At JazzWax, 12 is the number of years I've posted annually on my selection for the JazzWax Vintage Holiday Album Hall of Fame. The point of this is to offer up perfect holiday music that conjures up feelings of a time long past or is just superbly executed seasonal music. Combined on your iTunes or Spotify playlist, all of these albums shuffled should do the trick this month.
My choice for induction this year is Christmas With the George Shearing Quintet. The Telarc release came out in 1999 and featured Don Thompson (vib), George Shearing (p), Reg Schwager (g), Neil Swainson (b) and Dennis Mackrel (d). You'll find this one here or at Spotify. [Pictured above, George Shearing at home]
Now meet the rest of the gang, in order of their year of selection, with links to buy or sample. Most are probably also available at Spotify...
2015—Two albums with the same name: Bobby Timmons' Holiday Soul and Don Patterson's Holiday Soul. Both trio albums were recorded for Prestige in Nov. 1964—the former on the 24th and the latter on the 25th.
Here are albums that have already been inducted into the JazzWax Holiday Album Hall of Fame... - See more at: http://www.jazzwax.com/2012/11/duke-pearson-merry-ole-soul.html#sthash.V0RZmXiQ.dpuf
Yesterday, I came across the following documentary from 1999 on guitarist Jim Hall called A Life in Progress (Rhapsody Films). It informs, inspires and relaxes, which was what Jim Hall was all about...
For my interview with Jim,start here. Links to additional parts are above the red date on each post.
In 1983, I saw Buddy Rich and his big band at a long-gone New York club called Wednesday's on East 86th Street. I recall a mid-week gig and that the place was a disco on the weekends. The only table available was the one directly in front of Rich's bass drum. We took it. People had avoided the table as if it had been placed amid Hell's Angels at a rock festival. Sitting there, your teeth were sure to rattle or you'd suffer Rich's glare if you weren't fully engaged. In truth, it wasn't as bad as all that. To see Rich from that proximity was to be a virtual member of the band and quite a thrill. As the band cooked through song after song, I was thunderstruck by the power and swing.
Listening to Buddy Rich: Just in Time, the Final Recording (Gearbox) reminded me of that night. Newly released this past Friday, the album is one of the finest historic jazz releases of 2019. Recorded at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London in November1986, the album documents Rich's last performance at the Soho nightspot. I believe there was one more recording made by Rich at the Grendals Lair in Philadelphia in December when the band returned to the States. Rich died in April 1987.
The band in London had been together for about two years—a lifetime for Rich, as his daughter Cathy remarks in her liner notes. The personnel includes Eric Miyashiro, Greg Gisbert, Dana Watson and Kevin Richardson (tp); James Martin, Tom Garling and Ric Trager (tb); Bob Bowlby and Mike Rubino (as); Steve Marcus (ts,sop); Chris Bacas (ts); Jay Craig (bar); Matt Harris (p); Rob Amster (b) and Buddy Rich (d). [Photo above courtesy of Stuart Nicholson]
To record live, the band brought in the Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, a recording studio on wheels that parked outside and ran wires inside to microphones. It's easy to forget how great Rich's bands were well into the 1980s. This one was especially good, with solid pick up and go and killer soloists. Playing together for so many live engagements polished them to the point of swing perfection. (Regarding the image above, bet you never thought you'd see the Rolling Stones logo next to Buddy Rich's name.)
The songs are Wind Machine, Night Blood, Ready Mix, The Trolley Song, Winding Way, Harco Shuffle, Just in Time, Loose, Love for Sale, Shawnee, Up Jumped Spring, Why Bother?, a Porgy & Bess medley, Twisted (with a vocal by Cathy Rich) and a few bonus tracks—Wind Machine as a single and Good News, Parts 1 and 2.
Of note is the Porgy & Bess medley arranged by Keith Bishop. It runs 10 1/2 minutes and is in the spirit of Rich's West Side StoryMedley from his Swingin' New Big Band recorded live at The Chez in Hollywood in 1966. There are solos by Marcus (ts), Martin (b tb) and Bowlby (as). Also here, and from the same '66 album, is Bill Holman's Ready Mix, with solos by Harris (p) and Marcus (ts). Also swinging is Matt Harris's composition and arrangement of Why Bother? Featured on solos are Marcus (ts) and Gisbert (tp).
