ghost of miles

This is the excellent single-disc compilation that I listened to while preparing the show:

An oldie but goodie.

Has the Sept 14, 1972 Paul's Mall broadcast ever been considered for inclusion in the Bootleg series? I won't link to it per board policy, but it's readily available online and has apparently circulated for a long time. The On The Corner box covered studio sessions from 1972 to 1975, but there's been precious little live material from that period released in the Bootleg collections, correct? I think some stuff on the Newport 1955-75, but otherwise no post-1970 live performances. I'd snap up a new volume of concert material from that era...any word as to what, if anything, might be next in the series?

Last week's Night Lights program, The Revolution Will Be Recorded: The Flying Dutchman Story, took a look at producer Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman label and is now archived for online listening. It includes music from Gil Scott-Heron, Duke Ellington, Oliver Nelson (lots of Oliver Nelson!), Leon Thomas, Gato Barbieri, Louis Armstrong and others, as well as excerpts from some of the spoken-word recordings that the label released. There was so much to cover that I'm going to do a sequel next year.

A happy 22 years to being here on Organissimo. There's life in this ol' hoss yet!

The Powell and the Braff-Larkins alone make this a no-brainer for me. Hopefully there’ll be a third set that includes some or all of the omitted material mentioned above.

One of my faves in the Bootleg series:

From a press release for the Freddie Hubbard: On the newly unearthed collection On Fire: Live from the Blue Morocco, legendary trumpeter Freddie Hubbard is heard at his ferocious peak. This unissued 1967 performance, recorded at Sylvia Robinson’s Bronx Club with an all-star band featuring Bennie Maupin, Kenny Barron, Herbie Lewis and Freddie Waits, is due from Resonance Records as a limited edition 3-LP set on Record Store Day, April 12, 2025, with the CD edition to follow on April 18. “This recording is insane! It’s one of the most exciting live documents I’ve ever heard in my life,” says renowned trumpeter Steven Bernstein. "It’s f!cking mind-blowing. Freddie’s on fire. It's just so damn good.” The package includes new interviews with Maupin and Barron, notes by jazz authority John Koenig, appreciations and Interviews with Charles Tolliver, Eddie Henderson, Steven Bernstein, Jeremy Pelt and more. From a press release for the Kenny Dorham: I’m honored to be working with Resonance records and producer Zev Feldman on a never-before-heard live recording from master hard bop trumpeter Kenny Dorham. Out as a 2-LP set for Record Store Day, April 12, 2025 and on CD April 18, the storming all-star club date Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco features Dorham with alto saxophonist Sonny Red, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Denis Charles. The package features liner notes by two-time Grammy winner Bob Blumenthal; a Dorham appreciation by Dan Morgenstern, the late director of Rutgers University’s Institute of Jazz Studies and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master; remembrances from trumpeters Eddie Henderson, Charles Tolliver, Steven Bernstein, and Jeremy Pelt; and more. It was recorded by Bernard Drayton in 1967 at the titular New York venue. From a press release for the Mingus: I, for one, can’t ever get enough Mingus and I’m excited to be working with Resonance Records on In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts, a brilliant 3-LP live recording of Charles Mingus’ little-heard late-70s working quintet. The album – featuring Mingus with trumpeter Jack Walrath, tenor saxophonist Ricky Ford, pianist Robert Neloms and drummer Dannie Richmond – will be out April 12, 2025 as a limited edition three-LP Record Store Day exclusive, followed by a two-CD set on April 18. Recorded in concert at the Teatro Coliseo and the Teatro Sociedad Hebraica Argentina (SHA) on June 2-3, 1977, the first authorized release of these dates comes with an expansive package including notes from Mingus biographer Brian Priestley, reflections of the concerts from Argentinian writer Claudio Parisi, new interviews with band members Jack Walrath and Ricky Ford and more.

