Daily Log

Woke up at 7-something. Read a bit, then slept some more. Came down around 11:30. Did the cutover last night for Music Week. Started to write a bit of introduction, but didn't get far, nor did I pick out the albums. I was sufficiently impressed by the Laurie Anderson to order a copy. Waiting for a bunch of Amazon deliveries, on some kind of schedule that only makes sense to them, but should catch up on Saturday. I installed the new gas regulator on the grill yesterday. Despite how confused I was while looking at Amazon, it looks like they all have the same connectors, so any replacement part would have worked. I payed twice as much at Ace as I would have at Amazon. The grill itself was filthy after Matt's cookout. The grates were ok, but there was a lot of gunk underneath the burners. I scraped out the worst, but didn't attempt a serious cleaning. Nor did I test for gas leaks, although everything is pretty tight.

Looks like Brenda will stay with us when the Arkansas folks come up for Max Brown's auction, so Monday through Thursday nights, with Wednesday the big dinner date. They'll do a walkthrough on Tuesday, and the auction is Thursday, both of which we can skip. Rhonda and Jim are staying at the casino south of town. Richard is coming up Wednesday, and possibly leaving after Thursday. Don't know about Tammy. We'll talk more today and/or tomorrow and figure that out.

First thing today will be to send out the Substack version of Music Week. After that, update the blog. I have quite a bit of Loose Tabs ready, so that should go out this weekend. I'm thinking I'll write up an "executive summary" for Substack. Need to get back to the jazz poll website and fill in some more year links. Starting a new jigsaw puzzle: lots of sand, some pyramids, some sky. I'm sorting out the sky first. About 1/3 of the way through Robert Wright. One thing that's hard for me to imagine is the conversational aspect of the chatbots. I thought about publishing yesterday's notes, but in the end didn't (at least for now).

Email (40 messages):

• Cadence: feature interview with Justin Chart by Charles Mobley.
• Whitewashed History: live with Derek Beres.
• Substack: Music Week (7:5) is out now; 7 likes; +2 subscriber (Ken Tucker, RiotRiot); the latter liked 4 old Music Week posts; also +1 like for Famous Death Dwarves.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, July archive (finished).

Tweet: Music Week: 34 albums, 6 A-list

Music: Current count 46366 [46332] rated (+34), 11 [14] unrated (-3).

New records reviewed this week:

• A-F-R-O & Motion Plus: Frequencies (2026, Fro Thizzle Productions): [bc]: B+(***)
• Akhavelli: Moorthodox Psyence (2026, Below System): [bc]: B+(***)
• Ishmael Ali: Burn the Plastic, Sell the Copper (2023-25 [2026], Amalgam): [bc]: B+(***)
• Laurie Anderson With Sexmob: Let X = X (2023 [2026], Nonesuch): [sp]: A
• Nia Archives: Emotional Junglist (2026, Hijinxx/Island): [sp]: A-
• Charli XCX: Music, Fashion, Film (2026, Atlantic): [sp]: B+(***)
• Christopher Dammann: Dead Words (2025 [2026], Shifting Paradigm): [sp]: B+(***)
• Eliane Elias: Ao Vivo (2023 [2026], Candid): [sp]: B+(**)
• Andy Emler/Claude Tchamitchian/Eric Echampard: There Is Another Way (2025 [2026], La Buisonne): [bc]: B+(**)
• Jimmy Farace: Big Shoulders, Big Sounds (2026, Shifting Paradigm): [sp]: B+(**)
• Kelly Green: Eat Your Greens! (2026, Green Soul): [cd]: B+(**) [08-28]
• Elias Haslanger: Legacy (2025 [2026], Bandstand Presents): [sp]: B+(*)
• Illit: Mamihlapinatapai (2026, Belift Lab, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
• Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: Bury Deep My Heart (2026, Carrier): [cd]: B+(***)
• David Maranha/Rodrigo Amado: Desolation Row (2025 [2026], Comets Coming): [bc]: A-
• Rico Nasty: RX (2026, Sugar Trap, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jenny Reynolds: Willow & Stone (2026, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
• Tom Ricci: Happening in Buenos Aires: Live at Borges 1975 (2023 [2026], self-released): [cd]: B+(**)
• David G Smith: Hero Street (2026, Hey Dave): [sp]: B+(***)
• Clark Sommers: WaBaSH (2025 [2026], Calligram): [cd]: B+(***) [08-07]
• Swamp Dogg: Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife (2026, S-Curve): [sp]: A
• The Westerlies: Have You Heard? The Music of Bill Frisell, Vol. 1 (2020-24 [2026], Westerlies): [sp]: B+(**)
• Earl "Guitar" Williams: The Soul King of Bessemer, AL (2025 [2026], Music Maker): [sp]: B+(**)
• Otomo Yoshihide/Kei Matsumaru: Shutsumin (2024 [2026], Trost): [bc]: B-
• Tucker Zimmerman: Dream Me a Dream (2026, Big Potato): [sp]: B+(***)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Charles Lloyd: Sangam & Friends (2009 [2026], Blue Note): [sp]: B+(***)
• Shūdan Sokai: Live at Hachioji Alone (1976 [2026], Aguirre): [sp]: A-
• Sun Ra Arkestra: Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Live at the Bluebird Cafe, Bloomington, Indiana (1977 [2026], Strut): [sp]: B+(*)

Old music:

• Plas Johnson: This Must Be the Plas! (1959, Capitol): [sp]: B+(**)
• Plas Johnson: Bop Me Daddy (1956, Tampa, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
• Plas Johnson/Red Holloway: Keep That Groove Going (2001, Milestone): [sp]: B+(**)
• Mary Lee Kortes: Will Anybody Know That I Was Here? The Songs of Beulah Rowley (2016 [2023], Lakeside Lounge): [sp]: A-
• Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: A Love on My Mind (2008, Carrier, EP): [bc]: B+(*)
• Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: The Best of Your Lies (2018, Carrier): [bc]: B+(**)
• Dana Maragos: Unimaginable Things (2024, self-released): [sp]: B+(***)
• Dana Maragos: October (2020, self-released): [sp]: B+(***)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Mike Jones: Mike Jones With Strings (Capri) [08-21]

Daily Log

Came down at 11:45, after reading in The God Test, approaching page 100, some stuff about "doomer AI." My own view, at least so far, is that AI will accelerate trends that already exist, including flaws in how the world is organized. Granted that some of these flaws had already been accelerated due to previous technological waves, going back (at least) to steam power, but most obviously since electricity provided a route for miniaturization and acceleration of computing. I also understand that stress causes fissures to crack catastrophically, so I don't doubt that we're in for some of that. But doom is going way too far. Pain and suffering, for sure, and also for sure, needlessly.

But we should take care to distinguish between two functions of AI: one is the gathering and availability of intelligence (or information plus the logic to make use of it); the other is the temptation to surrender automatic control over operations to machines. The former is useful, because no one has ever known enough before making decisions. The latter is dangerous, because machines also don't know enough, and their directives may be aligned contrary to our interests. ("Our" is an especially weak link here, as long as we are divided by interests, which of course we are, often extremely.)

Automated controls aren't unprecedented. We've been using them for at least a century, most extensively in factories, but they are in every home and every car. And people who depend on them know full well that they could be improved, especially by adding more compute power: the ability to collect more information, and to better model how the control should behave in response to its inputs.

As far as I can tell, at this point that's all AI can do: provide more information, and model it in sometimes surprisingly sophisticated ways. Sure, AI engineers have dabbled in "goal-oriented" programming, where a program is given a set of if/else rules, including some that may create additional if/else rules, and asked to devise a solution to something that it was not specifically programmed to do. What's new with AI is the mind-boggling amount of data the programs can draw inferences from, which can only be handled by using rules that are essentially statistical. As such, we're moving from deterministic machines, which in principle can be fully understood, to stochastic machines, which can at best be approximated. Thus, for instance, we speak of "adding guardrails," an admission that no fix is possible.

That's probably enough for now. Actually, too much, as I started thinking about posting some of the above, which only baited me to write more, sidetracking my whole day.

Email (36 messages):

• Substack: daily stats for Famous Death Dwarves: 1 like, 1 restack, 114 email views, 27 other views. Not very good.
• Tom Engelhardt: How Donald Trump Helped My Life: A Thank You to the Ransacker-in-Chief.
• Tom Carson: Odyssey, Ody-Do.

Daily Log

Woke up after 11, with more than 7 hours of sleep. Read some, and came down at noon. Weighed myself at 230.0, a new high after my drop, but only 0.1 above 3-4 days ago. Seems like it shouldn't be impossible to turn this around. I posted a piece on Lindsey Graham last night, calling it Famous Death Dwarves. Shortened from a Lester Bangs title, Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves. That was my first thought, but Substack seems to prefer shorter titles. Most of the text was scraped from Loose Tabs work, to which I added three paragraphs of intro. I also included Trita Parsi on Zelensky's attempt to jump into the Iran war. Graham was in Ukraine just before this happened. Zelensky's been desperate to get Trump back on his side, so the chances are that Graham offered him a way are very high. Chances that Netanyahu was also in on the deal are also pretty high. I need to explore this further. I have little doubt that when I finally publish Loose Tabs, there will be more to the story.

I finally got the regulator hose detached from the gas grill manifold. I want to make sure that the replacement part will fit. Everything I see describes the fitting as a 3/8-inch female connector. But I had to use a 3/4-inch wrench to loosen the fitting. I'm pretty sure the fitting is standardized, and any replacement regulator will do, but I may wind up going to Ace to see for myself. Still having some confusion on the grill model, and compatibility lists are difficult. Laura has an appointment today for some testing, so I won't be able to go out until she gets back. Meanwhile, more Loose Tabs.

Email (30 messages):

• My "Famous Death Dwarves" piece; shareable assets; 1 like.
• RiotRiot: Takes by the Ocean: some fresh meat. I was surprised at how little I had not heard from his mid-year top-40, and how little interest I had in hearing the rest (mostly K-pop EPs).
• Thank you note from Ralph Miriello for the poll: "A wonderful poll that features the diversity and proficiency of the current state of jazz music."
• TomDispatch: Tom Engelhardt & Nick Turse: Donald Trump and Wars of Choice.
• Substack: Interview with Taylor Lorenz on using AI tools. First sobering point was his answer to "how much do you spend on AI tools every month?" "Probably about $300 a month." He's using at least five models (Claude, Gemini, Grok. DeepSeek, ChatGPT), plus other tools. I'm contemplating spending on some, but nothing like that. There's a pretty detailed outline here on how he works to prepare a podcast or a video, which involve a lot of steps I'm not much intrerested in. Still, one step I'm curious about is: "Paste what I've gathered into Claude and askit to organize the information." For the Graham piece, I had about 10 bullet items, each derived from a specific article. Can I feed that in and get a single coherent article back out? It wouldn't have to be ready to go. Just get me over the hump of reorganization.
• Tom Carson: Frankenride 9: "The return of Bob Dole, . . ." What is his thing with Dole? Paywalled, so I won't bother.
• Lydia Liebman: Peace Anthems is coming out. I requested a promo.

Notes on Democratic primary candidates (* ones I have heard of):

• US Senate (against Roger Marshall):
  • Damon Anderson, Christy Davis+, Adam Hamilton*, Jason Hart, Kevin Latz, Erik Murray*, Sandy Spidel Neumann, Anne Parelkar, Patrick Schmidt, Michael Soetaert, Noah Taylor+.
  • NYT polling has Hamilton 30%, Davis 13%. One general election poll shows Hamilton over Marshall 51-49%. Other favor Marshall by up to 10% (55-45% over Taylor).
• US House (against Ron Estes):
  • Chris Carmichael*, Ryan Gilbert (suspended), Katy Tyndell*.
• Governor (open seat):
  • Ethan Corson, Cindy Holscher*, Curt Skoog.

