markstryker.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

"I think that one definition of the great artist might be the creator who projects the biggest dream in terms of the least person. There is something in Cervantes or Shakespeare, Beethoven or Rembrandt or Louis Armstrong that millions can understand." --Langston Hughes

submitted 17 hours ago • 0 comments

All About the D Don Was Pan-Detroit Ensemble tonight in Ann Arbor. #Jazz(AndMore)FromDetroit

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Agenda

submitted 4 days ago • 1 comment

Glad they cleared that up.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Gang, Sam Jones was a motherfucker. h/t @ethaniversonpiano.bsky.social.

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

Up and At 'Em 1967. Fantastic record for Freddie's playing, writing and larger ensemble arranging on the tracks with five horns. Lots of Detroit here too -- Bennie Maupin, Kiane Zawadi, Freddie Waits, Louis Hayes.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Supper Club, early set. 1966-67. One of Tony's best. He's in fantastic voice, a new maturity in his early '40s. Great set list & charts by the underrated Marion Evans (who died last year at 97). Strings & the cats: Joe Newman/Joe Wilder/Urbie Green/Bobby Tricarico/John Bunch/Milt Hinton/Sol Gubin.

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Tony Williams made his recording debut on this day in 1963 with Jackie McLean, though the LP wasn't issued until 1980. Tony was barely 17 when this was recorded. One of the greatest prodigies in any idiom. Chemistry with Herbie foreshadows things to come. Jackie, Byrd, Herbie, Butch Warren, Tony.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Update: Final auction price for this autographed recording: $2,176.

submitted 13 days ago • 3 comments

Let’s Get Two Pitchers and catchers begin reporting today. Thank God baseball is around the corner. youtu.be/8olTfKZnFiM?...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

Update: Bidding is up to $1,035 with the auction ending in 30 hours at 2 p.m. Monday.

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

There's cosmic symmetry in the fact that the Detroit-based Mack Ave. label is involved in getting Strata-East material back into the marketplace, when it was Detroit musicians' pioneering self-determination effort in the late '60s, Strata Corp., that inspired Cowell and Tolliver in the first place.

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

There's cosmic symmetry in the fact that the Detroit-based Mack Ave. label is involved in getting Strata-East material back into the marketplace, when it was Detroit musicians' pioneering self-determination effort in the late '60s, Strata Corp., that inspired Cowell and Tolliver in the first place.

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

New acquisition, 1965. Never owned a nice copy but a current writing project required a close listen. Found a pristine copy on Discogs for a good price. By far the most rewarding late-Trane, aside from the sublime Interstellar Space, which as a duet LP inhabits a separate space.

submitted 18 days ago • 4 comments

New acquisition, 1965. Never owned a nice copy but a current writing project required a close listen. Found a pristine copy on Discogs for a good price. By far the most rewarding late-Trane, aside from the sublime Interstellar Space, which as a duet LP inhabits a separate space.

submitted 18 days ago • 4 comments

To Chick, You're a motherfucker -- Miles Carolina Soul, one of the greatest records stores in the country, has a Miles Davis '70s twofer up for auction that has a special inscription and autograph. Dig the photo. God knows what this is gonna end up selling for. www.ebay.com/itm/38788145...

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

I love Carolina Soul and try to pop in when whenever I’m back down in Durham. The inscription on this is incredible!

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

To Chick, You're a motherfucker -- Miles Carolina Soul, one of the greatest records stores in the country, has a Miles Davis '70s twofer up for auction that has a special inscription and autograph. Dig the photo. God knows what this is gonna end up selling for. www.ebay.com/itm/38788145...

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Lucille Clifton

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Right on the Money "At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace. It is handed to you, but only if you look for it. You search, you break your heart, your back, your brain, and then -- and only then -- it is handed to you.” ― Annie Dillard

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

FAIR WARNING: Last reminder that "The Best of The Best: Jazz from Detroit," which I wrote & co-produced, is screening TODAY in Ann Arbor at 4 pm at the Michigan Theater. Admission is a FREE! Plus a post-film Q&A with my co-producers Roberta Friedman and Daniel Loewenthal (the director and editor).

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

Thanks to Mark Stryker (great jazz writer, give him a follow if you haven’t already) for the reminder that today is the birthday of Langston Hughes.

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

Another Night Lights for #BlackHistoryMonth, prompted by @markstryker.bsky.social, whose post reminded me that today is the birthday of #LangstonHughes.

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

Happy birthday to Langston Hughes, b. 2/1/1901. Below is a link to one of his greatest poems,"Let America Be America Again." The photo shows the Hughes books on my shelf. Two right columns are all 1st editions I cherish. I'll have to rob a bank to get "The Weary Blues." poets.org/poem/let-ame...

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

#JazzFromDetroit

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Important passing Had no idea the influential historian William Leuchtenburg was still with us at 102. As an American history major in college, I read his greatest book, "Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940," and later made my way through his "The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932."

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

News.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

News.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Showtime! A reminder that "The Best of The Best: Jazz from Detroit," the documentary film that I wrote and co-produced, will be screened in Ann Arbor at 4 p.m. this Sunday, Feb. 2 at the Michigan Theater. Admission is a FREE! ums.org/calendar/?mn...

submitted 26 days ago • 2 comments

The Count Meets Mr. Excitement Not often am I this surprised to learn that a record exists. I haven't heard everything, but by now I usually know what's out there. But this 1968 date that pairs the Count Basie Orchestra with Jackie Wilson? I had no clue until now. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVtK...

submitted 27 days ago • 4 comments

The Count Meets Mr. Excitement Not often am I this surprised to learn that a record exists. I haven't heard everything, but by now I usually know what's out there. But this 1968 date that pairs the Count Basie Orchestra with Jackie Wilson? I had no clue until now. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVtK...

submitted 27 days ago • 4 comments

Happy Birthday Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born on January 27, 1756. If I was told that I could only listen to one Mozart recording for the rest of my life, it would be this one released in 1968. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGTh...

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

The Boss Sonny Rollins' Alfie was recorded 59 years ago today, 1/26/66. Everything you need to know about jazz improvisation or the saxophone is in his solo on the title track starting at the 3:13. And though not talked about much in these terms, the record remains one his most fully realized LPs.

submitted 28 days ago • 2 comments