A couple of others: Love for Sale, with Pete Myers's terrific arrangement from 1967 on Big Swing Face. Solos by Bowlby (as), Gisbert (tp) and Marcus (ts). And Cathy Rich's Twisted is terrific. It must be daunting to hear your father work the cymbal while counting off, "One... two... three... four." The lyrics and melody (tenor saxophonist Wardell Gray's 1949 solo with words by Annie Ross) are far from easy to sing. In typical Buddy Rich fashion, he calls Cathy "a good kid" at the end. But you can hear how proud he is.
There isn't a bad track on this album. All tear down the runway and lift off neatly. I just wish there were notes that provided background on who had possession of the Ronnie Scott tape, how it was discovered and why it wasn't released 30 years ago. Which leads one to wonder how many other Buddy Rich gems are gathering dust in tape limbo. Kudos to Cathy Rich for getting this one finally released. [Photo above of Cathy Rich and Greg Potter, who leads the Buddy Rich band today]
JazzWax tracks:Buddy Rich: Just in Time, the Final Recording (Gearbox) can be found here.
In The Wall Street Journal this week, my latest "Anatomy of a Song" column interview was with Steve Miller on his 1976 hit, "Fly Like an Eagle" (go here). The song was originally written in 1973 at a string of Holiday Inns on the road in response to the despair Steve observed at tour stops. In '73, American ground troops were returning home from Vietnam to a recession, and people were living on the streets.
Originally, the song was about the despair of Native Americans following the standoff of Wounded Knee in March '73. Steve later widened it, changing the word "reservation" to "revolution." He also used an ealry Roland RH-2000 synthesizer to create the song's spacey sound effects. In the 1960s, Steve was a Freedom Rider. Who knew? [Photo above of Steve Miller working on his album ‘Fly Like an Eagle’ in Novato, Calif., in 1975 courtesy of Steve Miller]
Here's Steve performing the song on Jimmy Falon in October...
Also in the WSJ, my "House Call" interview for the Mansion section with Michael Zegen (go here). On the Amazon Prime series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, he plays the estranged husband of Midge Maisel. Season 3 just went up online. [Photo above of Michael Zegen by Axel Dupeux for The Wall Street Journal]
Stan Getz. In 1960, tenor saxophonist Stan Getz returned from Europe after living there for two years. Back in America, he recorded Focus for Verve producer Creed Taylor in July 1961. The arrangements were by by Eddie Sauter. I had no idea there was tape from a TV show featuring Getz playing the album's title track with Sauter conducting. Last week I found this clip from 1963 at Loren Schoenberg's Facebook page...
Artie Shaw. Above is one of the only photographs I've seen of Artie Shaw in his Navy uniform in the States, in 1942. He's pictured with Betty Kern, the daughter of songwriter Jerome Kern, and their son Steven. Shaw and Kern married in 1942. She was the fourth of eight wives, but they would divorce the following year. Steven died in 2017.
Larry Dunlap 1. Following my post last week on pianist Larry Dunlap, photographer Jessica Levant sent along the wonderful double exposure of Larry with Amandio Cabral. Larry has championed Cabral for years and recorded albums of his compositions.
Chuck Israels on Larry Dunlap.Last week I received the following from bassist Chuck Israels...
Larry Dunlap does extensive and exemplary work for Chuck Sher — publishing well-researched and edited fakebooks. So when I ran into Larry and Chuck at a jazz educator’s convention and Larry asked for a chance to look over the manuscript for my arranging book, I was glad to give him a copy. Then I forgot about it. A few weeks later, Larry sent the copy back with a seemingly endless list of meticulous corrections. I can’t imagine how much time and attention he must have given to the proofreading—or what I might have had to pay for the application of that level of expertise.
There were so many things I had missed—things that were apparent to Larry that I had overlooked in my enthusiasm and naiveté. Reading Larry’s corrections made it clear that fixing them was essential to the success of the material, and I was extraordinarily grateful for his unexpected generosity in doing all that unasked for work. I don’t believe I was able to tell Larry how much I appreciated his help, but please let him know.
My wife, Margot, and I lived in the Bay Area for five years when she was singing with the San Francisco Opera. I had a chance to hear Larry a few times and to appreciate not only his playing but also the fact that he had the wisdom to hire Donald Bailey to play with him. I’ve had the enormous good fortune to have played with at least a dozen exceptional drummers. But the under-sung and under-recorded Donald Bailey played the drums in ways that were uniquely magical and beyond my powers of verbal description. Larry Dunlap was smart enough to recognize Donald’s qualities and provide him a chance to play.