According to Ballotpedia, Sedgwick County is 54.4% R, 36.3% D. Harvey County is 58.1% R, Reno 63.2% R, Butler 69% R, Kingman 75.9 R, Sumner 71.8% R, Harper 77.4% R, Cowley 65.5% R, Chautauqua 83.5% R, Montgomery 72.3% R, Crawford 57.9% R. Note that Riley, Shawnee, and Johnson counties voted for Trump in 2016, but switch to Biden in 2020, and stayed with Harris in 2024.

Daily Log

Woke up at 9, 90 on the meter. Reading Robert Wright explaining how LLMs work. I've read better explanations. His framing argument is that we should all be in awe of what AI can do. I've found little so far to be awestruck by. Rather, what I'm finding is that the more I understand of how AI works, the more I find fault with human reason. I've known for some time that I basically think in terms of models. So here I am, adding neural nets to my repertoire of models. And sure, they help to explain lots of things, but they're mostly faults.

Only worked on Loose Tabs yesterday. Currently 149 links, 7640 words. No real pressure to do anything this week. I should get back to the jazz poll web site, as there is easy progress to be had there. Woke up thinking about memoir today; specifically, Varityper years. Don't know when/if I'll follow up on that. I did manage to put the garbage out last night, so last week's failure will be erased. Yesterday hit 104F, maybe more. Walked the dog briefly after sunset, when it was down to 94F.

Email (21 messages at 10 AM):

• Tom Engelhardt: The (Dis)United States (Or Do I Mean World?) of President Donald J. Trump: Global Warming, Global Warning.
• Craft Recordings announces its Moodsville Acoustic Sounds Series: "Debut releases spotlight classic titles from Coleman Hawkins, the Frank West Quartet, and the Red Garland Trio with Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis."
• Amazon: I ordered a book (Yakov Rabkin, What Is Modern Israel?), a CD (Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife), and replacement Winix air filters.
• Nick Loss-Eaton offered to send CDs of Gearbox albums: Ella Fitzgerald, Franklin Kiermyer. I said sure.

I finally pulled the Lindsey Graham section out of Loose Tabs, and put it into a NOEL file. Link for published article is here.

Finally took a look at Dan Weiss' mid-year report. Using it as a checklist:

1. Kehlani: Kehlani (Atlantic [**]
2. Feeble Little Horse: Bitknot (Saddle Creek) [**]
3. Jill Scott: To Whom It May Concern (Human Re Sources/Blues Babe) [***]
4. Twisted Teens: Blame the Clown (Jazz Life) [**]
5. Carsie Blanton & the Burning Hell: Everything Is Great! (self-released) [A]
6. Boards of Canada: Inferno (Music 70/Warp) [**]
7. Emperor X: Unified Field (Bar/None) [**]
8. Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon: As of Now (Lex) [A-]
9. Robyn: Sexistential (Konichiwa/Young) [A-]
10. Joyce Manor: I Used to Go to This Bar (Epitaph -EP) [*]
11. Tierra Whack: Whack's Museum (Interscope) [***]
12. Effie: Pullup to Busan 4 More Hyper Summer It's Gonna Be a Fuckin Movie (Sound Republica -EP '25) [B]
13. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency (Impulse!) [**]
14. Roc Marciano: 656 (self-released) [**]
15. Illit: Mamihlapinatapai (Belift Lab -EP) []
16. The Cucumbers: As You Heard Me: Songs From "Hello George" (self-relesed) [A-]
17. The Paranoid Style: Known Associates (Bar/None) [A-]
18. Black Nile: Indigo Garden (Hen House Studios) [***]
19. Itzy: Motto (JYP Entertainment -EP) []
20. Girl Scout: Brink (Human Garbage) [*]
21. Aesop Rock & Homeboy Sandman: Miami Lice: Season Four (Rhymesayers Entertainment) [***]
22. Gogol Bordello: We Mean It, Man! (Casa Gogol) [A-]
23. Hemlocke Springs: The Apple Tree Under the Sea (AWAL) [***]
24. Pony: Clearly Cursed (Take This to Heart) [**]
25. Kim Gordon: Play Me (Matador) [***]
26. B0YG1RL & Novagang: Exit 2B (Surf Gang) []
27. Olivia Rodrigo: You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love (Geffen) [A-]
28. Butthole Surfers: After the Astronaut (Sunset Blvd) []
29. Megan Moroney: Cloud 9 (Columbia Nashville) [***]
30. Angine De Poitrine: Vol. II (Spectacles Bonzaï) [***]
31. Zach Bryan: With Heaven on Top (Belting Bronco/Warner) [A-]
32. Buck 65: Do Not Bend (Handsmade) [A-]
33. Al Green: To Love Somebody (Fat Possum -EP) [**]
34. Robber Robber: Two Wheels Move the Soul (Fire Talk) []
35. GENA: The Pleasure Is Yours (Lex) []
36. Dry Cleaning: Secret Love (4AD) [***]
37. Olof Dreijer: Loud Bloom (Dh2) [A-]
38. The New Pornographers: The Former Site Of (Merge) [**]
39. NMIXX: Heavy Serenade (JYP Entertainment -EP) []
40. Bill Orcutt: Music in Continuous Motion (Palilalia) [**]

Daily Log

Got up once, but went back to sleep, and slept until 11. Starting to read Robert Wright's The God Test. Came down at noon. 95F. Didn't get much done yesterday. I'm going to have to carve out some time for working on jazz poll website to get a sense of having gotten anything accomplished. Loose Tabs is going nowhere (although I did start my rant on Lindsey Graham).

Email (24 messages):

• Substack: +1 like; +2 subscribers.
• Responses to my letter on the Max Brown auction: Steve Hull, Ken Brown, Jane Burns ("I'm too old to buy anything").
• Robert Wright: Trump and the AI rational actor problem: A new theory about why foreign policy elites aren't worried enough.

Daily Log

Sleep meter: 95. Came down about 10AM. Was 89F at the time, which made me think today might be cooler. Next time I looked, it was 90F. Not sure if it hit 100F yesterday, but it came very close. When I walked the dog at 8:30, it was still 94F, and not a dry heat. I started work on Loose Tabs yesterday. Took a good look at Mondoweiss, but that was as far as I got. In the evening, I decided to try my hand at modifying the jazz poll website. Basic idea was to do a table with two columns: left is the calendar year in big print, latest first, which would link to the annual poll directory (or mid-year if no annual available yet); right is subheds for annual (and mid-year, where available), and under each direct links to the essays, totals, voter lists, etc. I got the framework working last night, and populated the right column with 2026 mid-year links. I edited the banner a bit, and inserted a news section between the banner and the annual poll table. The news section can use some more work. I moved all the old crap to the bottom. The section on Francis Davis should go into its own file. The other links/notices should be folded into the new table. I went ahead and updated the website, because even incomplete, this one sucks much less than the old one.

This went slowly last night, because I'm still at the stage where I have to look up every little detail. For instance, how do I define an array, pass it to a function, and iterate through it inside that function? I used to know things like that, but I don't remember it with the necessary precision. I've also learned a few things. I've long wanted to be able to specify CSS in the same file I'm using it from, but the limitation that it should be in the head section caused problems. I just figured out that I could put the CSS in a PHP heredoc to initialize a string, then pass that to my commonHeader function. I also discovered some things about CSS selectors I didn't know before. I'll fiddle with the website some more, but will probably work more on Loose Tabs today.

Email (? messages):

• Nice letter from Rob Hoff about trying to program jazz radio around the poll choices. Evidently our picks are not very popular.
• Project Syndicate: Why Iran Won't Change (Pegah Banihashemi); AI Will Supercharge Surveillance Capitalism (Courtney C Radsch).
• Substack: +1 like; +2 subscribers.
• Daily stats for Music Week (7:4): 5 likes, 3 restacks, 1 whatever that is, 1 sub, 116 email views, 36 other views.
• Nice letter from Phil Overeem on poll, etc.

I got a call yesterday from Rhonda Pyeatt. They're coming up around Aug. 4-6, when there will be an auction of Max Brown's estate (not the land or buildings, but all the stuff; I think he got rid of his cattle when he moved to the home in Derby, or possibly earlier). Further mail says she will arrive Monday, August 3, staying at "Hampton at the casino," checking out Friday, August 7.

I've found links to the auction:

• Auction Location: 7805 SW 200th St, Douglass [08-06]
• 351 acres near Douglass, selling in 4 tracts [09-01]
• Tract 1: 7805 SW 200th St, Douglass - stone house, shop & barn on 5+ acres [09-01]
• Tract 2: 66+ acres pasture & pond NE of Douglass [09-01]
• Tract 3: 120+ acres pasture & pond NE of Douglass [09-01]
• Track 4: 160+ acres pasture & pond E of Douglass [09-01]

From the description of the house:

Stone house, shop and barn on 5+- acres northeast of Douglass in Butler County, Kansas. This attractive rural property combines the use functionality you would expect out of a rural property with peaceful and scenic views. Just one-half mile off blacktop HWY 77, this property has good quick easy access to surrounding towns and amenities.

The solid stone home built in 1984 features a comfortable and functional layout with 1530 finished square feet on the main floor, plus a finished basement. Main floor features with a primary bedroom, living room w/ fireplace, kitchen, bathroom and laundry. The finished basement includes two non-conforming bedrooms, living area bathroom & bar!

A standout feature is the modern shop, complete with utilities and a concrete floor, making it ideal for projects, tools and equipment storage. Adding to the property's character is a vintage barn that reflects the area's agricultural heritage and offers additional storage or livestock potential.

The house was built by Max and Doris. I'm not sure how much, if anything, they subcontracted. Max's father, my Uncle Ted Brown, built a similar (but somewhat smaller) stone house in Arkansas. The first link has extensive photos of the personal property in the house/shed/barn.

Daily Log

Came down shortly before 11. Dog came with, perhaps hoping for a second breakfast. (Laura usually feeds him around 9. She's up and down, and that's about when he gets pushy.) Nearing the end of I Am Not a Robot, with sections on using AI as a personal companion (lover? therapist?) holding little interest for me. More unsettling is the bit on some machine that scans your iris to identify you as human, then converts that information into a crypto key that acts as a passport to some future human-exclusive view of the internet. And this information is going to be turned into power by some corporation with first-mover advantage?

Last night, I sent Music Week (7:4) to the Substack list, and I posted full Music Week on the blog. Ready to start another week. Main thing today will be to set up a Loose Tabs file, and start shoveling shit into it. I think I already have a Books file set up (maybe two, but I haven't been working on it/them).

My books came today:

• Hussein Agha/Robert Malley: Tomorrow Is Yesterday: Life, Death, and the Pursuit of Peace in Israel/Palestine
• Sheldon Simeon with Garrett Snyder: Cook Real Hawai'i: A Cookbook
• Al Sweigart: Automate the Boring Stsuff With Python (3rd edition)

I've had three books checked out from the library for the past six weeks. I had to take them back, but wasn't done, hence the order. I read the Agha/Malley book, and want to write up a couple more Substack posts based on quotes. I haven't had a chance to cook from Real Hawai'i, but want to. The other book was the "For Dummies" book on Python automation. I've long been a big fan of script languages, and still do a lot with awk (in shell scripts, from Makefiles, like I learned to do in the 1980s). I recently wrote one called mkeval.sh, which calculates a bunch of statistics from the jazz poll data files. Aside from PHP for websites, the big three are Perl, Python, and Ruby. (I've also worked in TCL/TK, but haven't heard anything about it in ages.) I wrote my own language, Ftwalk/Hawk, but I haven't worked on it since the 1990s, so consider it obsolete. Perhaps because of this, I've always disliked Perl, and never been very happy with the others. However, Python seems to be the most tolerable and generally useful. The utility of these languages depends not on the elegance of the language but on the libraries, especially those that give you access to more complex file formats (like something that can read your inbox, or collect and parse web files). Also, AI is reputedly very good at writing Python scripts, so it should be easy to get off the ground with something more useful than "hello world."

