JazzWax

Jamie, Creed and Mina

Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actor, musician, singer, standup comedian Jamie Foxx for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Jamie and I spoke by video Zoom and talked about his early years and being adopted by the same couple that had adopted his mother 13 years earlier. As anyone who has watched Ray, the Ray Charles biopic, Foxx is an extraordinary talent—and he never took an acting lesson. As he told me, "I've always been acting." Jamie has a memoir out (go here).

Here's Jamie in Ray...

Also in the WSJ last week, my essay on the Grateful Dead's Skull and Roses live double album that came out 50 years ago on October 24, 1971 (go here). The album's impeccable sound, extended jamming and an entire side devoted to a fusion jazz piece revolutionized the live rock album by showing how the format could be maximized. The Dead also used the album to pull of a marketing coup. Here's the full album...

Seventeen days to go until my book, Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There (Grove Press) is published. Remember, JazzWax is free, and for the past 14 years it has been my gift to you. Give me a gift and buy my book. It reads like a dart. And it's the only rock concert experience this fall that doesn't require a mask.

In the U.S., go here.

In the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand where the book is being published simultaneously, please visit Amazon.

John Dennis. Weeks after my post on John Dennis, a little-known jazz pianist, Charlie Berg sent along a wonderful discovery:

Hey Marc. Check out this vocal group. I compared pictures, and I think that's the same John Dennis on piano and here singing bass/baritone. Here are a bunch of recordings:

Here are the Caldwells' It's Like Taking Candy From a Baby in 1948...

Here's I Do What I Wanna Do in 1948...

Here's I Don't Worry Anymore and I Gotta Move in 1947...

And here's Marv Goldberg on Dennis's bio (go here).

Ira Sullivan. Following my post on Ira Sullivan and Red Rodney last week, I heard from Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive:

Marc, I enjoyed reading your article about Ira Sullivan and Red Rodney. I believe you'll be interested in hearing this set of the Rodney-Sullivan quintet in concert at the 1980 Chicago Jazz Festival. This recording is courtesy of Mark Rabin's collection, like so many others. Go here.

Homeless hands. Irving Greines, a stunning photographer who I last posted about here, has assembled a page at his site of hands that belong to the homeless. Go here. [Photo above of a homeless person's hands by Irving Greines, courtesy of Irving Greines]

Shock: Music in Hi-Fi. In 1958, producer Creed Taylor formed the Creed Taylor Orchestra with Kenyon Hopkins and released a handful of albums on ABC Paramount. They were the audio equivalent of horror comics popular with teens then. One of them was Shock: Music in Hi-Fi. Mark Cathcart, who hosts a Creed Taylor tribute site, researched the woman who appears shrieking on the cover down to her fingernail polish. Just kidding, but he got pretty close. For more, go here.

René Thomas. Last week, Jean -Luc Gautier send along a video clip of René Thomas and Bobby Jaspar in 1962 on Belgian TV. Go here.

Mina. From Belgium, let's fly down to Rome and listen to a bossa nova medley in 1968 by Mina, the Italian pop singing sensation...

In New York next week? Check out the Django Festival All Stars at Birdland from October 26 to 30. It's part of Birdland's Django Reinhardt New York Festival. The French group is sensational, and the festival, produced by Pat Philips, is celebrating its 21st year. The All Stars—Samson Schmitt, Pierre Blanchard, Ludovic Beier, DouDou Cuillerier and Antonio Licusati—will be playing all five nights and will be joined by special guests:

• October 26: Ken Peplowski — clarinet
• October 27: Samara Joy — voclaist
• October 28: Ingrid Jensen — trumpet
• October 29 & 30: Anais Reno — vocalist

The Django Reinhardt All Stars then head out on tour:

October

• 31: Townecrier, Beacon, N.Y.

November

• 4: Keystone Korner, Baltimore
• 5: James Moody Festival, Chase Room, NJPAC
• 6: Perelman Theatre, Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, Pa.
• 7: Armenian Church, Wayne, N.J.
• 11: Outpost Jazz, Albuquerque, N.M.
• 12: Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix
• 13: Taos Jazz Bebop Society Festival, N.M.
• 15 & 16: Dazzle, Denver, Colo.
• 18: Center For The Arts, Grass Valley, Ca.
• 19: Blue Note Jazz, Napa, Ca.
• 21: Torrance Cultural Arts Center, Torrance, Ca.
• 22: Kuumbwa Jazz, Santa Cruz, Ca.

Art Pepper. Want to listen to the audiobook of Art Pepper's memoir, Straight Life? Co-author Laurie Pepper narrates. Go here.

And finally. Pianist Dave Thompson sent along Bill Evans playing Detour Ahead in 1965, joined by bassist Neils Henning Orsted Pederson and drummer Alan Dawson. Go here...

Documentary: Sonny Greenwich

Canadian guitarist Sonny Greenwich (above) is still with us. He has performed with musicians such as Charles Lloyd, Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, John Handy and Sun Ra. So I was excited last week when I received the following from Matt LeGroulx in Montreal:

Hi Marc. First, thank you and Brigitte Berman for making her "Bix" documentary available to your readers. What a great film. Second, I just came across "It Ain't All Jazz," a documentary about guitarist Sonny Greenwich by his son, though it's equally about pianist Wray Downes and drummer Archie Alleyne, all Canadian jazz legends. Great performances and stories from all three.

They don't sugarcoat their experiences as Black men in North America. It's an essential watch for fans of Montreal jazz and Canadian music in general. Archie passed away in 2015, but Wray only left us last year. Canadian jazz sometimes may seem to begin and end with Oscar Peterson, but scratch the surface and there's so much depth.

Here's the documentary, It Ain't All Jazz...

Count Basie in London in 1977

There were two TV arts programs called Omnibus. One aired in the U.S. from 1952 to 1961 and was sponsored by the Ford Foundation. The point of the 44 episodes was to raise American taste with educational programming. The show aired on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. (ET) on CBS and again on ABC that evening. Hosted by Alistair Cooke, the series won more than 65 awards, including eight Emmys and two Peabodys.

In the U.K., Omnibus was a British series that aired from 1967 to 2003 on BBC 1, broadcasting on Sunday evenings. Here's an Omnibus episode in 1977 with the spotlight on Count Basie. Dig the fabulous rendition of Body and Soul by Jimmy Forrest and other band highlights and analysis for those interviewed...