ghost of miles

Via the booklet for the box set of Davis' Prestige quintet recordings: In his liner notes to Steamin', Joe Goldberg wrote that many listeners initially felt that the quintet was comprised of "a trumpet player who could play only in the middle register and fluffed half his notes; an out-of-tune tenor player; a cocktail pianist; a drummer who played so loud that nobody else could be heard; and a teenage bassist."

Picked up this Verve Elite used at my local record store yesterday. Turns out today is Mr. Smith’s birthday!

Awaiting the first posting of a shipping notice! Who'll be the lucky Organissimo member this time?

That Lambert book is invaluable in so many ways. Here’s the Night Lights show, which focuses only on the first several months of the broadcasts, while war was continuing in the Pacific Theatre: The Duke Is On The Air: Duke Ellington’s Summer 1945 Treasury Department Broadcasts

So we have one eyewitness account that validates the “they thought he was a junkie” account, which doesn’t seem like such a wildly implausible scenario in the first place. I’m all in favor of historical accuracy and not bending truth to fit an ideological agenda, but the agenda of the initial post here seems to be an attempt to remove stereotyping, racism etc from the historical equation, as if the story had been cooked up in the first place. For now, we have the account of a witness and fellow musician that seems to confirm the “he’s a junkie ODing” story—and unless somebody wants to challenge Karl Berger’s credibility, why should it be questioned? What is the point?

This is from the opening of Vladimir Simosko's Dolphy biography: Dolphy was apparently already seriously ill upon his arrival at (the Tangent), and by the evening of the club's opening was able to play only two sets before being forced to leave the bandstand. His condition had worsened the next day, and he repeatedly asked friends to take him home. He died in Berlin on June 29. Joachim Berendt reported in Down Beat that doctors at the Berlin Achenbach Hospital had stated that Dolphy was a diabetic who had too much sugar in his bloodstream, and that he had suffered a circulatory collapse; the medical report from Europe attributed death to a heart attack. According to Simosko's bio, Dolphy told Joachim Berendt not long before his death that "I'd like to stay in Europe. There is no race trouble. I'll live in Paris." This topic actually reminds me that there's still a need for a good, thorough Dolphy biography. Did Brian Morton's work-in-progress ever come out?

Re the bump on Dolphy's forehead, here's an account from Zan Stewart's essay for the 1995 Dolphy Prestige box set: Then there was the remarkable growth on Dolphy's forehead, a benign tumor that had appeared sometime in 1961 and was removed before his death. "Monk told him it was his knowledge bump and he shouldn't have it cut off," says (Hale) Smith, but Eric's mother kept pressuring him, and he finally underwent the procedure for its removal. ... During the trip (to Europe in 1964), Dolphy was reportedly in very bad health. For the last year or so, his diet had been based around honey, and he always carried jars of it with him. After leaving Mingus and staying in Paris for a brief time, Eric, despite being seriously ill, went to Berlin on June 27, 1964 to honor an engagement with a trio led by pianist Karlhans Berger at a new club called the Tangent. He played two sets, and then had to return to his hotel room. Two days later, a doctor diagnosed him as being in a diabetic coma and administered an insulin injection to break the coma. According to Smith, who was told by Dolphy's mother, the dose was a very powerful one, a kind of insulin not then available in the States. It sent Dolphy into insulin shock, and he died on the night of June 29, just nine days past his 36th birthday.

A fascinating account of W.E.B. Du Bois’ unfinished book about Black soldiers in WW1: NY Times book review

I’m sure it’s been mentioned upthread, but anybody wishing to hear some prime mid-1970s Hutcherson should track down that 2007 Mosaic Select (though it doesn’t include Montara, iirc).

Very cool!

Iirc Watson was the one to whom Blakey said, "This isn't the post office."

I’m getting inundated with gambling ads on a variety of baseball sites. To me it’s a plague, though I have several friends and relatives who bet casually. I’ve got enough addictive tendencies as it is and would prefer to keep marshaling that energy and my dollars into books, CDs, and other endeavors. But if I’m gonna make a bet, here’s one that I think’s pretty solid: the gambling problem in sports is only going to get worse.

Taco Bell? (Apologies btw if your HoF remark was sincere and not in snarky jest, as I first interpreted it. Not a fan of that particular uniform, but since I’m not a Padres fan I rarely see it!)

I may have been thinking of spumoni:

A late-night 90-minute talk show hosted by Cannonball that ran on KNBC-Los Angeles for 13 weeks in 1972, following The Tonight Show. Apparently no audio or video survives.

Are those the ones that look like Neapolitan ice cream? They wore those for one of their home games against the Yankees earlier this year. Speaking of the Yankees, or at least one in particular—Aaron Judge in his last 41 games (equal to 1/4 of a season): .403 BA, 21 HRs, 49 RBIs. Via MLB.com: After Judge’s 2-for-4, three-RBI performance Tuesday, the slugger is tied with the Guardians' José Ramírez for the Major League lead in RBIs (62) and leads MLB in on-base percentage (.437), slugging percentage (.712), OPS (1.149) and walks (55). And that’s after he had an absolutely abysmal April. Guy is just incredible to watch.

Thanks for hipping me to this record. Doesn’t appear to have ever been reissued on CD except in Japan about ten years ago? I was hoping that perhaps Fantasy had paired it with another Adderley album on a twofer, but doesn’t appear to be the case. Any rough estimate yet from Scott on when it’s coming out?

Really digging the opening cut “The Scavenger” on this one—has a Coltrane-ish vibe at times and excellent solo from Zawinul:

Looks like Soto and the Yankees may have dodged a bullet. Initial diagnosis is inflammation, which is the best-case scenario. Soto injury update … and while he’s not in tonight’s lineup for the start of the big series with the Dodgers, he has not been put on the IL… at this point, anyway.

Juan Soto removed from tonight’s game after rain delay with “left elbow discomfort.” That’s often a red alert for torn UCL/TJS. A huge blow to NY’s offensive prowess and postseason chances if it proves to be the case.

Via a Yankee stats account that uses Baseball Reference’s Stathead Streak Finder tool: Yankee rookie Luis Gil is the first pitcher since 1901 to throw 6 innings with 5 H or fewer and 1 R or fewer in seven straight games. On another note, happy to see old friend Luis Severino doing well crosstown with the Mets.