Mark Stryker

Stat of the day from Tyler Kepner of the New York Times: When retired San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain was 5 years old, he turned three unassisted triple plays in T-ball. I should point out that this won’t help him get into the Hall of Fame — he’s on the ballot for the first time this year — but it should be considered.

Let me add my voice to others but with a direct prescription: What the world needs is a memoir from Michael about his alert and influential life lived within the marrow of the music business. THAT would be an ESSENTIAL read and revealing window into the last 50 years of jazz across the stylistic spectrum -- the musicians who made it and the people who produced and recorded it, packaged it, and sold and presented it, as well as the conditions in which they all worked. And for Jesus Fuck's Sake, would the NEA please give him the Jazz Master award for advocacy. It's a mockery that he remains unrecognized in this way.

Great record! I've been kicking around the idea of writing a column focused on J.J.'s composing and arranging skills.

One difference is that Glass Bead Games has now been reissued several times on audiophile vinyl so there are additional, available options beyond originals if you want it on LP. That's not the case with Blackstone Legacy. I also think that Glass Bead Games isn't as firmly planted in the "spiritual" camp because it's (a) less modal than Blackstone Legacy and (b) lacks some of the other loose markers of the genre such, say, as the African vibe of the cover and the word "black" in the title, vs. the typography-forward cover of Glass Bead Games and its Hermann Hesse-derived name. To be clear: I'm not condoning the collector mentality, just trying to explain it. Full disclosure: I do live partly in that world, but I'm not insane. There but for the grace of God and all that.

Two reasons I think: 1) Scarcity. It was released in 1971 in a relatively modest number and never repressed or reissued in America on vinyl. There appears to be Japanese vinyl reissue of it somewhere along the way. The only domestic CD version came out in 1999. 2) It's typically grouped in with the black "spiritual jazz" of its era and those records, for whatever reason, are intensely collected these days by folks both in America and overseas.

New to me. Thirty-five minutes of remarkable footage of the Cecil Taylor Unit with Jimmy Lyons, Sam Rivers, and Andrew Cyrille.

That time Keith Jarrett was on "Saturday Night Live." April 15, 1978. Two performances at 18:35 and 48:50. Also on this episode, Howard Johnson, who played baritone sax in the SNL band in that era, gets a showcase for his tuba band, Gravity, near the close! Also amusing to see Jarrett kibitzing with the cast at the end, particularly Gilda, who puts her arm around him. https://archive.org/details/saturday-night-live-s-03-e-17-michael-sarrazin-4-15-1978

Thanks for this. It made me me go back to my records to refresh my memory of "Kitty" -- glad I did. Greer is rocking.

Sonny played that Brooks Kerr gig for a long while I think. Would have loved to hear him in person.

I wasn't aware of these. Thanks.

Really enjoyed writing this one. https://jazztimes.com/features/columns/chronology-sonny-greer-and-sam-woodyard-drum-for-the-duke/

Many thanks! PM on its way.

In that era, "Blues for Philly Joe" is another masterpiece of thematic development. Not as iconic or extended as "Blue Seven" but more swinging and a lot more fun. https://dokumen.tips/documents/blues-for-philly-joe-sonny-rollins-solo.html

Gang, In the 1958 Downbeat Yearbook, there's a story about the Detroit scene with a photo of Paul Chambers (I think). The piece includes a great quote from Pepper Adams in which he singles out Barry Harris' mentorship as a key reason for the vitality of the scene, calling him "Uncle Barry. For the film documentary that I'm coproducing based on Jazz from Detroit, I need to track down a high-res color scan or a high-res phone photograph of that story, along with the cover of the issue. I think you can see where this is going. Anybody have a copy of that yearbook and, if so, can you help a brother out? mstryker63 (at) gmail.com. Thanks

Video of this concert has long circulated.