Historical Releases 2020

I actually have the set but got it so late in the year that I've listened only to the first 1-2 discs so far. Thought about listing it simply on the basis of that and how much I enjoyed the first set, but didn't feel right including it at this point... will probably append it to the 2021 list.

One 2020 flashback that's hopefully more enjoyable than the year in general (granted, a low bar to clear): Best Historical Releases 2020 Also realizing that I'm long past due figuring out a way to incorporate exclusively vinyl reissues (such as Blue Note's Tone Poet series) into these surveys. I can't honestly feature or say anything about them, because I don't buy new vinyl (for a variety of reasons)* and such releases never get serviced to radio (at least that I'm aware of). But I'm certainly aware that vinyl is the more popular format now for reissues and archival recordings. I may just start posting a general supplementary list of LPs that came out in the past year, more as a reference point than anything else. *Rare exceptions made for titles like the Sonny Clark trio album that came out on Record Store Day a couple of years ago and was initially announced as vinyl-only, though it was subsequently released on CD as well.

Recorded and released in 1987, sounding all too timely right now: (Listening to the bonus disc now from the 2-CD version that got reissued a few years ago--a kinetic 1987 concert in Europe)

Happy to have at last gotten a copy of this:

Such great, great news!

With Herbie so much in the air these past two days:

Listening to Anatomy Of A Murder last night left me in the mood to hear more 1956-62 Ellington on Columbia:

Hey, yes, it's authentic--I listened live yesterday when Jason premiered it on YouTube, and it's amazing! Glad to see that it's still available for all to enjoy... well worth it for any devotees of Nichols (and I know there are more than a few on the board here). Near the end there are some notated sheets of Herbie's shown for a tune called "52nd St. Rag," with which I'm unfamiliar... has anybody recorded it?

We re-aired Swingers: Hugh Hefner, Playboy Magazine, And Jazz this past week, and it remains archived for online listening.

Amazon does list a CD, praise the deity of your choice. But yeah, several new releases I've taken a pass on, jazz and otherwise, in the past year or two because they were available only as downloads or vinyl.