Larry Dunlap 3. Also last week, Danny Drabec sent along the following email:
Hi Marc, noting that you often enjoy unknown but talented locals, check out one of Larry's good pals and another Bay Area jazz player, Eddie Pasternak on guitar with Joel Evans on flute. Here's a link to the medleyAparecida/Zingaro...
Evans & Russ. Following my post last week on songwriters Joel Evans and Adryan Russ, Les Johnston in Australia sent along a link to YouTube, where Joel and Adryan have uploaded their entire album, Changing My Tune. Go here...
Al Cohn and Ben Webster. Danilo Morandi in Switzerland sent along the following terrific clips on Al Cohn and Ben Webster:
Maci Miller has a new vocal album out backed only by David O'Rourke's guitar. Here's the title track, Round Midnight. A fascinating all-in, late-night rendition delivered with chops. Dig those close-out notes...
Denny Zeitlin will be performing solo piano in Oakland on Friday, December 13 at the Piedmont Piano Co. If you're in town, go. Denny is intoxicating live. He'll be exploring the Richard Rodgers songbook. I see the 8 p.m. show is sold out. Tickets are still available for the 10 p.m. set. Admission is $25. To purchase tickets online, go here. Or call (510) 547-8188.
Here's Denny in 1967 playing Rodgers's Spring Is Here solo...
Looking for a jazz LP? Give Original Vinyl Records a call in Warwick, N.Y. Owner Jim Eigo is a jazz heavy hitter and a serious jazz collector. He'd be happy to take your call on the weekends to see if they have what you're looking for: (845) 987-3131 or (917) 755-8960. Or just email the store: OriginalVinylRecords@gmail.com. He'll let you know if he has the albums or when he might get it in.
What the heck:Here's Marcos Valle a few weeks ago in Tokyo at the Good Music Parlor. He was with Kiko Continentino (keyboards,piano), Alex Malheiros (bass), Ivan Conti (percussion) and his wife, singer Patricia Alvi. Not heard on this song, Jessé Sadoc (tp,flh). (Marcos, when are you back at Birdland? Hi to Patricia.)
Here's Marcos backing Emilio Santiago singing Entardecendo by Marcos and João Donato in 2009. Sheer beauty...
Something tells me this album could be blank and this guy would be roaring with laughter when the needle hit the vinyl. Brings new meaning to saloon songs.
The original Gerry Mulligan Quartet had its charms. Mulligan on baritone saxophone, Chet Baker on trumpet, Bob Whitlock on bass and Chico Hamilton on drums had a breezy, contrapuntal sound laced with innocence and coy harmony. But the meatier group with a swing passing gear was Mulligan's quartet with Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone, Bill Crow on bass and Dave Bailey on drums—and his sextet with Jon Eardley or Don Ferrara on trumpet and Zoot Sims on tenor saxophone added. [Photo above of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet at Storyville in Boston in December 1956; clockwise from top: Gerry Mulligan, Bill Crow, Bob Brookmeyer and Dave Bailey]
The latter two groups had greater heft in the middle and a more muscular sense of purpose. Mind you, I'm splitting hairs. The original quartet was fleet and pure delight, entering the four-way intersection from every direction. But Brookmeyer was something more and most exceptional as a Mulligan foil. If the original group with Baker was Dover sole, the group with Brookmeyer was beef stew. So I'm here to sing the praises of Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Crow and Dave Bailey, who took the piano-less bag to a the next level. Of course, other bassists and drummers were used behind Mulligan and Brookmeyer in the quartet setting. But with Bill and Bailey, the sound Mulligan was looking for snapped into place.
Rather than write additionally about the group today, let me illustrate with three videos:
Here's the Gerry Mulligan Sextet (with Eardley on trumpet) in Milan, Italy, in 1956...
Here's the Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Crow and Dave Bailey in Germany in 1956...
And here's the Gerry Mulligan Quartet in July 1962 on Ralph J. Gleason's Jazz Casual TV show in San Francisco, with Wyatt Reuther (bass) and Gus Johnson (drums)...