I didn't find anything at the library new and topical that I wanted to read, so I went up to the tech section, and picked out:

• Chris Minnick et al.: Artificial Intelligence All-in-One for Dummies: I have no intention of reading this, but I want to start testing some AI tools, so I figured I might use this as a reference and guide, both to what to test and what to try.
• Chris Barr et al.: The Yahoo! Style Guide: The Ultimate Sourcebook for Writing, Editing and Creating Content for the Digital World: Another reference book. This was (c) 2010, so predates AI, but covers blogging, newsletters, email, SEO, etc. Some of it is just a grammar guide (e.g., whole sections on how to use punctuation). I may never open it again, but it looked more useful than anything else I saw there (including Henry Kissinger's book on AI futures).

Email (23 messages):

• Music Week (7:4): shareable assets (this includes some images I forgot to include in the initial mailing); 5 likes.
• Warming Up a Riff: daily stats: 6 likes, 2 restacks, 1 sub, 109 email views, 40 other.
• Other Substack stuff: 4 new subscribers (SHEER Magazine, DJpeterDE [Jazz Radio! WFMU, WVUD, mixcloud], jjonrook, Tom Sperduto).
• TomDispatch: Nick Turse: Pete Hegseth's Crisis of Masculinity
• Tom Carson: Chuckles Bites the Dust: What will Europe do without Americans? Oh, they'll be just fine. Can't say more, as now he's back behind the paywall.

I emptied out the "tabs" scratch file, moving what I've accumulated so far to this blog temp file.

Daily Log

Woke up early. Pushed my Substack piece out late last night. I was disappointed to find a large chunk of my "Warming Up a Riff" article excised at Arts Fuse. Not sure whether I should complain. I probably need to compare all of the articles to figure out what exactly happened. I didn't really wind up the Substack post as neatly as I had hoped, but at least it does the job of alerting my subscribers to the poll's existence. Library books are due today, so returning them will be an errand. I ordered the Agha/Malley book from Amazon. I had wanted to post more quotes from the book, but was running out of time. Very good book. Worth owning.

I also ordered Cook Real Hawai'i, which isn't due yet, but looks like a pretty definitive guide to Hawaiian cuisine. I still hope to make a big dinner out of it, but no time soon. Among other things, note many grilled dishes. I need a new gas regulator on the grill. The old one is not only aggravating with its safety trips, it's actually developed a leak. Matt said he had cleaned it up well after cooking, but I have my doubts. I could very well decide I'm done with grilling.

I also ordered a Python automation book: not the For Dummies book I have checked out (due today), but a similar one from No Starch Press, which for some reason I find more trustworthy. I'm hoping that I can get AI to write some programs to scan through website data, which I can further tweak. At the end of the AI reading, I expect to sign up for one or more LLMs, and start using it for research and organization.

Weighed myself, at 229.0. Several mega-cooking projects have taken a toll. I need to get that done. I also need to set up an appointment with Boxberger. I have appointments with Eldika and Tibbe in August.

First thing today is Music Week, with the Substack version coming out first, and the blog version later. I also would like to lay out one of the Agha/Malley Substack posts, but that could wait.

Email (58 messages at 1:12 PM):

• My Substack piece: Warming Up a Riff: Shareable assets; 6 likes; 3 new subscribers (Martin Johnson).
• Pete Butchers: "An interesting (but not novel) observation is how the listing is dominated by US musicians and bands. Needless to say the same applies to many other US polls (eg Downbeat)." He's asking why. I could write something about that.
• William Marx mentioned me in 3 Substack notes.
• Matthieu Jouan wrote a notice about the poll in Citizen Jazz.
• How writers are reacting to Substack's AI transparency tools
• GoDaddy: Hullworks.net set to auto-renew on 8/23, 2 years, $49.98. Prices keep going up, even for nothing.

I'm not going to try to catch all the references to the poll I'm seeing. But I ran across Meta AI offering to answer a question, "What sparked this jazz poll?" Its answer:

Tom Hull was inspired to start the mid-year jazz poll after noticing how few jazz releases were mentioned in other mid-year best-of lists. He decided to create his own poll to highlight the wealth of great jazz music being produced. This initiative was also a tribute to Francis Davis, who had run the Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics Poll for 19 years before his passing.

That's not wrong, but isn't really structured right, so it leaves several false impressions. This is, for instance, the 3rd Mid-Year poll. The initiative wasn't a tribute. This was Francis's poll. It is only continuing as a tribute to him.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, July archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 33 albums, 5 A-list

Music: Current count 46332 [46299] rated (+33), 14 [10] unrated (+4).

New records reviewed this week:

• Yazz Ahmed: Shinrin-Yoku (2026, Night Time Stories, EP): [sp]: B+(**)
• Bob Bert: Beach Bongo Bloodbath (2026, Bar/None): [sp]: A-
• Dave Burrell & David Liebman: Reservoir (2026, Bespoke Jazz): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jonas Cambien/Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard/Dag Erik Knedal Andersen: The Ear Behind the Airport (2025 [2026], Motvind): [bc]: B+(***)
• The Paul Carlon Trio: Between Us Three (2024-25 [2026], TRRcollective): [sp]: A-
• John Clayton: The Two-o Duo Project (2026, ArtistShare): [sp]: B+(**)
• Fathers: Fathers (2026, Blue Note): [sp]: B
• Flöjter: Brest Blow (2025 [2026], Utech/Gigantonium): [bc]: B+(**)
• Flöjter: Paris Blow (2025 [2026], Utech/Gigantonium): [bc]: B+(***)
• Carlos Henríquez: Monk Con Clave (2026, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
• Marquis Hill: (Beautifulism) Sweet Surrender (2026, Black Unlimited): [sp]: B
• Julia Hülsmann Octet: While I Was Away (2023 [2026], ECM): [sp]: B+(**)
• Hannah Marks: Feed the Fire (2025 [2026], Endectomorph Music): [sp]: B+(***)
• Pedrito Martínez/Antonio Sánchez/Michael League: Elipsis (2026, GroundUP Music): [sp]: B+(**)
• Orchestre National De Jazz: With Carla (2025 [2026], ONJ): [bc]: B+(**)
• Ivo Perelman/Elliot Sharp/Cyro Baptista: Triacontagon (2024 [2026], Defkaz): [bc]: A-
• Susana Santos Silva/Vasco Trilla: Mushin (2024 [2026], Defkaz): [bc]: B+(*)
• Elias Stemeseder/Thomas Morgan: Io Pur Respiro (2024 [2026], Squama): [sp]: B+(***)
• Steve Swallow: Winter Songs (2024 [2026], ECM): [sp]: B+(***)
• Micah Thomas: Lucid (2026, Birdwatcher): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ben Wolfe: Any Time After Now (2025 [2026], Resident Arts): [sp]: B+(*)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• John Butcher: Anyway, I Was (2008-25 [2026], Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(**)
• Miles Davis: Miles '56: The Prestige Recordings (1956 [2026], Craft): [sp]: A-
• Miles Davis: Miles '55: The Prestige Recordings (1955 [2025], Craft): [sp]: B+(**)
• Ellery Eskelin: Setting the Standard (1988 [2026], Prime Source): [bc]: B+(***)
• Medeski Martin & Wood: Tonic (1999 [2026], Blue Note): [sp]: B+(**)
• Big John Patton: Got a Good Thing Goin' (1966 [2026], Blue Note): [sp]: B+(**)
• Hans Reichel: Dalbergia Retusa (1973-88 [2026], Black Truffle): [bc]: A-
• Mal Waldron/Steve Lacy: Play Monk, Ellington & Strayhorn: Live at Yoshi's 1994 (1994 [2026], Elemental Music): [sp]: B+(***)

Old music:

• Ellery Eskelin/Sylvie Courvoisier: Every So Often (2008 [2020], Prime Source): [bc]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Nicki Adams and Michael Eaton Featuring Francisco Mela: Arrival (J-man) [09-10]
• Barcelona Art Orchestra & Miguel Zenón: Expressions: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (Miel Music) [06-26]
• Satoko Fujii Orchestra Kobe: After the Storm (Libra) [08-07]
• Oliver-Smith Incomparables: Stomp Your Stuff (Turtle Bay) [08-28]
• Sarah Pillow: Wanderer (Buckyball) [10-05]
• Terry Waldo & the Gotham City Band: Treasury Volume 3 (Turtle Bay) [06-05]
• Miguel Zenón & Luis Perdomo: El Arte Del Bolero Vol. 3 (Miel Music) [08-28]

Daily Log

Slept OK. Came down at 10:45. I'm expecting mail with the links to the poll articles. I did get to the end of the charts for the jazz reviews pieces. I didn't add the uncharted records. I made most of the necessary changes to the 26my website pages, including turning the lock off and taking down the "temporary" messages. All that leaves is adding links to the Arts Fuse URLs.

I spoke too soon there. The articles were ready. Marx changed one title, which was fine. He also changed subtitles and replaced my opening cross-references notes with his "Editor's Notes." I adopted them. I further rearranged the index page. Then I updated the website. We're live now. I need to chill a bit, work on the jigsaw, eat breakfast, then get going again. I'll send out notices when I restart the day.

Email (39 messages at 12:43 PM):

• Substack matters: +1 like (old piece).
• Amazon accepted my review of a Keywing Phone Camera Lens Set. I gave it 1 star, noting: "I couldn't use this. The clip is too short to fit on a camera that has a case. I'm only able to see a partial, rounded image, with the corners blacked out. I'm not seeing as much lens effect as I had hoped for, but that may be because the fit is . . ."
• Earthquake: M4.4 Texas Panhandle region. I set up this alert some years ago, when Oklahoma was producing a lot of small earthquakes, some felt here in Wichita. It's been quite a while since I've seen any reports here, although my other alert, for 7.0+ earthquakes worldwide, produces mail almost daily. This one is for 197 miles west of Oklahoma City, so pretty far from here. Got a second one, M5.1, same area.
• Tom Engelhardt: SockHer for Donald Trump: Living in a Trumpublican World
• A new collection of John Prine "alternate versions, acoustic performances & five previously unreleased John Prine songs," coming out Oct. 9, on 30th anniversary of Lost Dogs & Mixed Blessings.
• Project Syndicate
• Cezary L Lerski tells me that Not Two Records will be revived by him, now based in California.

Poll matters (I shouldn't bury this under email, but it involves some email):

• I made some revisions to the website index page, to better feature the Arts Fuse links, and move my own crap (including the essay drafts) down near the notes section. I unlocked the website, and updated it. I notified Arts Fuse this was done, so let the publicity begin.
• I wrote to jpadmin, asking them to check the website for any errors, etc.
• I wrote to jazzpoll, letting the critics know that the poll has been published. I asked them to review their ballots. I can update the note lines without wrecking anything. I asked them to publicize the poll.
• I wrote to jpmedia, telling them that the poll is up, and asking for their help in promoting it.
• I posted to Bluesky, X, and Facebook, linking to the intro article on Arts Fuse.
• Matt Fripp asked about an interview for Jazzfuel. I said ok, but asked how it would work.
• Larry Hollis asked where his ballot was. I've asked him the same thing, several times.
• I replied to a 7/17 mail from Paul Medrano about the poll future, advising him that I'll get back to him in 1-2 weeks.
• I got complimentary poll email from: George Varga, Brooks Geiken, Russell Perry, Steve Erickson. Also a complaint from Larry Hollis (where's my ballot?, where, indeed?).