These will be out on CD as well in the weeks following RSD: Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa In The Bronx Freddie Hubbard, On Fire at the Blue Morocco Charles Mingus, In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts RDS 2025 full list of releases

Another Boras bust: Pete Alonso, who turned down a seven-year, $158 million extension offer from the Mets a year and a half ago, has now signed a two-year $54 million deal with them that includes an opt-out clause after 2025. If this is the best the market is going to offer Alonso at age 30, how does it get better in a year, even if he has a monster 2025 season?

Up for another go-around this past week: Jukebox Jazz

Settling in with this newly-arrived one, which was always going to get immediate attention and go straight to the top of the stacks (if not the charts) of my book-clogged coffee table. I’ve even cleared a special place for it, that’s how committed I am to delving in right away. I’ve bogged down a bit in that one. Interesting and insightful, but tinged with jargon that I think some would find offputting. Still in the top 40 of my in-progress reads.

Thanks so much, Rabshakeh--I'm especially glad if the very savvy folks around here find them of any use or value. Upping this to mention a previous show, a prequel of sorts, I suppose, that could represent Columbia's "losing season of jazz": The Great Columbia Jazz Purge: Coleman, Evans, Jarrett and Mingus

And up again, aired for the week leading up to MLK Day. Swing It Loud: Duke Ellington’s Early Black-Pride Music

Dodgers are the 21st century Yankees. Sasaki signs with L.A.

I just wanted to add a topic tag to an old post about a Night Lights show. (And got only the share/report option.) No big deal, but this seems like a needlessly obstructive control. Was a board member editing past argumentative posts in a misleading way? This seems like a small enough forum that such an issue could be dealt with by warning or banning any such member, rather than imposing a draconian one-hour limit on editing any post that one writes here. Or was there some other issue? At the very least, it seems topic starters should be able to edit their initial topic posts (or delete them, as has often been the case in the Offering and Looking For forum).

Absolutely devastating. I was at both of the Jazz Congress events that he mentions, and he seemed his usual good-hearted, consummate-pro self. He’s an Indiana University jazz alum, so I’m going to talk up the GoFundMe page on my show this afternoon (and will donate to it myself). The loss in Los Angeles is overwhelming to contemplate. Second all of this. I’ve met and talked with him only once, when he was out here to lead IU’s spring jazz concert a few years ago, and he was one of the most congenial, gracious and talented musician educators I’ve ever met. Very worthy of the award he received last week.

Am I somehow overlooking the "Edit topic" button? Just tried to edit an old post/topic in the Jazz Radio forum and could not get the edit function to appear.

Last week's Night Lights show, A Winning Season of Jazz: Bruce Lundvall and Columbia Records in the Late 1970s is up for online listening. It includes commentary from an interview I did with Michael Cuscuna, as well as music from Dexter Gordon, Weather Report, Freddie Hubbard, Arthur Blythe and others.

Was in NYC last week for Jazz Congress and managed to catch Deanna Witkowski at Mezzrow (my first visit there--great venue), Kris Davis at the Village Vanguard (Johnathan Blake was on fire, and I was seated right next to the drums), and Bill Charlap at Smoke (had a long and fascinating conversation afterwards with Kenny Washington about his writing the notes for the Jamal Mosaic). Jazz Congress also hosted a great tribute to the late Russell Malone in the Appel Room at JALC, with numerous musicians such as Ron Carter, Kenny Barron, Diana Krall, and others playing 1-2 numbers apiece.

Just finished the Wald book last night and have been revisiting Greil Marcus' The Old, Weird America (I'm a Basement Tapes obsessive) as well as David Hadju's Positively 4th Street and Robert Shelton's No Direction Home. Also pulled a number of the Bootleg releases off the shelf and have been listening to them again over the past few days (Live 1966, Trouble No More, Live 1975, Bootleg Series V. 1-3, Best of the Cutting Edge, and The Basement Tapes Complete). Will probably pick up both volumes of Heylin's massive bio at some point... please don't stage an intervention. 😆