Artie Shaw's second feature-length film was Second Chorus, in 1940. By then, the 30-year-old clarinetist was earning up to $60,000 a week ($1.1 million in today's dollars), becoming the best-paid and most celebrated music star of the swing era. That same year, he recorded his massive hit Frenesi with a pickup orchestra, married actress Lana Turner and appeared on the radio regularly behind George Burns and Gracie Allen (they each made $5,000 a week). Shaw formed a new band in June, and in October recorded Stardust, another mega hit. The 23-piece orchestra with strings became known as his "Stardust" band. [Photo above of Lana Turner and Artie Shaw]
Amid all of this, Shaw's film starred Fred Astaire, Burgess Meredith and Paulette Goddard. Astaire's trumpet in the film was dubbed by Bobby Hackett while Meredith's horn was dubbed by Billy Butterfield. The film's big song was Love of My Life, written by Johnny Mercer and Shaw, who also arranged. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for best song.
Here's the entire film. If you just want to hear Shaw's "Stardust" band play Love of My Life, move the bar to 33:23...
The song was a Shaw favorite and best expressed his mood and personality. It was one of the few that clung to him through most of his playing career with varying personalities. The melody was bright and yearning, and the pacing was perfect. Shaw would record it five times in the studio—with his Stardust band in 1940, his Musicraft band in '45, his bop band in '50 and his small group in '54 .
Here's his second recording of the song in October 1940, timed to come out at the same time as the movie in December with Fred Astaire's vocal. It was recorded during the same studio session that produced Stardust. This time, with Anita Boyer on vocal and a Begin the Beguine-like intro...
Here's the third recording of the song, my own personal favorite, with his Musicraft band, in 1945..
Here's the song in 1950 for his Thesaurus Transcriptions band, with a stunning all-star personnel...
And here's the song in a small-group setting in 1954 on a session that would be among his last before retiring. Shaw displays amazing control and coloration, and superb improvisation...
In the 1950s, pianist Pat Moran led a combo that included bassist Scott LaFaro and singer Beverly Kelly. Pat's piano was strong, confident and swinging—the keyboard sound of a bowling ball streaking down the lane for a strike. Bev had a hip, playful voice and was often joined by Pat's in a harmony pairing that was truly unbeatable. On The Pat Moran Quartet for Bethlehem in 1956, they added a male voice—drummer Johnny Whited. [Photo above: the Pat Moran Quartet in 1956; from left, John Whited, Pat Moran, Bev Kelly and John Doling]
As LaFaro told Martin Williams in an August 3, 1960 interview in the Jazz Review: I don't even like any of my records except maybe the first one I did with Pat Moran on Audio Fidelity."
The reason I'm providing you with these audio clips at the top of this post instead of the bottom is because both of these remarkable women have been interviewed in two separate half-hour conversations by Allan Kroeker:
Typewriter-repair stores are gone. So are most camera shops and sign painters. But songwriting is still going strong. Everything you see on TV, on streaming services and at the movies needs original music drifting in and out. This includes ads. A look at the weekly Billboard pop charts shows that top songs have six or more credited writers attached. But plenty of songs are still written by songwriting duos—a lyricist paired with a music composer. Like great dancers, these duos can read each other, feel where a song is supposed to go and come up with puzzle halves that fit together seamlessly. As someone who writes about songwriting and songwriters, I can tell you that the craft remains a fascinating creative process.
One of those dream teams is Joel Evans and Adryan Russ. I discovered them a couple of weeks ago when researching Larry Dunlap, the subject of yesterday's post. Larry played on their 2011 album Changing My Tune. All of the songs on the album are by Evans and Russ. The tunes swing, they're hip and they're catchy. The album features the songwriters' singer friends: Dante Marchi, Bart LeMat, Tami Tappan Damiano, Adam James, Michael Dees, Patrick Maier, Mark Winkler and Jenna Mammina. I know, they have a lot of vocalist friends.
Evans wrote all of the musical arrangements, except for There's Never Been a Love Like This. That one belongs to Dave Stout, who orchestrated the tune for the Marquee All Stars Band. The jazzy studio musicians on the rest of the tracks are Chris Tedesco (tp), Noel Jewkes and Terry Harrington (saxes), Larry Dunlap and Joel Evans (p), Brian Kane, Brad Buethe, Brian Pardo, Mark Vincent and Eddie Pasternak (g),Tommy Kesecker (vib), Dan Feiszli and Mario Suraci (b) and David Rokeach and Alan Hall (d).
The album's original songs are Changing My Tune, The Night We Left the Ground, Mirage, Out on a Limb, There's Never Been a Day Like This, The Moments in Life, Watercolor Love, The Devil's Daughter, Boogie With My Baby, Whispers in the Night, Who Needs Love?, Is It Me? (from the movie Doubt), Do That! and You Made a Believer Out of Me.
