*Ashley Kahn, author of previous books about the landmark jazz albums Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme, has a new one coming out on the history of Blue Note Records.
*Miles before the rasp: check out this 1953 interview with Miles Davis, recorded several years before the trumpeter damaged his voice. This was not a good period for Miles (he was still struggling with his drug addiction) and he sounds a bit out of it, but it's a nice historical find nonetheless.
*On the Mosaic Records front, bad news about the Ahmad Jamal set-it's been delayed till either late this year or sometime in 2010. On a better note, they're going to do a Lucky Thompson Select 3-CD set. They are also reportedly contemplating a Keith Jarrett Select of the trio/quartet Atlantic/Vortex recordings
*Money jungle: Duke Ellington is now on a U.S. coin.
*WNET-NYC is beginning to post episodes of their 1968-1973 program Soul! for online viewing. Featured performers include jazz artists such as Max Roach and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
*A non-jazz news item, but the British World War II mystery series Foyle's War is returning for another season.
*Finally, esteemed jazz critic Larry Kart recently hipped Organissimo posters to this 1968 video of Al Cohn and Zoot Sims:
...and here's guitar bluesman T-Bone Walker and an all-star jazz ensemble (including the recently-departed Louis Bellson) from a 1966 Jazz at the Philharmonic gig: