ghost of miles

Not a good 24 hours for the Yankees, given Stanton’s line-drive off the top of Tanaka’s head. On the coronavirus front: Four Atlanta Braves test positive for Covid ... not good news either. Freddie Freeman and Will Smith are two of the four.

Paul Krugman in the NY Times a couple of days ago: >>at this point Arizona, with seven million people, is reporting around as many new cases each day as the whole E.U., with 446 million people.<< Gee, America sure is great again! Re the George Floyd protests, I’ve seen several articles about cities where large protests took place and yet no spikes seem to have occurred. Speculation that this may be because the protests were held outside and the vast majority of protesters were masked. This was certainly the case at the early-June protest here in Bloomington, which I’d say I witnessed rather than attended, as I took pains to keep six feet distant or more at all times. Protest was estimated at 5-7000 people, and almost every single person I saw was masked. (As was I.) And Monroe County has seen only the slightest of upticks in the weeks since (which could also be attributed to our limited reopening). Marion County (Indianapolis) just instituted a mandatory mask policy beginning next week, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Monroe County follow suit. What drives me crazy is that the same people pushing for full-steam-ahead reopening are almost always the same folks hollering against masks and social distancing. WTF?!

Thanks for this! I’ve long contemplated doing a Powell Night Lights program, and his post-jazz classical work would certainly be a part of the conversation. (As would his post-1950 jazz recordings... the Vanguards and perhaps the 1987 Return Of Mel Powell date—though I’ve listened to the latter only once and don’t recall it being particularly memorable. Will have to give it another listen if/when I undertake a show. OTOH I might opt to frame it entirely within the 1940s, given his body of work with Goodman and the AAF, and the relative lack of exposure for his Commodore and Capitol recordings.)

Thanks BBS! Almost certainly the small group he led as part of Glenn Miller’s AAF. I think I have some of them as part of the numerous AAF compilations I’ve picked up over the years. Powell’s group was the nod-to-modernists part of Miller’s hydraheaded outfit... there’s even a broadcast of them doing one of the earliest versions of “Night in Tunisia!”

I’m going to make a CD-R (or two) of all of pianist Mel Powell’s recordings as a leader in the 1940s. I don’t own any discographies and can’t find one for Powell online—what recordings, if any, did he make under his own name in addition to the 17 for Commodore and the 12 for Capitol in this era? I’m also going to include the four solo piano sides he made in Paris in 1945, which are on the CD Glenn Miller’s G.I.s in Paris. (For those interested in Powell, the Commodores are all included on two of Mosaic’s three Commodore sets, and the Capitol sides are part of Mosaic’s Capitol Jazz collection. Ocium has put out a CD that compiles some of the Commodore and Capitol tracks, as well as a handful with Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller’s AAF, plus the solo Paris recordings.)

I think this is the same one that I bought--in fact, didn't we correspond about it off-board? Anyway, completely agree--I bought it because I wanted to get a UK box-set of Woodfall films that had no apparent prospects for a North American release. It also came in handy when I wanted the uncut BBC versions of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People. No issues whatsoever with the player, and I needed something to play domestic Blu-Rays as well anyway.

Ahmad Jamal turns 90 today. Here's this week's Night Lights show, with a special note of thanks to Jsngry and the forum in general: The Second Great Trio: Ahmad Jamal On Impulse

What on earth are the Astros (or any other team that's planning to allow fans, because apparently Houston's not alone here) thinking? But especially a team like Houston, situated in a state that is one of the leading hotspots for Covid in the country right now. Houston Astros allowing fans at MLB games is a dangerous move

Don't be a zero, be a hero!

The Rockies’ Ian Desmond is opting out of playing in 2020. Evidently not the first and probably not the last player to do so. According to the ESPN article, “Earlier Monday, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Mike Leake and Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and pitcher Joe Rossannounced that they are opting out of the 2020 season amid the coronavirus pandemic.”

No, I haven't--and I don't think Charles Mingus would have countenanced charlatans. Personally speaking, I've been lucky to hang out and talk with Amram several times over the past 10 years, and the guy just brims with good creative energy. Emailed him about the show last week and got an effusive response that left me hoping that I can still cook like that when I'm 88. So glad you liked the program! There's an Amram music bed ("City Talk," from his 1957 Jazz Studio album) that starts at 6:00 in and runs for a couple of minutes under the narrative.

Last week's Night Lights show, which delves into the music and history of New York City's Five Spot, is now up for online listening: Making A New Kind Of Scene: New York City's Five Spot It includes commentary from Five Spot regulars David Amram (also a Five Spot performer) and novelist Dan Wakefield, as well as live Five Spot recordings from Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane or Johnny Griffin, Eric Dolphy and Booker Little, and representational recordings by Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman, and poet Frank O'Hara reading "The Day Lady Died."