The choice of singers is interesting. Dante Marchi has a Tony Bennett feel on There's Never Been a Day Like This, Michael Dees on Is It Me? sounds a bit like Sammy Davis Jr., and Do That! with Patrick Maier clearly was inspired by Jon Hendricks's Gimme That Wine. Which makes sense, since albums like this one are recorded by songwriters with hopes of attracting marquee singers to record and perform the songs. Speaking of which, my singer readers may want to shop this album for material.
So who are Joel Evans and Adryan Russ? Both live in California and met at a Society of Composers & Lyricists confab in Los Angeles some years ago. Joel had been writing for film and television and was there hoping to find lyricists. Adryan had been writing pop tunes and songs for musical theater and was looking to write lyrics for catchy composers. Both wound up seeking water in the lobby at the same time and struck up a conversation.
Joel composes in San Francisco and Adryan composes in Glendale, Calif. They work together via computer. Joel will record his music for songs in mp3 files and send them to Adryan, who then sends back lyrics. Which is how most songwriting duos work today. As long as music continues to be the lifeblood of our happiness, songwriters like Joel and Adryan will be open for business.
Larry Dunlap is an impeccable jazz pianist. Absolutely gorgeous. He has performed and/or recorded with vocalists Flora Purim, Giacomo Gates, Mark Murphy, Joe Williams, Sheila Jordan, his wife Bobbe Norris and many others. He also has worked with instrumentalists such as Gerry Mulligan, Art Farmer, Bud Shank and Ernie Watts among others. And then there is the magnificent album And Then Some, a collection of songs by Earl Zindars. Larry and his trio recorded Heads or Tails, Walkin' By, City Tune, My Love Is an April Song, Three Times Around, Song for Artie and Gurdgieff. The Don Haas Trio recorded the balance. [Photo above of Larry Dunlap and Bobbe Norris]
After I mentioned Larry in a recent post on great fireside albums (the Zindars release), I received an email from him. It turns out Larry is a JazzWax subscriber, much to my delight. In our subsequent email conversation, I asked why oh why there weren't dozens of trio albums in his discography and why many of the small-group albums he recorded aren't in print? Ferociously busy, he replied. He has composed works for chamber orchestra and jazz ensembles of all sizes as well as many songs and jazz sketches. He received a grant from The National Endowment for the Arts and has been commissioned to compose several pieces.
Larry also has done quite a bit of pop work with the Pointer Sisters, Mary Wilson, Country Joe McDonald (who is a huge West Coast jazz fan) as well as the accompaniment of vocalists and the transcriptions of music for publications such as the Sher Music Co. and the Hal Leonard Corp.
Larry mentioned that he had indeed released a bunch of small-group leadership albums. One he's particularly fond of is You and My Guitar (Coit Music), a 2003 re-issue of a 1985 album on which he plays the compositions of Amandio Cabral, a Cape Verdian songwriter he has worked with for more than 30 years. Larry wrote the arrangements for the album and was accompanied by Jeff Carney on bass and Jim ZImmerman on drums.
Larry's touch on this album is absolutely beautiful. As he writes, "When the album came out, several people told me it sounded most like a Brazilian trio than any other North American musician." I'll second that!
Born in 1948, Larry today lives in Pacifica, Calif., a picturesque coastal town near San Francisco.
JazzWax tracks: Larry Dunlap's You and My Guitar is nearly impossible to find. Larry was happy to have me provide his email should you be interested in buying a copy (as long as copies last):
bobbelar@earthlink.net
Total cost is $18 within the U.S. ($15 + $3 shipping).
Otherwise, the album is going for $49 here and $60 here.
As for the Earl Zindars tribute album, And Then Some,go here.
JazzWax tracks: From You and My Guitar, here's No Sadness...
This week for The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actor-director Danny Huston for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Danny is the son of John Huston and actress Zoe Sallis. As Danny said during our conversation, "I was conceived while my father was directing Freud in 1961, born in 1962 just before he directed The Night of the Iguana and teething in Rome on the set of The Bible." When his father would screen films for guests at his estate in Galway, Ireland, Danny saw his father and grandfather on the wall. Films like The Maltese Falcon and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, he said, were like home movies. [Photo above of Danny Huston by Austin Hargrave for The Wall Street Journal]
Danny currently stars in HBO's Succession and he directed and stars in The Photograph, which was just released. Here's the trailer...
