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It's a little hard to tell, but Birdland Days features Getz and Miles at Birdland in 1950. Perhaps most of that LP can be found on this compilation. Then there is another PD variant called Move, which also has a lot of the same material.

I streamed some of this on iTunes, but I have to admit it did nothing for me, particularly the title track (something about the jazz vocals rubbed me the wrong way).

The Most Heartless Town in Canada was solid. It is about a number of things, including the power of the media and what happens to people caught up in the scandal du jour. It's also about how it is often people that have no business being in positions of authority end up in positions of authority. The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra is quite good. It is the second book Marra has published on the Russian war in Chechnya. This is actually a collection of interlinked stories, not a novel. In a couple of places, he skates right up to the line (of being a bit too clever or cute) but he pulls it off. I suspect this will probably end up in my top 5 books of the year. Also rereading Carlos Fuentes' Constancia and Other Stories for Virgins. I read it a long time ago but didn't remember anything about it. After dipping into the book I realized that was because I simply don't like these stories (and repressed them), and I ought to just abandon it. I was kind of 'meh' about The Old Gringo, but on the other hand, I just adored Christopher Unborn, so I guess you never know when an author will suit your tastes. Unfortunately, there is just too much to read to give every author 2 or 3 times before just giving up on him or her.

The Most Heartless Town in Canada by Elaine McCluskey A look at some outcasts from a small town in Nova Scotia. Not entirely sure where it is going. Probably after this The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra. At some point I'll have to read Lincoln in the Bardo as my director gave me his copy.

My view this afternoon:

Wrapped up Achebe's Arrow of God, completing my pass through the "African Trilogy." My favorite of the three was No Longer at Ease. Just starting in on Ovid's Metamorpheses. While the Humphries is still my favorite translation, this time around I'm also going to take a look at Melville (Oxford) as well as Golding (Shakespeare worked from this translation).

I do have this volume of his short stories but haven't cracked it yet. In the next month or so, I plan on rereading Morte d'Urban, which I enjoyed quite a bit 15 or so years ago. I suspect I'll still like it on the next go round.

I finally, finally finished Musil's The Man Without Qualities. (I would have finished sooner except it was much too heavy to take to the gym and read at the stationary bikes...) The last 50 pages of rough notes (it's an unfinished novel) were particularly challenging. On the whole, I'd say it wasn't worth it. Interestingly, NYRB is going to be publishing a big chunk of Vol. 2 as Agathe. Fairly close to wrapping up Park's Personal Days, and I am waiting on a copy of Achebe's Arrow of God to turn up at the library.

I was telling someone at work I might just have been convinced to watch 2 films - There and Back Again - but a trilogy was such an abuse of the audience's time and wallets that I couldn't stomach it. I have no intention of ever actually watching the Hobbit trilogy.

I have to be honest, at least in terms of the headliners, Montreal doesn't look a lot better. It's Norah Jones (again), Chvrches and Pink Martini. https://www.montrealjazzfest.com/en-CA Now, if you dig a bit deeper, they have some solid artists like Joshua Redman, Vijay Iyer, Tord Gustavsen, Chick Corea and apparently Buddy Guy. But still a bit of a let down compared to the previous ones.

The headliners are not terribly inspiring this year - Norah Jones, Diana Ross and Tower of Power. http://torontojazz.com/sites/default/files/calendar.html But there are some interesting artists at the various free shows. I'm fairly likely to catch Melissa Aldana on June 25 and the Bernie Senensky Septet on June 30. Maybe Kris Davis on June 26. It looks like Chris Potter is in town for a couple of late evening sets at the Rex, and I may or not make it to that.

I agree it is quite unlikely the Raptors can pull it off, but they do play very good defense, and we'll just have to see how it goes.

Things were looking kind of bleak for the Raptors, but the rest of the team stepped it up in Games 5 and 6. I didn't think they would pull it off, and it's quite impressive that they did reel off 4 straight wins against the Bucks. I don't think their chances against the Warriors are great, but they did beat them in the regular series (or the warm up games as Kawhi calls them) and they do have home court advantage, so I suppose it's possible...

Apple Music has Fajardo Danzones Completos vol. 1 and vol. 2. Thanks for the tip.

Picked up Ed Park's Personal Days. It's a satire of corporate America. Intriguingly, it came out within a year of Joshua Ferris’ Then We Came to the End and it also uses 1st person plural (at least in the first section), so the similarities are numerous but probably unintentional. I haven't gotten far enough to tell how much I will like it, particularly the stylistic changes in the later parts, but Then We Came to the End does seem to be the stronger novel overall.

Hope you enjoy it. I'll never be an expert in such matters, but P/V do the job well for me. I'll probably be reading their Crime and Punishment this fall and maybe Karamazov in another year or two.

Frank Rosolino

Very late to this thread. I've been hooked on the Jazz in Paris series for some time now, getting all of the "late" releases up through through 2008, but there is something about the large number of BN sessions showing up in this batch that really spoils it for me. I guess the spell has been broken. There is a small but non-zero chance that I'd get the Georges Arvanitas one just for old times' sake (and I do enjoy the cover photo), but I think I'll pass on the rest. Maybe in another 10 years they'll issue Jazz et Cinema vol 6...

Apologies if mentioned above, but I don't believe Guy Lafitte's Jazz Quintet (Columbia ‎– FP 1161) has made it to CD. While it is far too short to be released on its own, it could perhaps be combined with some of the Sax Succes EPs (on Pathé). One track from Jazz Quintet may be circulating (Le Chat Qui Dort) but not the other 5, though in fact I am not even sure it is the same take. The version on Guy Lafitte et Son Quartette Avec Kenny Hagood is a vocal track, and the pianist would be different, etc. There's no particular reason it would turn up on the Jazz Quintet LP rather than being a different take.

I'm not very good at abandoning books, but I am getting better, having learned that a book I am not digging doesn't miraculously turn around and get better, and indeed, often the author really can't stick the landing (at least for me). I gave William Trevor's The Boarding-House 50 pages, but only 30 to Mitzi Bytes (a novel about the unmasking of a mommy blogger). And for novels that really squick me out (father-daughter incest or violence against women and children) it's more like 10 pages. I was so disappointed with PKD's Confessions of a Crap Artist, where the narrator feels humiliated by having to buy his sister a box of Tampax, so he ends up punching her in the stomach and getting into a real brawl. I could not even contemplate finishing the novel after that scene. Basically felt the same about the loathsome narrator from Donleavy's The Ginger Man and won't ever finish that one up either.

Also on iTunes though the indexing is funny. I had to search for Hannibal and Rabbit for it to show up...

Just found the 4 CD Coleman Hawkins on Keynote from an eBay seller for a reasonable price. Fingers crossed it is in good or at least reasonable condition. I did see there is a used copy on Discogs, though the seller is in France, so shipping may be a bit steep for anyone in North America.

I see that the answer is yes. The individual albums all just hit iTunes, either today or perhaps yesterday. (Likely on Spotify as well, but I don't monitor that.) Now whether they are remastered or not or include any bonus material is a different story, but for now, I am pretty stoked to be able to listen to the original albums. Who knows. I may end up springing for a physical copy.

While I am interested in the Nucleus box, I also have cut way, way back on the amount of physical stuff I am ordering. Is there any indication whether this will eventually be released in a digital format or on the streaming platforms?

That's a shame. It's actually pretty incredible that people think they can still get away with stuff like this. Maybe they need to get the social media mob to set to work... I think they are off to Seattle and Vancouver next. I was hoping they would stop off in Toronto, but it doesn't look like it.