By the way, Matt Merewitz wrote this on Facebook:

I spent over an hour on the phone last weekend with Tom Hull, who selflessly continues to carry on the legacy of Francis Davis. Davis, who was a friend of mine from my Philly/Ars Nova Workshop days advocated for the place of the critic in society. I think the jazz critic is possibly the most maligned figure in the jazz ecosystem, aside from the musician themselves, who writes for the least amount of money or appreciation and is constantly subject to vicious attacks by everyone in the jazz firmament. And yet they overwhelmingly do it for the love of the art form. Yet, I feel like we need critics now more than ever to wade through all the slop and give us some context. Today The Arts Fuse (a Boston-based culture website) published the results of The Annual Francis Davis Jazz Critics at Mid-Year; the ballots of a whopping 127 critics worldwide. There, Tom wrote three essays there: an introduction, one on New Jazz Albums chart, and one on archival discoveries, which Francis called "Rara Avis." I am proud of my clients but I am more proud of this community which sticks together and continues to do something to spread the good word on new jazz / BAM / improvised / creative music recordings.

When I saw that, 24m after posting, that had 10 likes and 6 comments (2 were links from Matt). One negative comment, by James Rozzi:

Critics should leave be that which they don't care for and emphasize only that which they deem worthy of ears. There's more than enough music out there. And polls are bullshit.

I replied:

Working backwards: I judge a poll by how much new music I discover by reading it, often way down in the fine print. For this poll, for me, that number is already close to 100. If you never note the music you hear and don't like, readers will have little basis to understand what you do like. You're asking reviewers to be publicists. Don't we already have more hype than we can handle? As for real criticism, which I only very rarely do, it shouldn't matter whether you like or dislike what you're writing about. It should only matter what insights you gain.

Richard Baker wrote:

I guess I've gotten old and crusty, but I just don't hear enough new stuff that excites me. I also feel like it gives the readers of false impression when they want you to vote for 10 new records but only three that are previously unissued older recordings or re-issues. There are years when there are five great releases of previously unissued material that are better than almost any new record. I'm supposed to ignore a really great Sonny Rollins record from the 1960s when there might not be any new records that are anything like as good?

Crusty, as I said. That being the case, I just decided not to vote in the polls anymore.

I replied:

We're asking for up to 5 reissue/archival votes, not 3 (as Francis Davis originally designed). I'm also not enforcing a strict division between the categories, so if you want to slip an extra Sonny Rollins album off as new, I'll probably allow it (and may even total the vote as old -- I explain this stuff in great detail on the site). Part of the reason I increased the limit from 3 to 5 was due to complaints like yours. But many voters don't use the extra slots, or indeed any slots for old music. The ratio of new to old albums is over 3-to-1, even though the ratio of vote slots is just 2-to-1. I'm pretty sure that nobody who voted for less than 10 new music albums used all 5 slots for old music. (The closest was 6-4.) The other fallacy here is that we're comparing old and new music. Both categories are comparing records, which include music, packaging, and for rara avis especially, other intangibles (like surprise, or nostalgia). Keeping them in separate categories tries to avoid old vs. new squabbles.

Started working on a Substack post, about the poll. Kind of a rush job, but I sent it out at 2:15 AM. I felt like it was just something I should try to do.

Daily Log

Woke up with less than 4 hours sleep. Read some, about robots. Tried again. Made the machine happy with 6+ hours. Came down at 11:15. I sent all three essays in last night, so Marx is working on them. I expect they will go up today, but no email as yet. I need to finish compiling my reviews, then fix up some website issues to unlock the results. Then I need to take a stab at redesigning the top level. After that I want to write up a Substack post based on the Agha/Malley book, which is due back at the library on Friday. Forecast is for a hot week. Will be nice to get a break from thinking about the poll.

Email (12 messages at 11:28):

• OR Books: Paul Prescod, Against Black Nationalism: Garvey, Randolph, and the Makings of a Black Movement.

Daily Log

Woke up around 8:30. Read some, but still tired, so I went back to sleep, and didn't make up until almost noon. I finally remembered that I didn't put the garbage dumpster out to the curb, so we probably missed a week. They usually pick it up shortly before noon, so just on the off chance, I put it out. Hot today. Should top 100F. I updated website with near-finished essays last night. I figured I should wait until I got up to start sending them in (although in theory Marx should be able to see them on the website). I expected to get an earlier start, but here we are, 12:17 PM. Still have breakfast before I start. Scanning ahead in email, I don't see anything, other than Van Wyck's latest proofreading. So (I guess) no rush. I woke up thinking I should have written more about the music, but too late for that. Look it up.

Email (30 messages):

• Laura and Nathan Van Wyck sent in edits to the critics piece. I've made corrections. It is the first one I will deliver this afternoon. Rob Shepherd also sent in a correction to New Notes.
• Wichita Public Library: Two books not renewed, due July 24. I still meant to do another post (maybe two) based on Hussein Agha & Robert Malley, so I need to get cracking on that. Python Automation for Dummies remains a future project. The Hawaiian cookbook is not due yet. I don't know when I'll get around to using it. I may just buy a copy for future reference.
• Substack: +2 new subscribers (Dylan Hicks); comment from Mike Poage.
• Tom Engelhardt: It's Getting Hot, Hot, Hot! Donald Trump Is the Human Equivalent of an Atomic Bomb

Daily Log

Woke up at 6:38 AM. I had a little more than 5 hours of sleep, and doubted I'd be able to go back to sleep, so I came downstairs. Carrie was already up, having breakfast. They're planning on leaving by 10, so was good to get a chance to talk. Going to be a long day.

Email (18 messages at 8:30, some left over from yesterday):

• Project Syndicate: Letting Russia Burn (Nina L Krushcheva argues that Putin would sooner accept widespread pain at home than admit defeat in Ukraine); What Inequality Does to Electoral Democracy (Harold James); Oil Shocks Are No Longer Shocking (Nouriel Roubini); Governments Should Govern AI, Not Own it (actually, nobody should own it); How Tech Lords Hacked the Firm (Quinn Slobodian); Subsidies Do Not Explain China's Competetiveness (Kai Guo).
• Semipop Life: starts with B+, then A- for Courtney Barnett (no surprise), A for Mara Calder (surprise, but I probably got that ball rolling), and A+ for Emperor X (huh?).
• Substack stuff: +3 new subscriber (incl. Robert Nagle, "idiotprogrammer"); +2 likes (various pieces, some old).
• My dinner plate pic. I posted it on Facebook.

I took a nap about 3PM. Machine registered 56 minutes. Woke up from a dream that obviously couldn't have been anything else. Up to 75 pages in I Am Not a Robot. Earlier today I corrected the Old Jazz piece, and I read and edited what I'll call the first half of the Critics piece. Now to write the second half. Then I need to go back and split the Notes out of the Old and New pieces, so I can mail them in.

Daily Log

Worked to 2AM last night. Laura wanted to finish the jigsaw, so she skipped TV, so I could work. I baked the ribs: 2.5 hours at 250F, still wrapped in foil, in the refrigerator. I made the tiramisu (except no chocolate garnish yet), and the gluten-free brownies, so dessert is set. I marinated the chicken wings. I didn't have any lime, and used up the rest of my bottled juice. I should have more limes today for basting, so I asked Matt to pick up some. (Just heard that he did.) Made the cucumber-yogurt. First thing I need to do today is to pop the sweet potatoes into the oven. Then I need to do the other marinades (swordfish, shrimp), and whatever the ground lamb needs. After that, I'm just planning two salads: horiatiki, and an Ottolenghi based on baby spinach. Those are just throwing things into bowls, then mixing up a dressing. Oh, we're also doing Turkish eggplant, so I'll cut two eggplants into rounds, which Matt can grill, probably before he gets into the meats. I'll top them with a tomato sauce and yogurt, so I'll need to prep all that. Aside from the sweet potatoes, the only real cooking for me today is the tomato sauce. Seems manageable, but I'm feeling quite a bit of pain right now.

No writing today. Email (7 messages at 11:45, nothing I need to look at). I didn't get back to the computer until 10:40 PM. Carrie helped with dinner prep, so we got everything done on our end pretty efficiently. My main glitch was that I couldn't find any tahini, so I had to scratch the yogurt-tahini sauce (meant for the kofte). I did make a yogurt-dill sauce for the shrimp which worked nicely. Big problem was with the grill. I had warned Matt that the gas valve had to be opened slowly, but he evidently tripped the safety valve in the regulator, so the gas flow was limited to the extent of being useless. First thing was for him to grill the eggplant. He had gotten it to the point where it looked cooked, but it had taken an alarmingly long time, and he had a lot of meat left to go. I shut the gas down, then restarted it, opening it slowly. That worked, but it also leaked gas out the side of the regulator valve. (We could hear the leak, and also feel it, but it seemed to be providing adequate gas to the burners.) I tried wrapping tape around the regulator, hoping to slow the leak. The grill heated up, and Matt was able to grill everything. (There was a lot, and it took a long time.) Clearly I need to replace the regulator. Notes on dinner below.

• HP Print Service Plugin: Important Notice: Our Terms and Conditions have changed: Help us improve your Print Service Plugin experience by sharing your app usage data with us through Google Analytics. For more information, view . . . Two check boxes: Send usage data vis Google Analytics (optional); Accept the HP End User License Agreement, which evidently isn't optional, as the only thing I can do after that is click on "Start," which is something I don't want to do. When I click on Start without checking the box, it does nothing.

Plan for the dinner was to do a mixed Mediterranean grill, with a range of dishes from the grill. I don't particularly like grilling, so when I get a chance to assign someone else to the grill, I'd like to take advantage. Today's menu was:

• Grilled chicken wings: Iranian recipe, marinated overnight in saffron, onions, lime juice, some yogurt; while grilling, baste them with a lime-butter mix)
• Grilled swordfish: Turkish recipe, marinated in lemon, onion, paprika; goes with a lemon sauce, which I added to bowl after grilling.
• Baby back pork ribs: Tuscan recipe, rubbed and baked 2.5 hours at 250F, then finished on grill, with a balsamic-honey glaze.
• Grilled shrimp: Greek recipe, marinated with a lot of paprika; served with a yogurt-dill sauce.
• Grilled kofte: From the ATK Mediterrean cookbook, using ground lamb, pine nuts, onion, and spices. Should have a yogurt-tahini sauce, but I couldn't find my tahini, so didn't make the sauce (the yogurt-dill worked nice).
• Grilled eggplant with tomato sauce and garlic-yogurt: Turkish recipe. Eggplant turned out to be very tough due to the low temp grill. Looked terrific, but very disappointing.
• Roasted sweet potatoes with dates, scallions, and balsamic glaze: Ottolenghi recipe.
• Horiatiki: Greek chopped salad.
• Baby spinach salad: Ottolengthi recipe, with toasted pita and almonds, dates, onion.
• Mast Va Khiar: Iranian cucumber-yogurt variation, with scallions, mint, golden raisins, and black walnuts.
• Tiramisu: Recipe uses a jelly roll cake instead of ladyfingers.
• Brownies: Gluten-free recipe uses almond flour.

Daily Log

Ok, but not great, sleep. Woke up around 8:30, and never really made it back to sleep. Came down shortly after 10. Thinking more about Sunday dinner than the poll. I do have a lot of writing left today, as well as putting together a shopping list, shopping, and this evening doing my prep, which will mostly involve marinades and dessert. Matt requested the Mediterranean grill option, and preferred ground lamb to chunks. I wish I had some of those wide, flat skewers. I may stop by Ace and check out their BBQ gear, before hitting the grocery store(s). Aside from the lamb, we'll do chicken wings, swordfish (if I have it; I have some), not sure what else. Thought of shrimp, and I see a Greek grilled shrimp that looks good. Also thought of wrapping fish filets in grape leaves. I'm thinking I'll do the Ottolenghi roasted sweet potatoes. We'll also have the horiatiki, and mast va khiar. Not sure how much more we need. Maybe grill eggplant, and top it with something. Maybe some greens? For dessert, they opted for the tiramisu. Not my first choice, but doable. Maybe I'll also do some gluten-free brownies. I doubt if I'll have a definitive shopping list, so to some extent I'll probably wind up winging it.

