It’s the start of another week here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Thank you for stopping by tonight. We’re always glad to see a friendly face. There’s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. There are still a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within
the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
Last night I asked if you thought slumping Moisés Ballesteros should be sent down to Iowa. The vote was close, but 52 percent of you said “no.”
On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t normally do any movie stuff. But I always have time for jazz, so I’m going to tell the band to hit it now.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Miles Davis, and we’ve been reviewing his career over the past couple weeks. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the death of saxophonist Sonny Rollins yesterday at the age of 95. Rollins was a giant of jazz or a “saxophone colossus” as he called himself and he was really the last of the great jazz artists who got their start in the bebop world of the late-40s.
I’ll have more to say about Rollins next week.
But today is for Miles Davis. Yesterday, I talked about the modal jazz revolution that Miles ushered in with Kind of Blue. But Miles was never one to stay in one place and his next album took him and music in an entirely new direction: Sketches of Spain (1960).
Inspired by a flamenco performance that his wife Francis Taylor dragged him to, Miles was inspired to create a piece that would combine jazz with traditional Spanish classical and folk music. Miles left behind his Quintet for a complete jazz orchestra and brought in his old collaborator Gil Evans to conduct and arrange the album. The result is a forerunner of what would eventually be called “World Music.” Or maybe it provided a roadmap for classical music to expand into different directions.
Here’s the piece that led off Sketches of Spain, “Concierto de Aranjuez.” It’s the second movement of that concerto for guitar and orchestra written in 1939 by Joaquín Rodrigo, one of the top Spanish classical composers of the 20th Century.
Welcome back to everyone who skips the jazz.
One of the downsides of the new software we have here is that I have to come up with topics for After Dark well before the Cubs play a night game. So tonight I’m going to take a risk and ask you “How did Jordan Wicks do?” without knowing how he actually did.
Wicks was the Cubs’ first-round pick in 2021 and he made his major league debut in 2023. He has bounced between the majors and minors since then and to be honest, he’s struggled in the majors. The Cubs tried moving him to the bullpen last year but that was more of a matter of need for the Cubs than a conscious decision to move him out of the rotation.
This year, the Cubs obviously need him as a starter. He was shut down in Spring Training after suffering with elbow inflammation, but returned to Iowa on a rehab assignment in mid-April. He didn’t pitch well in his rehab assignment and after the one month limit of a rehab assignment was reached, Wicks was activated and demoted to Iowa.
However, since being activated off the injured list. Wicks was pretty strong down in Iowa. He made three starts and allowed just one run over 15 innings and three starts.
So how did Wicks do in his first major league appearance tonight?
Thank you for stopping by tonight. We all need to stick together in a time like this. Please get home safely. Call a ride if you need one. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.
