Peter Bogdanovich's death on January 6, took me back to my interview with the famed director in 2014. Our conversation was for my Wall Street Journal "House Call" column on Peter's home in Bel Air where he had lived with actress Cybill Shepherd (go here). Peter, of course, directed Targets, What's Up Doc?, Paper Moon, The Last Picture Show, Mask,Texasville and other films. My friend, director Raymond De Felitta, put in the ask, thanks to his close friendship with Peter. Raymond directed Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris, City Island, Bottom of the 9th, Booker's Place, Rob the Mob and others. [Photo above of Peter Bogdanovich, courtesy of HBO]
With Peter's passing, I re-listened to the CD Raymond gave me several years ago, Monday Morning Quarterbacks. On the lovely album, Raymond and Peter recorded standards, with Peter singing and Raymond accompanying on piano. The other day, Raymond mentioned in an email that a short film had been made of the recording session and that it had just gone up at YouTube. He sent along a link. [Photo above of Raymond De Felitta, courtesy of Wikipedia]
But before we get there, let me fill you in on the background. Mark Lipsky, CEO and creative director of the Radio Agency, an advertising firm, picks up the story...
In 2002, Tom Hayes [son of the late Harold Hayes, editor of Esquire in its heyday, who hired Peter to write for the magazine], invited me to a party at Raymond De Felitta's apartment in Manhattan. Raymond was celebrating the addition of a baby grand piano to his living room. Tom also invited Peter Bogdanovich. At one point in the evening, Raymond and Peter were sitting at the piano—Raymond playing and Peter crooning a series of jazz standards.
They were wonderful together, and I suggested they record a CD. They laughed and challenged me to secure a studio. If I did, they said, they'd play along. So I did, and they played along. The result was a rare and memorable CD entitled "Monday Morning Quarterbacks." A short film—shot and edited by Tom Hayes—tells the tale. Thanks to Tom, Brian Devine, Raymond and, of course, Peter.
The 18-minute video, entitled Directors Uplugged, not only captures Raymond and Peter recording the album at Gigantic Studio in Tribeca but also features Raymond interviewing Peter plus their banter between takes and during the album's playback. The Dean Martin section is a hoot. Most important, it's perhaps the only video I know of in which Peter parks his signature hangdog expression, loosens up and is, in essence, himself. That's a testament to Raymond's close friendship with him and the fun they had that day.
In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed celebrity chef and actress Valerie Bertinelli for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Interestingly, Valerie was painfully shy when little—until she met a classmate in school who was in TV ads. Then she figured that if she was in ads, too, she'd be more popular. The rest fell into place quickly, including TV sitcoms One Day At a Time and Hot in Cleveland, as well as her Emmy-winning show, Valerie's Home Cooking. [Photo above of Valerie Bertinelli, courtesy of IMDB]
Here's a reel of Valerie on different talk shows. Her years in sitcoms pay off as she gives as good as she gets, especially with Craig Ferguson...
Last week's photos. If you purchased my books around the world, send a photo and I'll post over the weekend. Here's the latest group...
In Stockholm, above, Guy Jones received his copy of my new book and immediately sat down to read it in between ski trips with the kids.
In Utrecht, the Netherlands, above, bassist Hans Mantel stopped playing his upright for a moment to show the love with a thumbs up. Writes Louise Alexandra: "While we were chatting about jazz, I mentioned you, and Hans took out your book, showering it with praise."
And I'm also in good company, above, at Dan Podkulski's house in Houston.
Love to Guy, Hans, Louise and Dan. You can join the club here, here and here.
Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Last week, following my post that included trombonist Ira Nepus, I received the following from Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive:
Marc, thanks for sharing the Basin Street Blues clip from Ira Nepus of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (CHJO). JazzWax readers will enjoy this CHJO performance from the 1991 Monterey Jazz Festival, broadcast on KJAZ shared by Mark Rabin. You'll find it here.
CD you should know about:
Nick Hempton—Slick (Triple Distilled). Whatever you're doing this weekend, grab this album and let it play. Newly released, Slick features Nick on saxophones, Peter Bernstein on guitar, Kyle Koehler on Hammond B3 organ and Fukushi Tainaka on drums. Six of the 10 tracks are by Nick, and the quartet smokes all the way through. Prime inspirations are records by Stanley Turrentine, Lou Donaldson and Jimmy Smith. This quartet bounces on the blues, and Nick and Kyle's interplay on reeds and organ and the exchanges by Peter and Fukushi are terrific. Go here.
In New York next week? Pianist Joe Alterman will be playing at New York's Birdland for five days next week (January 18-22)—his first week-long run at the club. He'll be with his trio—bassist Nathaniel Schroeder and drummer Marlon Patton—and a special guest, tenor saxophonist Houston Person. Two shows nightly at Birdland. For more information, go here and choose your date, time and tickets.
Dick Van Dyke Show doc. Last week, David Van Deusen, editor and publisher of The Walnut Times, the Dick Van Dyke Show newsletter, sent me an email. Last year he completed an authorized, feature-length documentary to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the TV sitcom (1961-1966). The film includes both archival and new interviews with those who were there. By the way, the set you see David standing in at the start of the film was created on his computer in 3D and placed behind him. Of course, it's a perfect recreation of the writer's room on the iconic show.