Music Week (7:3) went out last night. Regular Music Week should go up today. Fair amount of writing left, but at this stage it's mostly tuning up. I'm reconciled to not turning the essays in until guests leave on Monday. Matt Merewitz called, and we talked for an hour. He has lots of ideas about the possible future of the poll. As I've been thinking about future direction, I need to follow up with him. I also have a letter from Paul Medrano that I don't think I logged, but is basically a business plan for moving forward.

Email (11 messages at 4:30):

• I processed Nathan Van Wyck's notes on the New Jazz piece. Laura also sent me something, catching the first two.
• Music Week (7:3): 1 like.
• TomDispatch: Nick Turse: The United States of Betrayal: Turning on our allies has always been the American way.
• Bill Marx wrote: thinks the New Jazz essay is "solid," but too long, so wants to cut the notes out. I offered to move them to a separate file on my server. I sent him Rara Avis and the "Warming Up a Riff" fragment. I asked whether the "My Ballot" section should also be cut. I told him I'm done for the weekend, but will get back to work after my guests leave on Monday, and send him copy in later that day or Tuesday.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, July archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 50 albums, 10 A-list

Music: Current count 46299 [46249] rated (+50), 10 [15] unrated (-5).

New records reviewed this week:

• Ricky Alexander: Ragology (2025 [2026], Turtle Bay): [sp]: B+(***)
• Zoh Amba: Eyes Full (2026, Matador): [sp]: A-
• Florian Arbenz Feat. Bill Frisell/Greg Osby: Quiet Lights (2025 [2026], Hammer/Conversation Lab): [sp]: B+(***)
• Ran Blake & Dominique Eade: Roots & Byways (2023 [2026], Sunnyside): [cd]: B+(***)
• Cheer-Accident: Your Smile/The Song Is Over (2026, Cuneiform): [dl]: B
• Cheer-Accident: CheerAx Basement, Chicago 4/2/22 // Reggie's Chicago 9/26/23 (2022-23 [2026], Cuneiform): [dl]: B+(*)
• Alexander Claffy: Alive in Philadelphia Vol. 1: At Chris' Jazz Cafe (2025 [2026], Cellar): [sp]: B+(**)
• Mike Clark: Kuon Ganjo (Time Without Beginning) (2025 [2026], Wide Hive): [cd]: B+(**) [08-07]
• Paul Cosentino's Boilermaker Jazz Band: Everything Is Jumpin' (2025, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
• Dominique Cravic Et Les Primitifs Du Futur: Les Crimes Du Musette (2026, Buda Musique): [sp]: B+(***)
• Marilyn Crispell/Anders Jormin: Memento (2025 [2026], ECM): [sp]: B+(*)
• Caroline Davis: Fallows (2025 [2026], Ropeadope): [bc]: A-
• Adam De Lucia: The Man Who Would Be King (2025 [2026], self-released): [cd]: B [08-07]
• E'DU & Judgitzu: Nuku (2026, Nyege Nyege Tapes): [bc]: B+(**)
• Maria Grand: Both Sides (2026, Lilaila): [bc]: B+(***)
• Miho Hazama: Frames (2025 [2026], Edition): [sp]: B+(**)
• Gerry Hemingway: Live at Bau 4 (2025 [2026], Hat Hut): [cd]: A-
• House of the Black Gardenia: Mazurka in Jazz (2026, HOTGB): [sp]: A-
• I Compani: Basta! 7-Tet [The Last Concerts 2025] (2025 [2026], I Compani): [sp]: B+(**)
• I Compani: Basta! Extended [The Last Concerts 2025] (2025 [2026], I Compani): [sp]: B+(***)
• Randy Ingram: Sound Within: A Celebration of Bill Evans (2025 [2026], Chill Tone): [cd]: B+(***)
• Mike Khoury: For Hind Rajab (2025 [2026], Relative Pitch): [sp]: A-
• Andrew Kim: Lineage (2025 [2026], Origin) [07-24]
• Kiri Ra!: Nen (2026, We Jazz): [sp]: B+(**)
• Knats: A Great Day in Newcastle (2026, Gearbox): [sp]: B
• Elan Mehler: Renee Said (2025 [2026], Newvelle): [sp]: B+(**)
• Sei Miguel: Viva! (O Carro De Fogo De Sei Miguel) (2023 [2026], Clean Feed): [sp]: B+(***)
• Nils Petter Molvær: Be Quiet (2026, Edition): [sp]: B
• Nolatet: Somethin' to Relax With (2025 [2026], Royal Potato Family): [sp]: B+(*)
• Onilu: Jakuta's Dance (2025 [2026], 577): [dl]: B+(***)
• Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/Bobby Kapp: Synesthesia (2024 [2026], Defkaz): [sp]: B+(***)
• Brooks Prumo Orchestra: Good Bait (2025 [2026], self-released): [sp]: B+(*)
• Olivia Rodrigo: You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love (2026, Geffen): [sp]: A-
• Armand Sangalang: Waypoints (2025 [2026], Calligram): [sp]: B+(***) [08-07]
• Helen Sung Big Band: Oracles (2024 [2026], Sunnyside): [sp]: B+(*)
• Tyler "Twerk" Thomson: Plays in Bands (2026, self-released): [bc]: A-
• Tierra Whack: Whack's Museum (2026, Interscope): [sp]: B+(***)
• Håvard Wiik/Antonio Borghini/Tim Daisy: One Brief Cure (2025 [2026], Relay): [bc]: B+(***)
• Wrens: Live @ Nublu (2025 [2026], Out of Your Head): [os]: B+(***)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers: Jazz Messengers '70 (1970 [2026], Good Time): [sp]: B+(**)
• Art Blakey & the New Jazz Messengers: Buttercorn Lady (1966 [2026], Elemental Music): [sp]: B+(*)
• Dollar Brand/Don Cherry/Carlos Ward: The Third World-Underground (1972 [2026], Wewantsounds): [sp]: B+(**)
• Mick Goodrick/Fred Hersch: Feebles, Fables and Ferns (1988 [2026], ECM): [sp]: B+(**)
• Thelonious Monk: Live in Paris, 1967: Volume One (1967 [2026], Rhythm-a-Ning): [sp]: B+(**)
• Jimmy Scott: Falling in Love Is Wonderful (1963 [2026], Tangerine): [sp]: B+(*)
• Sun Ra: East Two + 7 (1972-73 [2026], Cosmic Myth): [sp]: B+(**)
• McCoy Tyner: Extensions (1970 [2026], Blue Note): [sp]: A-
• McCoy Tyner: Asante (1970 [2026], Blue Note): [sp]: B+(**)
• McCoy Tyner: The Seeker: Live at Umbria Jazz Festival (1993 [2026, Red): [sp]: A-

Old music:

• House of the Black Gardenia: The New Lowdown (2020, HOTGB): [bc]: B+(***)
• L'Afrique Danse No. 1 (1965-68 [1969], African): [sp]: A-
• Twerk Thomson: Plays Unpopular Songs (2017, Twerk-O-Phonic): [bc]: B+(**)
• McCoy Tyner: Expansions (1968 [1969], Blue Note): [sp]: B+(**)

Limited Sampling: Records I played parts of, but not enough to grade: -- means no interest, - not bad but not a prospect, + some chance, ++ likely prospect.

• Art Ensemble of Chicago: People in Sorrow (1969 [2026], Play Loud!): [bc] (4 snippets: 8:14): ++
• Art Ensemble of Chicago: Les Stances à Sophie (1970 [2023], Play Loud!): [bc] (8 snippets: 5:01): ++
• Jason Moran: Plays Duke Ellington (2026, Yes): [bc]: +

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Gerry Hemingway: Live at Bau 4 (Hat Hut) [04-24]

Daily Log

Difficult night sleeping. At one point I thought I heard Laura saying, "your mask is off." The mask wasn't, but the tube had been disconnected, and the machine was turned off. I got up at 6, and read some. Hopefully I'll be done with AI Snake Oil today or tomorrow, and can move on to the next AI book in the stack of four. I did get quite a bit of writing done yesterday. In my New Jazz piece, I advanced the notes down through the top 20. Next up is Jason Moran (21, 42). Outline has 10 more names, of which Virginia MacDonald is already written (about debut albums). There may be a couple more when I review. But I expect to get through that list today, leaving me tomorrow to clean up, before Matt & Carrie arrive on Sunday. I wrote Matt a letter about food. We should talk today, so I can start to make plans. I'm looking for him to run the grill, while I do the sides. Options are: American, Middle Eastern, Hawaiian. We've done a lot of Middle Eastern in the past. I also did a birthday dinner of hamburgers, although American can extend somewhat beyond that. I haven't done anything Hawaiian, but I have a cookbook from the library that is mostly grilled dishes, so that's an option if we want to do something totally new. Also need to decide on dessert. I'm looking for something simple, with kid appeal (they have two, although one's a teen now). Looking forward to this much more than I am writing, but hopefully this weekend will be one coup after another. Playing Adam O'Farrill to start the day. Sounding really good.

I ran the cutoff for Music Week last night. I should try to get it out, at least on Substack, tonight.

Email (40 messages, doesn't appear to be anything on the poll):

• Cadence Magazine Newsletter
• Substack: +1 subscriber

Daily Log

Woke up after 10, clocking 6 hours sleep for the first time in nearly a week. Essays are coming along, but still lots more to do. I posted an update last night. Doesn't look like I'm getting any reaction. I'm also thinking about the Matt & Carrie visit on Sunday. Need to plan food. I'm assuming I'll be done with the essays by then, although they won't be published until early next week. I don't expect any distractions today. I'll hold off on Music Week a bit longer. Playing Meg Okura to start. Played Sorey and Reid yesterday. It's quite possible that I'm not so very impressed with jazz this year.

Email (25 messages):

• My jpadmin update post. No reaction.
• Tom Engelhardt: America's Imperial Wars, Then and Now.
• All About Jazz: They've released their "All-Star Break" roundup of "Best Jazz Albums 2026." No time right now, but eventually I will check this out, and (like Santa Claus) make notes of who's been naughty and who's been nice (those we invited who voted in our poll, vs. those invited who didn't; the third group are those we didn't invite, mostly for lack of email addresses).
• William Shatner debuts new metal band at Riot Fest 2026. The band is called the "*uckers." Shatner quote: "I've always believed that music, like space, is about exploration."
• Whitewashed History: TGreading on the myth of the Gadsden Flag.
• Tom Carson: Frankenride 8. TL;DR, but strategy seems to be to expose a few sections to non-paying subscribers. Perhaps when I have nothing more pressing.
• Recommendations from your Substacks: From Cadence, actually. May be worth checking out.
• Michael Steinman: The Four Leaf Clover Jazz Band.
• Cadence interview with Lotte Lenker, have to do something to "claim free article."
• DownBeat: 2026 Critics Poll Edition: Mary Halvorson is artist of the year, Patricia Brennan album of the year, Adam O'Farrill as rising star artist/trumpeter/arranger, Sheila Jordan to Hall of Fame, also Jaki Byard. 226 critics ("second highest in poll (and jazz) history!").

Daily Log

Slept just under six hours. Came down at 10:40. Thought I should play some of my poll records. Couldn't find Tyshawn Sorey in the bin, but it was on the desk. Also pulled out Tomeka Reid, Adam O'Farrill, Meg Okura, and Melford/Fujii. Laura has a lunch date with a Blue Cedar Press author at 12:30, so I'll probably tag along. Other than that, I just need to keep writing. I got into the notes section of the rara avis essay yesterday, and piled up quite a few words. I still need to do something like that for new jazz albums. Then add the critics list to that piece, along with any further thoughts.