Zach Kram at the Ringer seems dubious that MLB will be able to complete the season, owing to the pandemic. Gotta say I agree... and also can’t believe that some teams in some of the worst-hit states right now want to seat fans at 50% capacity?! WTF. Here in Indiana they are trying to push ahead with a 50% capacity Indy 500, which is really nuts, because that means you’re talking about massing anywhere from 120-175,000 people in one place, in late August—and warm weather is decidedly not making the virus go away. Even if events are taking place in an outdoor setting, you’re still looking at giant masses of people moving through gateways, entrances, tunnels, stairs and stairwells, and using bathroom facilities. Many of them will probably not be wearing masks. The same would apply to 20-25,000 people attending a baseball game. On another note, another big thumbs down for the unearned runner on second concept. Why the hell subject pitchers to that disadvantage? While we’re at it, why not require only three balls for a walk once the game goes long? And outfielders will not be allowed to catch fly balls... they must let them drop for hits! ☝️ If they’re concerned about lengthy games during the pandemic, just allow ties after 10 innings.

Sweet serendipity! Around 7:30 this evening I finished putting together the Night Lights show "The Second Great Trio: Ahmad Jamal On Impulse" (it starts going out to stations tomorrow for broadcast this coming week). An hour later a new post from my friend Luke Gillespie, the jazz piano professor at IU, popped up on IU's Jazz Studies Facebook page: For African-American Music Appreciation Month we're posting a few of our favorite jazz recordings: From Luke Gillespie: Ahmad Jamal Trio The Awakening 1970 (Impulse) Jamil Sulieman Nassir (also spelled Nasser) - double bass Frank Gant - drums I was 13 when this came out, though I didn’t hear it til I bought the LP in Japan when I was 15, and I was hooked. It was this album that taught me how styles (straight 8ths and swing) and meters (4/4 and 3/4) could be mixed and switched inside a given tune’s arrangement. Also, I learned about pedal points, ostinatos, modal playing and chromaticism, hemiolas, the coexistence of rhythmic subdivisions (for example, when drums play double time while bass plays half time or in “2”), playing “in and out” (of time and key), and the use of tertian and quartal harmony from this record. Also, need to include another record this trio recorded in 1968 called “At the Top: Poinciana Revisited (Live at the Village Gate)” also on Impulse. It includes many of the same things I learned from “The Awakening” and has an excellent example of metric modulation where the dotted quarter note in 3/4 becomes the new quarter note in 4/4 and back again in his original tune “Lament”. I feel awakened!

I envy your neighborly proximity! I have the book, but haven't started reading it yet... ordered the CD yesterday.

Finally obtained my own copy after years of borrowing the station's library CD:

Me as well. Thanks for the post, Larry--prompted me to pull this off the shelf for some late-evening listening.

Thanks to Late for hipping me indirectly to this reissue (via his post about it in this thread iirc):

Yep, seems you're right. This is from the 2003 interview with Kenny Washington that's included in the Mosaic booklet: AJ: Someone talked me into building a restaurant so I could stay home in the Alhambra and just work there and that's what happened. So when I built the Alhambra, it was such a headache that I decided to quit everything, dismantle the group and come here (New York City) and go to school. My long-felt ambition was to go to Julliard. Of course, that didn't happen. I started working again. KW: So that's why you broke up the trio? AJ: As a result of the trauma of opening up the restaurant, 43 employees. What do I need with a restaurant? Come on.

The power of (online) journalism, folks. TPM broke the story earlier this week that the Trump admin was planning to end its support for testing sites in Texas and other states at the end of this month, in spite of the resurgence and rise in cases of coronavirus. Now Texas GOP senators Cruz and Cornyn are demanding that the federal govt continue to support those sites. This is a *very* bipartisan, apolitical virus!

Sounds as if Texas is not in great shape right now: Texas governor orders pause in reopening ...and is suspending elective surgeries again.

Hiatus was apparently from 1962-64, which is what I meant by several years in the early 1960s. Source is Wikipedia and isn't footnoted, so I don't take it as gospel, that's for sure... trying to find out more information along those lines. But even this discography seems to indicate there was indeed some sort of hiatus in the 1962-64 period. I'm just not sure why he took it. I sent a bibliographic index request to JazzInstitut, and hopefully that will provide me with a lead or two. And even though the Mosaic set ends in 1962, I'm going to reread the booklet to see if there's any mention of why he might have stopped recording and performing for a couple of years during this period.

Co-hosted by Greg Bryant and Nate Chinen. Haven't had a chance to listen yet, but the concept sounds intriguing: Jazz United