ghost of miles

Love Geri Allen's work on that one.

It is an interesting period, what with the Americans and the Soviets racing to divvy up Europe, allies who were already viewing each other as future Cold War enemies. That's one of the reasons why I'll probably give THE FALL OF BERLIN a read.

Dave, is THE FALL OF BERLIN written by the same author who did STALINGRAD a few years back? That was a grim read... Late, I'll ask Sean about the Oxford. Good to hear they're putting together that anthology. Another acquaintance of mine, Sascha Feinstein, did his graduate work here and helped Yusef Komunyakaa edit two anthologies of jazz poetry in the 1990's; he now edits a jazz literary magazine called BRILLIANT CORNERS. Melville: I've read only MOBY DICK, BILLY BUDD, and "Bartleby." Meaning, I've read what I had to read in high school. However, my grandfather was a huge Melville-head, and I'd really like to read PIERRE and some of the short stories.

And now--the man, the legend, the BNBB superstar... AricEffron! Welcome, Aric.

Praise be to ye, because that sounds wrong. It's a frequently-used allusion in headlines for stories about the Potter phenomenon... in fact, I came across two today after I posted.

I just finished a couple of poetry books myself--JELLY ROLL, a collection of blues poems by Kevin Young (who teaches here at IU) and DISCOGRAPHY, a book of poems with jazz motifs by a former IU student and friend of mine, Sean Singer (he won the Yale Series of Younger Poets prize for it). Right now I'm absorbed by Graham Greene's THE QUIET AMERICAN (anybody see the movie they made of this? Not the 50's one, which I hear is atrocious, but the recent one) and Eric Porter's WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED JAZZ?, which I think would be enjoyed by anybody who liked Scott Deveaux's approach in THE BIRTH OF BEBOP.

Shrdlu and Greg are here now--can "Warne's World" be far behind? Glad to see you here, Shrdlu.

Your nephew has nosed out my wife, Lon. She started around 10 yesterday morning and was up until 3 a.m. in a similarly absorbed state--then resumed and finished this morning. The books aren't my cup of tea, either, but (on the basis of having read the first one) I respect what Rowlings is doing, and it is great to see such excitement over a literary endeavour. I don't think any adult readers need to make excuses for getting caught up in the series. I've been thinking about giving Hammett another spin myself, Mark, but I'm too immersed in Graham Greene right now--THE QUIET AMERICAN is great!

So, I read the first book years ago and didn't get hooked, but I trotted down to our downtown indie bookseller last night to pick up the latest as a surprise for my wife (a doctoral candidate in Victorian lit, so no literary slouch she). A longtime fan of the series, she's been immersed in HP5 all day... I think the whole phenomenon is pretty cool, actually. I was hoping to have my own Harry Potter moment of magic on Friday, in the form of a Bunny Berigan Mosaic set arrival, but alas, alas! I must wait until Monday, at the earliest. (Did luck into a copy of Mark Tucker's THE ELLINGTON READER late Friday afternoon, though--I was as excited about that as the rest of the world was about J.K. Rowlings' latest.) I'm certain that those on the board with children have vicariously experienced Pottermania, but how many of you have read the books yourselves? I know quite a few adults who do--and Michiko Kakutani's review of the newest entry was on the front page of the Times today. Interesting to think that all around the world today, hundreds of thousands of people are reading the same book. No wonder it's been so damned quiet!

Actually, Duophonic reminds me a bit more of another BNBB poster--that esteemed English author Mr. Warne's World.

Congratulations, Tony--sounds as if the new addition will arrive just in time for Father's Day!

Dr. J has to be Tony, based on a reading of said Dr.'s posts.

Mr. Milazzo has checked in!

Yes, I ordered it this morning, and lucky for me, too, before Jim's review sends board-members stampeding to deplete BMG's stock!

Damn--that sure beats hell out of the AMG review!

Hey, I saw that moniker and wondered... I remember mentioning him on this board once and eliciting several positive responses. I think Dan Gould was still in touch with him and mentioned that he perused this place from time to time. Glad he's here, if it is indeed him.

Sold!

I've got a couple of freebies still coming from BMG, and they have the mini-LP Verve re-issue of Herman's Philips album 1963. Jim Sangrey swears by this period of Herman, and who knows if the alleged Philips "box" will ever come to pass, so I'm thinking of pulling the trigger--any thoughts from those who might already have it?

I was thinking about starting this thread today anyway, and then saw Chris' topic about the old board. I really miss Joe Milazzo; I know he's active on JC and AAJ, but he's a BNBB vet whose presence would be most welcome here.

In addition to meeting Chuck Nessa last Thursday & hanging out at his swell jazz joint, I've also hooked up with sheldonm, once to view the Kerouac ON THE ROAD manuscript down here at the Lilly Library, and once up in Indianapolis to catch the Wayne Shorter Quartet. sheldonm's a great guy who's given me several cool prints of jazz musician photos he took. I've also rapped on the phone with White Lightning and hope to meet him eventually as well. These meetings & calls have led my wife to compose a couplet: Everywhere you go/ there's an organissimo She thinks we're a jazz mafia or something.

Checking in from Douglas, Michigan (just 60 miles south of Chuck Nessa's swell jazz joint) where I'm on the next-to-last day of my vacation, perusing the following: Robert Dupuis, BUNNY BERIGAN: ELUSIVE LEGEND OF JAZZ William L. Van Deburg, NEW DAY IN BABYLON: THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT AND AMERICAN CULTURE, 1965-1975 Chester Himes, LONELY CRUSADE Arthur Conan Doyle, THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES Henry James, THE ART OF FICTION AND OTHER ESSAYS However, I have no CD player with me and am suffering a serious jazz jones... particularly with the CDs I bought from Chuck smokin' a hole in my suitcase.

Congratulations, Mike! With my other station's permission (still pending), I'm hoping to re-broadcast my Gryce show, including a great deal of music and many comments from Mike, on WFHB-Bloomington Wednesday, July 30 from 6-9 p.m. (The show originally ran as a two-parter on our local NPR affiliate, but war coverage blocked out the stream.) I'll keep folks posted...

Ah, well, time for me to get my lumps for the names I omitted, inadvertently for the most part. I guess I associate Tyner so strongly with Coltrane's 1960's sound--which, on the surface anyway, does not seem to resemble the "Blue Note sound" very much--that I neglected to put him in there. Ammons and Lewis, whom Jim Sangrey mentioned, did cross my mind, but they--along with Johnson and Hodes--represent the dawning years of the label, and while they helped set the template in some ways, they don't represent what I think of as the Blue Note sound. (Ouch, I feel the flames already!) In retrospect I probably should have included Tyner and one of the Ammons/Lewis/Johnson/Hodes coterie, and dropped one or two of the iconoclasts. I voted for Hancock, by the way, after the initial Silver/Clark twinge. I think Herbie's range touched nearly every aspect of the BN aesthetic.

Not the "best," but the pianist that for you captures the Blue Note "house sound." (Yes, I know, a vague, categorical concept...)

Alan Wald's WRITING FROM THE LEFT: NEW ESSAYS ON RADICAL CULTURE AND POLITICS. Wald is writing a three-volume history of 20th-century American leftists and authors (only published volume so far is EXILES FROM A FUTURE TIME). Fascinating to read how many radical writers went underground into the pulp industry after WWII; anybody who's interested in leftist culture, history, and art should check out his work.