Back from lunch. Went to Larkspur. Good calimari appetizer. Fair gyro sandwich, with so-so pasta salad (but others got the fries, which were good). They were meeting with a prospective author, first name Miguel, don't recall the surname, is writing a book on Mexican immigrant experience. Lives in DC, but has family in Wichita, and knows Anita. Gretchen likes the book. Laura hasn't read it yet. But he's keen for Blue Cedar Press to publish it, so the meeting was productive. I didn't get anything done before lunch, so I'm starting all over again.

Email (45 messages at 3:00 PM):

• OR Books says Mike Wallace has died (1942-2026). I think of him (not the broadcaster) as a historian of Mexico, but evidently his Gotham series is a bigger deal. OR Books is pushing a book he co-wrote with his wife, Mexican novelist Carmen Boullosa: A Narco History: How the United States and Mexico Jointly Created the "Mexican Drug War".
• Whitewashed History: We Don't Dip the Stars & Stripes: and other lessons from a Great American named Ralph Rose.
• Your Weekly Stack: I Wanted to be Anthony Bourdain — until I met him (Cailey Rizzo); The Morning Leonard Cohen Explained Antisemitism (Steven Karras); Paul Krugman is Wrong about Socialism and Social Democracy (John B Judis); On Tricia Rose, Greg Tate, and Black Cultural Genius (Robin DG Kelley); Have You Ever Been in a Room Full of Zionists Attacking Jason Stanley? I Have. (Jon Reynolds).

Daily Log

Woke up around 7:30. Read some. Went back to bed. Woke up again, and came down around 9:00. Only 85 on the sleep machine. Bright outside, with that weird light I recall from occasionally getting up way too early. I need to write a lot today. I wrote a chunk of intro to the old jazz piece, and added the chart. While the piece intros can use some polish, they are basically done (old still needs another paragraph or two that parallels the chart intro in the new piece, but basically), with the charts in place. This will be followed by running down the lists and picking out whatever catches my interest. Undecided is whether I'll talk about my own ballot.

We never got the IP address whitelist code working for Bill Marx. I suspect that the ipv6 addresses aren't stable enough, but checking that via someone else's account is hard and messy. So I thought I'd try setting a cookie. All he would have to do is to access a page that would set the cookie. Then all subsequent page accesses would provide the cookie, which my lockout code could inspect and allow. I've never worked with cookies, so there was some learning curve (something I need to know one of these days, anyway). But I wondered if I could just ask google to write the cookie-test-and-set code. I jotted down four lines, something like: write a PHP program to test whether a cookie is set; if set, print a message; if not set, set it and print a different message. Within a couple seconds, it came back with code to do that, with comments. I stuck that in a file, and changed the cookie name, and fiddled a bit with the messages. It would only work with https, which I don't have set up locally, so I had to stick the page on the server to test it. It worked, or seemed to. I wrote a second PHP page for a separate test, and it worked. (I wanted to make sure that the cookie would appear in a page in a subordinate directory. I thought it should, and it does.) I then tried adapting the test code to my include file to be used when deciding whether to lock pages. It didn't work, and I thrashed for an hour or more before I found a couple of dumb typos. Would have gone much faster had I been able to test locally, but having to shuttle code to the server complicated things, including giving me more opportunities for screwing up. I don't have confirmation from Marx that it's working for him. I also don't have a way to unset the cookie (except through my browser). But I learned a few things, including a different way to go about programming.

New jigsaw puzzle last night. I'll work a bit on it before breakfast, then get to work. Email (17 messages at 9:30):

• OR Books is publishing Tehran Diaries: Dispatches From Iran Under Siege, by a pseudonymous Raha Nik-Andish.
• RiotRiot published an interview with 98° from 2014. I don't remember them.
• Tom Engelhardt: Six Things I Would (Not) Do as President of the United States

Daily Log

I woke up a bit after 9:30, and came down around 10:15. Reading AI Snake Oil, specifically the chapter on "Is Advanced AI an Existential Threat?" The answer, which Doctorow agrees with, is no, but they (or I) haven't gotten that far yet. Doctorow goes to far as to argue that the "threat" is self-inflating hype: by falling for it, our alarms inflate the idea of its power, which makes it look more important than it really is. Granted, it may eventually backfire and provoke a revolt against the AI masters, but in the meantime it makes some of them look and feel like heroes (and in the longtime, we're all dead anyway). One thing I'm struck by is how much of what passes as success in AI is actually backstopped by human intelligence: often directly, as humans behind the screens take over from stumped chatbots; more often indirectly, as mobs of people are hired to correct training data. Snake Oil suggests the possibility that the current vogue for trying to fix everything with more data may be a dead end, and ultimately have to be replaced with something else completely. I suspect we're heading toward a new analogue to Gödel's Theorem, which proved that no system of mathematics can be both complete and consistent.

I wonder if I shouldn't excerpt some notebook ruminations like the above paragraph for Notes on Everyday Life. But no time to do that today. I have to get back to the poll essay grindstone. Last night, I moved my long personal intro from New to Critics, and started a new intro for New. It, too, started to grow excessively, but this time the culprit was a rabbit hole, as I looked into the vote concentration data. While that's worth bringing up, I can move that to the Notes section following the Table. (The outline for the essays is: Introduction; Table; Notes.) Then get back to my point, which hopefully I can wrap up in a quote and two paras, before the table. The sooner I have the intros written, the sooner I will be able to see the end of the tunnel. So while I feel like I'm nowhere close now, and am almost certain to blow Wednesday as a deadline, Friday is still possible.

Email (13 messages at noon, so I just did a website update sent a letter to jpadmin):

• Robert Wright: The coming US-China rapprochement; also The non-zero-sum logic of AI is taking root.
• Substack: +1 subscriber.

Daily Log

Woke up around 6:30, which seemed ridiculous, so I went back to sleep, until 9:30 or so. Came down just before 10. I didn't get any writing done until early evening last night, then ran out of gas by TV time. Just have bland intro matter. Thought I'd move my first (rather personal) draft to the critics piece, to get a fresh start on the new table piece, but when I started again for it, I wrote more that fits better with the previous intro. Hopefully I'll get going earlier today, although at the moment I'm still in getting up ritual. I have my Coleman Hawkins playing, and will work a bit on the jigsaw (but not too much, as we'll finish it today). I updated software, so have to reboot, which means restarting all of my panels, windows, and tabs. That's a fairly big production, even with some session info and startup files. I did update the jazzpoll website.

Very light email (7 messages):

• Project Syndicate: Mamdani's American Dream (Slavoj Zizek); Ruling Class Clowns (James Livingston: "unlike the US elite that emerged from the Gilden Age, today's tech bros have money but no purpose"; I'd say Jay Gould was pretty short of purpose; I'd also say that others who had more purpose, like Carnegie and Morgan, weren't nearly the blessings they're cracked up to be — Gates and Buffett are similar, for better and worse; then there are the Musk and Bezos types, who are off the scale, and mostly for the worse); Inside Ukraine's Game-Changing Drone Industry (Yuriy Gorodnichenko & Viktor Koziuk: aren't these the first steps toward the AI nightmare scenario where the machines turn on us? one more reason to end this war as soon as possible).
• Day in History: something else I didn't sign up for, a class of information that has no intrinsic value, but may occasionally remind you of something (not so much the day it occurred, as that it occurred at all).
• Tom Carson: In Memory of Lady G, 1955-2026: There is no truth to the rumor Lindsey Graham's last words were "Mitch McConnell still lives."
• Substack: Music Week (6:4) +1 like.

Daily Log

Woke up at 8:28, when the machine switched off. Decided to just turn over and try it again. Slept some more. Read some. Came down at 11. Wrote four paragraphs on my essay last night. Still one or two paragraphs away from getting to the substance of the poll. As I recall, last year I started writing a personal introduction, then realizing it was too long, moved it into a separate essay. Perhaps I should do that again this year. Last EOY I broke every table out into its own essay. I was thinking I'd do that again this year, but with just two tables, and maybe a separate file for the critics list. But I hadn't really thought about moving the personal history into its own file, which I sort of did last year, when I dedicated the main intro file to Francis Davis.

I should go back and look at that arrangement, especially to see how quickly I moved into the tables in their files. Thus far, I've only looked at the previous Mid-Year essays, which were single shots, with personal intro, new table (intro/table/notes), old table (same), and critics list. What I could do now is to take the intro I wrote last night, and move it ahead of the critics list. I could develop it further to talk about the critics, but that's less urgent now than framing the old and new music tables. No plans today other than writing.

Email (9 messages):

• Substack: +1 like for Music Week (7:2). +2 subscribers.
• Bounced email: I tried contacting Turtle Bay Records, but inadvertently sent email to example@email.com, which is sloppy, unedited boilerplate on their web page. They also offered a form, so I should try that.
• OR Books: Wealth is wated on the wealthy. Pushing a 30% off sale.
• Shock Hosting closed my ticket. Now they want a rating. Second time recently I've filed tickets. Both were for transient problems, which went away almost instantly. No complaints about handling them.
• Welcome to Gemini: whether you like it or not, evidently.

Daily Log

Woke up at 8:30, in a foul mood, 80 on the machine. Read some, and came down by 9:30. I need to get serious and write today. I've kicked most of the angles around, and don't really like any of them. Way too easy to talk about why I did this. Who cares? No clear answer to that, other than that some people do, and some people don't. The question is am I among the former? Sometimes I have doubts. I don't want to oversell this. I don't want to undersell it either. But I do want to get it essentially done over the weekend. That probably means getting my first words down on paper today. One disruption is that Laura has a medical appointment at 1. Seems like she wants me to tag along, so I'll do that. Maybe get some lunch after. Meanwhile, I'll work on the puzzle a bit. Play Coleman Hawkins. Eat breakfast. Go through my mail (39 messages).

• Electronic alarm noise from my office area. APC Back-UPS 1350 is on the blink, with a failing battery. I haven't been using the computer that's on it, so I shut it down. Then ordered a replcaement battery. $115 seems like a lot (although I was relieved to see that it was down from the $119 I paid last time). The alternative of buying a new UPS seems to be $299, which is way up from what I remember.
• "Whitewashed History" liked my Music Week (7:2). I think that's my nephew's new Substack project ("launched 16 days ago"): "Whitewashed History is a show about the stories we're told, who's telling them, and why." I can't imagine listening to the long podcasts, but I did get through the 3:34 "Cui bono?" introduction. I also subscribed (free tier). I clicked on recommend. I didn't click on share, or pick an app.
• Substack stats: 3 likes, 102 views from email, 12 from other sources, duckduckgo.com got listed with 0.
• Cadence Weekly Newsletter.
• Dave from Edition enquiry about the Dave Holland box. I wrote him back, suggesting he send CDs. It's 3+ hours, which would be a pain to stream. I see though that Edition has new albums by Nils Petter Molvaer and Miho Hazama that I should check out.
• Tom Engelhardt: Going, Going, Gone! The President of Decline May Take the Planet Down with Him. My reaction: or we could crash and burn all on our own.
• Poll matters: I accepted a change from Goncalo Falcao; Yoshi Kato wrote in and explained why he was unable to vote.

Daily Log

Real tired last night, so I went to bed early. Woke up after 9, with 7 hours sleep logged. Dentist yesterday was uneventful. Picked up a gyro on the way home. I didn't do much on the poll yesterday. I ran the cutoff for Music Week, set up my draft blog file, and pulled 8 reviews out to send off to NOEL. I'll probably post the blog Music Week today, as all it needs is an introduction, and I can test some thoughts out there. I did go ahead and set up dummy files for my essays (new and old; I also set up one for critics, which may get folded into new, and notes, which is a place to put research until I decide whether to use it or not). No writing yet, but ideas are coming.

Woke up a bit after 9. Finished reading Doctorow. Very good book. I started with AI Snake Oil, which will probably get into more technical detail, and less into the business/politics (topics that nonetheless will be unavoidable).

