Kind of Blue Boards

To comemorate one of the great albums of the 20th century, Kind of Blue on its 50th anniversary, Western Edition issued the Miles '59 Quintet series of skateboards:



(Yoshiaki Toeda, Paul Chambers, 7.5" x 31.23", Nikhil Thayer, Bill Evans, 7.63" x 31.5", John Igei, Miles Davis, 7.63" x 31.5", Jovontae Turner, John Coltrane, 7.75" x 31.5", Brad Johnson Jimmy Cobb, 8" x 32")

By the way, if you don't own Kind of Blue, go get it.

{via altruism in the morning.}

A Genius is the one most like himself.

Thelonius Monk’s advice to saxophonist Steve Lacy (1960) via swissmiss.

The irony of Monk, of all people, writing, "Stop playing {all that bullshit /those wierd [sic] notes, play the melody!" really amuses me. Mixed in with such simple basic advice as tapping the rhythm are some gems. Back in the olden days, when I played saxophone in a jazz band, my neighbour used to tap out some other rhythm, utterly disconnected to the rhythm at hand (or, at foot, as the case may be). Used to fascinate and irritate me in equal measures. I can only think the cliched but true "takes one to know one" at Monk's insight "a genius is the one most like himself". And the final line made me laugh.