SiriusXM. Last week, I was on SiriusXM's Feedback with Lori Majewski and Nik Carter to talk about my WSJ "Anatomy of a Song" column on Gary Numan's Cars. As always, we had fun. Go here...
Bill Evans.Last week, I found a transcribed audio interview with pianist Bill Evans conducted by Bill Goldberg and Eddie Karp at Evans's Fort Lee, N.J., apartment. The interview was broadcast on July 4, 1979. Go here.
ABBA reloaded.Here's Gunhild Carling (above) on trumpet, tap and vocal with Scott Bradlee on piano and Aaron McLendon on drums giving ABBA's Dancing Queen new meaning with a 1920s Hot Jazz spin...
Twitter used right. Last week, I came across a fabulous Twitter feed. It's simply called People Dancing to Steely Dan @steelydance. Go here and follow. It will make your day.
Roger Kellaway on Don Ellis. On Friday, pianist Roger Kellaway sent along the following note after reading my post on Don Ellis:
Marc, Nice post on Don Ellis. I played with Don and his Hindustani Jazz Sextet from around 1966 to 1968 during my off months with Bobby Darin. Of course, I learned to play the odd time signatures Don favored. Since I learned to play in 19/8, I wrote a piece for the band carrying the idea of 19 to its absurd point of having the piece cover 19 events. You could achieve that kind of an idea only with Don. We did play the piece at Bonesville in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Don never recorded it.
Note: If you want to hear this group live at Bonesville playing other material, go here and here.
More Don Ellis. Bucky sent along a link to a UCLA project that lets you listen to Ellis's recordings. Go here.
Bill Finegan, the superb, unheralded arranger (above), penned Soon for Les and Larry Elgart in 1966. A special thanks to Bill Kirchner for sending the track along...
Billy and Marlene VerPlanck. Jerry Kline sent along the following email on a Library of Congress page that pays tribute to arranger Billy VerPlanck and his wife, vocalist Marlene VerPlanck:
Marc, here is a lovely honor for two talented people. I’m sure you’ll you’ll want to know about it. My wife, Janet, and I were friends of Billy and Marlene for more than 30 years. We still miss them both. Go here.
Bud, Chet and bossa. Bud Shank and Chet Baker teamed up in September 1968 to record Marcos Valle's Summer Samba for Bud's Brazil! Brazil! Brazil! album on World Pacific Records. Go here...
Sonny Rollins. Last week I found this video of Sonny in Copenhagen in 1974 playing his Alfie's Theme with Rufus Harley. Ordinarily, I find that droning bagpipes can be a tad grating. But here, with Sonny, they sound fantastic...
Morgan Ames. Last week, singer-songwriter Morgan Ames sent along a note and a song:
Marc, "My Real Home" is a song I wrote with the great Brazilian composer Dori Caymmi in 2001 for an album entitled Prairie Jazz, by the vocal group Inner Voices. I wrote it because when I was a child, I wanted to run off and live with the cowboys around a campfire, with horses and cows and family. Such was my fantasy. I arranged, produced and sang on the album, too. It actually still sells copies.
This YouTube clip was beautifully put together by someone named Jymster, whom I don't know. What makes it even sweeter is that the clips are from a movie called "The Cowboys," starring John Wayne and directed by Mark Rydell, a close friend. He's going to love this. I just stumbled across the clip on YouTube, but it was made seven years ago. A lovely memory, a touching version. Love, Morgan...
Arlene Corwin, a JazzWax reader and friend in Sweden, had a few tricky health issues lately but is bouncing back nicely. Once again, her emails are full of fizz and optimism. Here she is in 2009...
Podcasts Til Dawn. Director Raymond De Felitta's latest podcast is an interview with director and photographer Jerry Schatzberg (above), director of Panic In Needle Park, Scarecrow, etc. As Raymond notes, "You’ll even get to hear Jerry explain how he almost directed A Star Is Born (1976) with Barbara Streisand, a bullet he seems happy to have dodged." You can access Raymond's Movies Til Dawnhere.
What the heck:Here's Eumir Deodato (above) performing Super Strut at the Festival Jazz Lugano in Lugano, Switzerland, in 2010...
Oddball album cover of the week.
Based on this guy's glare, you'd think wishing someone love was the same as casting a revenge spell.
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Anatomy of a Song" (Grove) and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax is a three-time winner of the Jazz Journalists Association's best blog award, including 2018.