Email (41 messages):

• Substack: Music Week (7:2): shareable assets; 3 likes.
• OR Books: Office space like this doesn't come cheap. I wrote them a note, reprinted below.
• Mike Konczal: How I Use AI as a Policy Researcher: HTML Dives, Git Diffs, and Elaborate Rehearsals: Learning git to escape the permanent underclass, and showing up late to the vibe-coded app party with a writer's IDE. I need to go back and study this file. But note that it starts with two general tips for writers, which is to use GitHub for version control, and Markdown for formatting notation.
• Project Syndicate: Worse than War: The Global Costs of Violence (Anke Hoeffler/James D. Fearon); Europe's AI Dolce Vita? (Kenneth Rogoff); 250 Yeares of American State Capitalism (Shang-Jin Wei); How Safe Are Today's Blockbuster Stocks? (Barry Eichengreen).
• TomDispatch: Nick Turse editing now, publishing Tom Engelhardt: A Government of Trump, by Trump, and for Trump.
• Robert Christgau: Consumer Guide, July, 2026.

Here's the note I wrote to OR Books:

Well, as the late Sylvia Kleinman liked to say, "nothing's too good for the working class."

I've bought several of your books direct, but when I can find them, Amazon is just easier, and that matters at my age, and in this age.

Still, occasionally I wonder if you might be interested in publishing some of my writing. You can find a big pile of it here.

Of course, it would be a big job to edit it down, and clean it up. Someone once asked me who our Antonio Gramsci might be, and I volunteered myself. I thought "Prison Notebooks" might work as a title, even if my own prison is just obscurity (and Kansas). Or pick 15-20 nuggets, polish them up as essays, and borrow a Paul Goodman title (maybe just as the subtitle): "Utopian Essays & Practical Proposals"?

Music Week

Expanded blog post, July archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 30 albums, 5 A-list

Music: Current count 46249 [46219] rated (+30), 15 [16] unrated (-1).

New records reviewed this week:

• Josh Berman Trio: Everybody Else's Life Too (2025 [2026], Corbett vs. Dempsey): [bc]: B+(***)
• Seamus Blake: The Electrifying Seamus Blake Plays the Music of Eddie Harris: EH! (2025 [2026], Cellar): [sp]: B+(*)
• Henriette Eilertsen Trio: Moder (2024 [2026], Motvind): [sp]: B+(***)
• Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (Exit) Knarr: Fly (2025 [2026], Sauajazz): [bc]: B+(***)
• Hayeminol: Ingen Vår I År (2026, Tarmkyllig): [sp]: B
• Colin Heshmat: Elastic Groove (2026, HMC): [cd]: B+(*) [07-23]
• Jana Horn: Jana Horn (2026, No Quarter): [sp]: B+(**)
• It Was Her Idea: Daughter of War (2025 [2026], PNL): [sp]: B+(*)
• Kirk Knuffke: Brother (2026, SteepleChase): [sp]: B+(***)
• Nicolas Leirtrø's Action Now!: Entrance (2025 [2026], Sauajazz): [bc]: B+(***)
• Camila Nebbia & Chris Corsano: Six or Seven Ways Towards Becoming Undone (2025 [2026], Relative Pitch): [sp]: B+(***)
• Bob Nell & Michael Bisio Trios: We Are Here (2025 [2026], Origin): [cd]: B+(**) [07-24]
• OM: Südpol (2024 [2026], Intakt): [sp]: B+(**)
• Rebecca Rafla: Fundamentally Unfinished (2024-25 [2026], Rebecca Raffla Music): [cd]: B
• Catherine Russell: Live at Jazz at Lincoln Center (2024 [2026], Dot Time): [sp]: B+(***)
• Cécile McLorin Salvant: With Every Breath I Take (2025 [2026], Nonesuch): [sp]: B+(*)
• Sweet Megg: Massive Negroni (2026, self-released): [sp]: B+(**)
• Kalia Vandever: Mana (2026, International Anthem): [sp]: B+(*)
• April Varner: Ella (2025 [2026] Cellar): [sp]: B+(***)
• Karsten Vogel: Late Night Ballads (2026, Storyville): [sp]: B+(*)
• Hein Westgaard & Matt Maneri: Chamber (2024 [2025], Gotta Let It Out): [cd]: A-
• Jack Wright and Ben Bennett: Tourne (2026, self-released): [bc]: A-
• Your Brother's Keeper & Gary Bartz: Where Rivers Meet (2023 [2026], Brownswood): [sp]: B+(***)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Carla Bley: Joyful Noise (Live in Hamburg 1984) (1984 [2026], Moosicus): [sp]: A-
• Marion Brown: Awofofora (1976 [2026], Aguirre): [bc]: B+(***)
• Satoko Fujii: Satoko Fujii's Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra (2014 [2026], Libra, 2CD): [cd]: A- [07-10]
• Wynton Marsalis & Vince Giordano: The Wonderful Word of Louis Armstrong (2012 [2026], Blue Engine): [sp]: B+(**)
• Mal Waldron & Sam Rivers: Live in Mestre Venezia 1984 (1984 [2025], Caligola): [bc]: A-
• The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong All Stars: A Gift to Pops (2021 [2026], Verve): [sp]: B+(*)

Old music:

• Northwest Improvisers: Fanfares (2022 [2023], Entropy Stereo): [bc]: B+(***)
• April Varner: April (2023 [2024], Cellar): [sp]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Randy Ingram: Sound Within: A Celebration of Bill Evans (Chill Tone) [07-10]
• Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves: Bury Deep My Heart (Carrier) [07-27]
• Bill Scorzari: Sidereal Days (Day 2) (self-released) [09-25]
• WDR Big Band: Jagged Edges & Elegant Lines: The Music of Ayn Inserto (Summit) [08-07]

Daily Log

Got up after 9. Read more from Doctorow, leaving one short chapter on after the inevitable bubble collapse of AI. I'll move on to AI Snake Oil next, which may provide more technical detail on what AI can/cannot do, as Doctorow mostly focused on the business policy, or perhaps the better word is proposition? After that, I'll move on to some more upbeat books. I expect the critiques to mostly confirm my expectations. What's harder to figure out is what good AI might be to my particular work. I spent a good deal of time yesterday hacking out an awk script to pull some data out of my jazz poll tables. In the past I've compiled this data by hand, but now I can find out (instantly, and automatically updated every time new data is added):

• The split between current year (2026) and previous year (2025) releases.
• The split between ranked and unranked ballots.
• How many ballots had empty categories (about 25% of rara avis), and the distribution of short ballots.
• Which albums got votes both as new and rara avis.
• Compare this year's voters against previous years, to generate lists of new voters, returning voters (missed last year, but have voted in last three years), and missing voters (voted last year but not this).

Although I had been thinking I'd learn python for tools like this, I went back to my old standby, awk. However, I had forgotten lots of details, and made tons of coding errors. But I could ask google not just to find manuals but to answer specific questions (like how to check the first letter of a string, or how to get my command line variable recognized in the BEGIN block?). Most of what I do to write a program is to look things up. I'm used to searching through manuals to find bits of information, but this is much easier. I haven't got to the stage of asking AI to write code snippets (which supposedly it excels at, especially for python), but I'm moving towards that. At some point in the next 2-3 months, I figure I'll sign up for some AI package. I'm trying to get my head straight before I do. I don't need AI to write for me, but I could use it for ancillary tasks, and it might be a big help with some of those.

Dentist appointment today at 2, so that will disrupt the day. Weighed myself at 229.8, so that's up and bad. I've been staying within general guidelines (except for big dinners and leftovers; only the slaw remains of the latest latter), but haven't been using the app. I probably should restart that.

Email (25 messages):

• Poll stuff: Ron Wynn and Piotr Orlov promised ballots, but didn't deliver. I wrote them back saying we're done.
• Adam Shatz: tells me his music book, In Search of a Sound, will be published by Farrar Straus and Giroux next year. Offers me "an advance readers copy" in the fall.
• Meet Gemini, your new AI assistant. This is an ominous value proposition. Hopefully one I don't have to think about soon.
• William Marx: "sounds good to me . . . what will be the lengths of the pieces?" I wrote a fairly detailed reply, summarizing my plans, and asking for direction on a couple of points.

Daily Log

Updated the jazz poll website last night, with 125 ballots. I took down the "temporary notice," and moved the reference links to the "Notes" section. Also took a look at the top level index, and fixed a couple of gross typos. I need to do a major redesign of that page, but don't have any good ideas, and I realize that working on website runs the risk of slowing down work on the essay(s). That should be the priority. I did send out a last-gasp round of nag letters, to 8 critics who had voted in last year's mid-year but hadn't acknowledged this year's poll. I got a couple of responses, so the vote total may inch up a bit today, but this is definitely the last day.

Slept badly, getting up multiple times, the last at 9:15. Read Doctorow's chapter about "actually existing AI," which was pretty depressing.

Email (18 messages at 10:00):

• Poll matters: Ballots: Adam Shatz;
• Wichita Public Library: 3 books renewed. I've read Agha & Malley, but still want to quote it for a NOEL post. I've barely scratched the Python and Hawaiian cookbooks, but could still do some things with them. The Hawaiian isn't due until Aug. 7. It has a bunch of grilled dishes, so that might be good for July 19, when Matt & Carrie are coming through.
• Explain It Daily: Hanlon's Razor? I wasn't familiar, so I clicked: It is usually expressed as: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." "Never" sounds too strong for what is basically a statistical argument. While stupidity and its relatives (like ignorance and indifference) is certainly more common, malice (especially as resentment and/or revenge) is not so rare as to be dismissed entirely.
• Google Play: "we're making some changes to our Google Play Terms of Service." All of these points put you even more on the hook for costs and/or liabilities, while allowing Google to extract even more data.

Daily Log

Woke up way too early, but went back to bed, and fell back asleep, which I can tell by waking up from a dream involving Rudy Giuliani (I've never really looked at the back of his head before, and found myself trying to figure out which of the Three Stooges it resembled most), Tony Soprano, shooting wild boar in the suburbs, and falling off a roof, as I was trying to sneak away from those other elements. Read some, and came down just before noon. Took a brief glance at the mail, then decided to work on the jigsaw. I ended up with 122 ballots last night. I had four names who had promised to vote, but hadn't, so I looked up their letters and sent nag replies. As I noted in my jpadmin letter, main thing today will be to take down the voter training wheels from the website, and prepare for presenting the results. I also need to figure out the all of the scoring adjustments and total page footnotes. Then start writing, or at least thinking about writing. I figure I'll do two essays: one with the top-50 new albums, the other on rara avis. I have a vague idea of doing something on critics, but the only real need is to publish the voter list, and I don't want to slow publication down.

Email (38 messages):

• My jpadmin mail.
• Vox memberships: I signed up for their July 4 deal at $30. Renews at $60, but I had little problem quitting last time that happened. Hopefully I can write these expenses off.
• Poll matters: Michael Coyle offered to respond later today; Bridget Arnwine: forgot, so probably not; Nathan Van Wyck offered to look at the voter log file; Ballots: Mark Lomanno.
• Substack matters: +1 subscriber.
• Tom Engelhardt: Donald Trump, Arsonist in Chief: The President From Hell
• Tom Carson: Weekend at Mitch's and Garth's: McConnell and Platner's life support is ebbing

Daily Log

Got up at 9:15. Read some, came down an hour later. Gretchen and Mike came over for leftovers last night, which was lovely until the dog disappeared. Laura had let him into the backyard, then forgot about him, and by the time she looked, he had vanished. This had happened once before, with Sadie, who we found severely overheated, and rushed to the animal hospital. I spent a couple of hours, first walking then driving around the neighborhood. The last 30 minutes Laura joined me in the car. The fireworks were horrible. Perhaps they spooked Hank. They certainly were unnerving for me walking around in still-oppressive heat. When we eventually came back home, Hank was waiting, trying to figure out how to get back into the backyard. He seems ok. Wish I could say the same for us. I cleaned up the kitchen, but didn't do any more poll work. Today is deadline day. Having passed 100 ballots, I'm not feeling too bad. We'll see what today's email brings in.