Yesterday afternoon, my literary agent called with terrible news. Terry Teachout had died hours earlier. I had to sit down. I couldn't believe it. My agent also was Terry's agent. In fact, Terry was the one who had introduced us years earlier at a book party. Now Terry was gone at age 65. [Photo above of Terry Teachout]
For those unfamiliar with Terry, he was the drama critic for The Wall Street Journal and a tireless essayist who cranked out gorgeous pieces on the arts—high culture and low. In addition, he was a biographer, playwright, stage director and opera librettist, the critic-at-large for Commentary, and the author of "Sightings," a biweekly WSJ column about the arts. He blogged at About Last Night and in his pre-WSJ years wrote for many other publications, including The New York Times and National Review. And there was more, believe it or not. Terry's writing was always beautifully opinionated, easy to read and a learning curve. A speed reader, he could consume large numbers of books when researching a subject and lay out a singular take with ease. He was the most sophisticated big-city thinker and simplest small-town man I knew. In our friendship, Terry set the pace and I followed, or did my best to keep up.
I first met Terry in 1996. Back then, I was the editor of a financial/lifestyle newsletter when I interviewed him on his 10 favorite jazz album renditions of Broadway musicals. From the outset, we realized we shared a passion for jazz and soon became social friends. That led to jazz listening sessions each quarter at each other's apartments. Our sessions typically ran from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on a Saturday, and they were monumental summits—careful listening, pointing things out, criticizing, applauding. For us, these sessions were magic-carpet rides to an imaginary oasis far from work, writing and the news. Mentally, we were weightless and weren't to be disturbed. [Photo above of Terry Teachout by Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times]
The truth is you wouldn't be reading JazzWax today if it wasn't for Terry. After one of our listening sessions at my place in July 2007, Terry turned to me and said I had to start blogging about jazz. When I told him I was way too busy (at the time, I was writing for on personal finance and for the city's major corporate real estate companies), Terry waved me off. He said I had to blog, that nobody was busier than he was and that he blogged. Besides, he said, it was the future. We looked at each for about five seconds without saying a word. Then Terry broke the silence: "You know too much about jazz. You need to write about it." I said, "Fine, consider it done." [Photo above of Terry Teachout]
Two weeks later, on August 3, 2007, I launched JazzWax. I haven't stopped posting six days a week since. Terry was shrewd and rather impressed. He knew that either I would fold or I was going to discover things about myself as a writer. The latter became the case. To fill posts, I turned to my journalism skills and began cold calling jazz legends and interviewing them for JazzWax in my spare time. I went on a tear and eventually banked upward of 300 individual interviews. [Photo above of Terry Teachout]
Three years went by, hundreds of posts had been written when Terry issued another proclamation. I had to start writing on music and the arts for The Wall Street Journal. Terry knew I had started at The New York Times in 1976 when the paper was still hot type and had gone on to become a prolific writer and editor at several magazines. We looked at each other. Terry raised an eyebrow, and I said, "Fine, done." He introduced me to his editor, and my return to journalism exploded in fireworks in 2010. I long pined to write on music and the arts and I now had my shot. Terry's editor became my editor and championed my work, curiosity and singular approach to music, interviews and pop culture, getting the best out of me. My travel assignments picked up fast, I expanded to other parts of the paper and my days in financial journalism were over [Photo above of Terry Teachout]
Terry was there for me one last time. A year after I published my 2012 jazz book, Why Jazz Happened, Terry cornered me at the book party for his newly published biography, Duke Ellington. He asked if I had additional book ideas. I told him I did but that I was looking for an agent. One of Terry's eyebrows went up again. He said, "That ends now" and took me by the arm. As we snaked through the crowded rooms of the host’s apartment, we wound up in front of his literary agent and attorney. Terry introduced me generously and went back to his guests. Terry's agent and I made a date for drinks, and when I found Terry shortly after, he asked how it went. I smiled and gratefully said, "Done." Terry flashed that Cheshire grin and raved about how great his agent was and that we were going to get along perfectly. And he was right. Books followed.
Terry seemed to get a kick out of creating opportunities for me and took great pride in watching me ace them. He once said that luck has a way of happening to people who shoot high, who never sell themselves short. And he generously gave me those shots, not because we were good friends, he said, but because I was ready for them. Besides, he said, I belonged in the arts. Now, my dear friend with those guilt-provoking eyebrows is gone. Which brings me to a funny story.
Terry and I long shared a love of the blind singer-organist Joe Mooney, particularly the albums he helped get re-issued after writing about the musician in The Times in 1997—The Happiness of Joe Mooney and The Greatness of Joe Mooney (here). Whenever either of us sent the other an email bemoaning a crushing deadline or how tough a published piece or interview was to write, we'd respond with a link to this video. Seems silly now, but the video of the colorful fish swimming around and Mooney's voice backed by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra eased the bite. The video also seemed to remind us of those Saturday mornings we spent on the sofa listening to jazz without a care or deadline in the world. This is for you Terry. Love you always...
For more on Terry, a WSJ obit is here and an editorial is here.
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Rock Concert: An Oral History" (Grove), "Anatomy of a Song" (Grove) and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax has won three Jazz Journalists Association awards
