LATEST ADDITIONS

I have a Slate column today, an appreciation of Max Roach, who died last week at age 83. (Sometimes my editors let me break away from war and peace, though I have one of those columns today, too.) The headline writer has me calling Roach the “greatest drummer” in jazz. I think Billy Higgins was probably better, but I didn’t make a fuss. In any case, all great jazz drummers who came up after the mid-1940s, Higgins included, leaned or built on Max Roach’s innovations. Listen to the sound-clips that I link to in the column, and be sure to watch the YouTube clip toward the end. If you didn’t know before, you’ll see and hear what we’re all now missing.

I've written before about the Crippen & Landru publication of The Archer Files: The Complete Short Stories of Lew Archer, Private Investigator, Including Newly Discovered Case Notes, edited by Tom Nolan, which has a cover by my buddy Jeff Wong, who also happens to be an internationally acknowledged expert on Macdonald.

Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at 10 minutes ago
I was beautiful then
I remember the time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory live again
For 10 whole minutes. . . .

Hola Familia.
I hope you're all doing very well. It's an unusually cool and rainy day here in NJ/NYC.