Email (22 messages):

• Poll matters: Robert Christgau submitted a possible but rather iffy ballot, which he may not want me to use (I'll return to that later); ballots: Britt Robson, Phillip Lutz, Jason Bivins, Fotis Nikolakopoulos, C. Andrew Hovan; changes: John Langhoff; nacks: Tom Staudter.
• Substack matters: Stats for Music Week (7:1): 1 likes, 1 comment (mine), 1 restack, 112 email views + 23 from 4 other sources; later: +1 like. 1 new subscriber (Britt Robson).
• Project Syndicate: The US as the World's Robber Baron (Dani Rodrik); From the American Revolution to Universal Suffrage (Danielle Allen); NATO Needs a Defense Market (Fiona E Murray & Robert Murray "argue that members need more than higher spending to build the industrial capacity they need for deterrence"; this, of course, is bullshit on many levels).

Daily Log

Real tired last night. Woke up real early today, sometime after 7. Tried going back to sleep, but couldn't. Barely logged 4 hours, scoring 80. Came down at 8:15. Dog hasn't even gotten up yet. I expect a long day today with poll stuff, but only 9 emails so far, including a couple left over from last night. Not sure what I'll do if I have nothing to do today. I'm going to start by working on the jigsaw puzzle.

Email (10 messages at 8:22 AM; up to 19 at 10:49):

• Gretchen and Mike are coming over for leftovers tonight.
• Poll stuff: Ballots: Lawrence Donohue-Greene, Ludovico Granvassu, Brad Cohan, Sanford Josephson; Changes: Mimmo Stolfi;
• Substack stuff: Music Week (7:1): +1 like.
• Cadence: 800 words for the 250th annivesary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, by Patrick Hinley: "Today ought to be an occasion for national celebration, but I feel more like I am participating in a nationwide vigil for a seriously ill loved one. The USA has been hijacked by a cult of greasebag grifters, and they are trying to steal far more than just this holiday."
• Tom Carson: The Great American Shark Jumper: Is Freedom 250 our real Independence Day?

Daily Log

Yesterday, we took Rachel to the Wichita Art Museum, where they had a special exhibit of the De La Torre brothers: Mexican glassworks, some in cases behind lenticular screens. I can't say as it particularly appealed to me, but there is a distinctive genius to it, and it seems to me to be quintessentially Mexican. As it happens, we had a friend come over to pick up some jigsaw puzzles. She is Mexican-American, and had just been to the Art Museum. She particularly latched on to the Frida Kahlo puzzles. She's also interested in baseball history, so I gave her my 1985 copy of the Reichler Baseball Encyclopedia.

When we got home, Rachel and Laura watched a couple Steve Martin movies. I caught up a bit on the poll, then warmed up leftovers, also making the missing salad. Rachel went back to Kendra's, and will begin the long drive back to Portland on Friday. We still have a lot of leftovers. I posted a plate pic on Facebook. Not much reaction. Hoping to round some folks up for another leftovers dinner. While I'm too busy to contemplate cooking for a while, unpacking the refrigerator won't take long.

Woke up around 9. Went back to bed, but not to sleep, so I got up and came down at 10:30. I should have a lot of work today, but email is off to a slow start (at least for a Friday: 24 messages):

• Poll stuff: Ballots: Richard Williams, Dan Buskirk, Russell Perry, George Varga; Changes: Bill Milkowski, John Ephland; Nacks: Maciej Nowotny, Troy Dostert. Added jazzpoll subscribers: Russell Perry, Marcello Lorrai.
• Chuck Eddy: Semiquincentennial Minute
• Substack matters: June 2026 stats: 118 subscribers (+12), 629 post reads (+265).
• Tom Engelhardt: Crooked Donald and the Strait of Hormuz
• Walgreens: Rx ready for pickup.
• Phil Overeem: Making His Mark at Maker's
• I posted Music Week (7:1) to Substack: shareable assets; 1 like.

Music Week

Expanded blog post, July archive (in progress).

Tweet: Music Week: 28 albums, 5 A-list

Music: Current count 46219 [46191] rated (+28), 16 [14] unrated (+2).

New records reviewed this week:

• Julian Argüelles: Echo Fields (2026, Escapade): [bc]: B+(**)
• Barcelona Art Orchestra & Miguel Zenón: Expressions: Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (2025 [2026], Miel Music): [sp]: B+(*)
• Patricia Brennan/Sylvie Courvoisier: Talamanti (Antlia): [sp]: B+(***)
• Ron Carter & Yotam Silberstein: Duets (2026, Jojo): [cd]: A-
• Maya De Vitry: All My Faith (2026, Mad Maker Studios): [cd]: A- [07-24]
• Duchess: A Marvelous Party (Anzic) **
• Emperor X: Unified Field (2026, Bar/None): [sp]: B+(**)
• Nick Fraser: Areas (2026, Elastsic): [bc]: B+(*)
• Hannah Gill: I Like the Sunrise (2026, Turtle Bay): [sp]: B+(**)
• Devin Gray/Andrea Parkins/Frank Gratkowski: Hz of Gold (2021 [2026], Rataplan): [bc]: B+(*)
• Alden Hellmuth: Tether (2026, Leiter): [sp]: B+(***)
• The Joymakers: A Texas-Sized Band (2026, Turtle Bay): [sp]: B+(**)
• Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra: & Avin Omar (2026, We Jazz, EP): [bc]: B+(***)
• La La Lars: Lilla Lars (2026, Gothborgen, EP): [sp]: B+(*)
• James Brandon Lewis Quartet: Omni (2025 [2026], Intakt): [sp]: A-
• Virginia MacDonald: In Search Of . . . (2024 [2026], Cellar): [cd]: B+(***)
• Nduduzo Makhathini: The Myth We Choose (2026, Blue Note): [sp]: B+(*)
• Michael Marcus Quartet: Next Stop Down (2024 [2026], ESP-Disk'): [cd]: B+(***)
• Tal Mashiach: Who's Around? (2026, Anzic): [cd]: B
• Chris Potter: Alive With Ghosts Today (2025 [2026], Edition): [sp]: B+(*)
• Sad Daddy: Ozark Shine (2026, Catfish Music/Free Dirt): [sp]: B+(**)
• Harry Skoler: Echoes (2026, Red Brick Hill): [sp]: B+(**)
• SML: Spontaneous Music Live (2025 [2026], International Anthem): [sp]: A-
• Matthew Stevens: Matthew Stevens (2026, Candid): [sp]: B+(*)
• Soojin Suh: Prism of Existence (2026, Endectomorph Music): [sp]: B+(**)
• Martin Wind: Stars (2025 [2026], Newvelle): [sp]: A-

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries:

• Either/Orchestra: Nalbandian L'Ethipien/The Ethiopian [Éthiopiques 32] (2011 [2025], Buda Musique): [sp]: B+(***)
• Evan Parker/Paul Rogers/Louis Moholo: Tebugo (1992 [2025], Jazz in Britain): [bc]: B+(***)

Old music:

• None.

Grade (or other) changes:

• The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis: Deface the Currency (2026, Impulse!): [sp]: [was: B] B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Colin Heshmat: Elastic Groove (HMC) [07-23]
• Andrew Kim: Lineage (Origin) [07-24]
• Bob Nell & Michael Bisio Trios: We Are Here (Origin) [07-24]
• Rebecca Rafla: Fundamentally Unfinished (Rebecca Raffla Music) [06-22]
• Armand Sangalang: Waypoints (Calligram) [08-07]
• Claudio Scolari Project: Lines of Now (Principal) [04-24]
• Clark Sommers: WaBaSH (Calligram) [08-07]

Daily Log

Woke up before 10. Came down 10:20. I crashed so hard after TV last night that I left a ballot only partly counted. I noted it, saved what I had to the website, but didn't write to jpadmin. I figured I'd start today by catching up. We went to Mark Shepherd's funeral yesterday. It was billed as a car show, and the lot was packed when we got there. So was the mortuary chapel, so they set up an overflow room. Mike and Rachel made it into the main arena, but I retreated to the overflow. I ran into Mac and Brenda on the way there, so we sat together. Saw a couple more people I knew, but not many. Main problem with the overflow was that only the podium had a mic, so the testimonies/stories from the crowd were unintelligible. (Mike gave one, which I could identify by occasionally catching the word "grandpa," referring to Mark's father, Art Shepherd.) Mike decided he wanted to go to the cemetery afterwards. Steve arranged for Mark to get the last plot left in the bloc where Art and Margaret are buried. My mother and father were also buried there, and the tent was set up right over their graves. It's been a good 20 years since I last tried to find them, so I took mental notes of how to do so again — not that I'm likely to return any time soon. I saw Greg Seidel there, and we chatted a bit. During the drive back, Mike and Rachel vented on how much they hated Greg. I've seen him a couple times since moving back to Wichita. Relationship has been testy since he had a big bust-up with Steve & Josi, over what I was never quite certain, but Mike certainly hated him. I've long regarded him as potential trouble, although we got along ok, and were fairly close for a while. He came by after Dad died. I also saw him when I visited Mark in the hospital, after his heart attack and bypass surgery. He looked to be in pretty good shape. Hair was white, rather long, sort of a founding fathers look. Mark had aged more severely, as has Steve, though a bit less than Mark.

We went to Hog Wild after that, then took Mike to the airport, and came home. Rachel was going to watch the World Cup match, but it started later than expected, so she left. I rewarmed some chicken and dumplings, and go to work on the accumulated email. Like I said, I didn't get done. Rachel is coming over around 1 today. Laura wants to take her to the Art Museum. Not sure what else they'll be doing, but I hope to get some time to talk. No plans for dinner. We could go out, or just heat up leftovers. Rachel is driving back tomorrow, so this is the end of the visit. I'll try to work a bit as I can. I'm feeling like putting minimal work into the poll from here on out. I still need to do Music Week this week. Probably do that on Friday.

Email (38 messages):

• Poll stuff: new ballots: John Chacona, Steve Dollar, Bill Milkowski, James Koblin. I updated website and sent mail to jpadmin.
• Substack stuff: 2 new subscribers (Philip Watson, Steve Smith).
• Riot Riot: The 40 Best Albums of 2026 So Far.

Daily Log

Mike and Rachel arrived around 9:30. We went ahead and started eating around 8, with Ram over. We were ready to break into the dessert when they arrived. Two of Mike's friends came over (Mike Carmody and Brian Haney?), but didn't eat much. I didn't do the Native American salad, which wasn't missed. Huge amount of food left over, but everything was very good. I snapped a place pic, but haven't posted it yet. Mike stayed up and talked till 3AM. I got up about 10:30. Mike and Rachel are going to the Beacon for breakfast, then to Mark's house, to secure some furniture that Mark had kept from his and Josi's parents, that Josi wanted. After that, they'll swing by, and I'll go to funeral with them.

Significantly behind on email (49 unread as of 11:43, but 6-10 more opened but still needing attention.

• Poll stuff: new ballots: Will Layman, Bret Saunders, Ralph A. Miriello, Mike Greenblatt, Gene Seymour, John Ephland, Richard Blute, Matthieu Jouan; acks:; nacks: David Adler, Ysi Ortega.
• Substack stuff: After Iran: +1 like; Music Week (6:4): +1 like; new subscriber: RH News (looks like a bot).
• Amazon: four books delivered.
• Project Syndicate Deep Dives: Matt Simonton on Oligarchy's Ancient Origins

Jun 2026

Aug 2026