Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley had a fluid laid-back style that was both earthy and cosmopolitan. He recorded extensively for Blue Note as both a leader and sideman. He also played with the Jazz Messengers in the beginning when they formed under Horace Silver in the early 1950s and toured with Miles Davis in 1961. Despite two periods in the late 1950s and early 1960s when he was incarcerated briefly for narcotics possession, Mobley was able to record a wealth of great material from the 1950s to the 1970s. [Photo above of Hank Mobley by Francis Wolff (c)Mosaic Images]
Here are clips of fans and students playing his solos in my continuing "YouTubers Dig" series:
In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Outlander series novelist Diana Gabaldon for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Her latest Outlander novel was published this week: Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone. During our conversation, Diana talked about growing up in Arizona and why she pursued science up through the doctorate level before starting her first Outlander novel at age 35 in 1991. Mozart had something to do with her decision. So did a chance online meeting with an author who shared his agent with her. Diana may not have done any time travel, like her Outlander characters, but she's certainly on good terms with fate. [Photo above of Diana Gabaldon by Douglas Watkins, courtesy of Diana Gabaldon]
Here's Diana taking a tour of the Starz Outlander set in Scotland in 2014...
Signed copies. I was at Carolyn Brody's BookHampton in East Hampton, N.Y., last weekend to sign a batch of Rock Concert books for the store. So if you want an autographed copy for yourself or for a gift, quickly call BookHampton or order online here. Looks like they have just five signed copies left so hurry. Below, I'm holding as many copies as I could manage and I'm with BookHampton store manager Jesse Bartel. Photos courtesy of the great East Hampton Star photographer Durell Godfrey...
SiriusXM. If you missed my recent SiriusXM appearance with Nik and Lori to breakdown the writing and recording of Journey's Don't Stop Believin', listen for free here...
Singer Beverly Kenney in a new Lincoln Aviator commercial? Yep. The song is from her Sings for Playboys (1958) album backed by pianist Ellis Larkins. Go here.
Beach Boys. Need information on every concert the Beach Boys played since they formed at the dawn of the 1960s? There's now an entire site devoted to their performances. Max Frazee sent along a link. Go to BeachBoysGigs.com here.
And now, this. Pianist Dave Thompson plays All of You in the style of Bill Evans. Go here..
And finally,when you travel by plane, I bet you have little or no idea what the pilots do in the cockpit pilot prior to departure, when pulling back from the gate, taxiing and taking off. Because I'm a bit of an aviation geek, I'll give you an up-close look at how complex this job is and what these guys and gals must do throughout the process. You may find this clip akin to watching paint dry. I find it fascinating—the expertise, the coded language with the towers and each other, the technology and the awesome responsibility and process for getting everything exactly right. A side note: I love how just before San Francisco International's alpha tower hands over the Aer Lingus Airbus flight to local air-traffic control, their final communication is "Shamrock 140 heavy, goodnight." Sit back and enjoy the pre-flight drama here...
Adding the word "black" to a day of the week began in September 1869, after Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market. Prices plunged, wealthy investors lost money and the day became known in the press as Black Friday. After the stock market crashed on October 24, 1929, newspapers referred to the day in its coverage as Black Thursday. Five days later, when the largest single number of shares were traded in stock-market history, newspapers called the frantic and destabilizing event Black Tuesday.
In the early 1960s and again in the '70s, the Philadelphia police, as reported by the press, referred to the nightmarish surge of suburban traffic and sidewalk shoppers on the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday. Not until 1981 was Black Friday used in a shopping context, much to the chagrin of retailers' associations, who initially found it too grim a term. Retailers eager for the business began marketing the term, since shopping mania their bottom line and profitability, and put their ledgers back in the black.
By the 1990s, Black Friday became a thing—the day when store owners nationwide offered one-day deep discounts on merchandise. Cyber Monday followed in 2005 at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend thanks to the National Retail Federation, which coined the term to encourage online buying at the start of the week and the holiday-shopping season.
Steely Dan recorded a song called Black Friday for their Katy Lied album in 1975. It's not about shopping but about any sudden financial-market crash and a transformed life. Donald and Walter chose Friday because the first half of the word sang better than any other day of the week. Here's Donald Fagen and Walter Becker performing Black Friday at the 2001Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after being inducted by Moby.
Here are the lyrics to Black Friday, by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker:
When Black Friday comes I'll stand down by the door And catch the gray men when they Dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes I'll collect everything I'm owed And before my friends find out I'll be on the road
When Black Friday falls You know it's got to be Don't let it fall on me
When Black Friday comes I'll fly down to Muswellbrook Gonna strike all the big red words From my little black book
Gonna do just what I please Gonna wear no socks and shoes With nothing to do but feed All the kangaroos
When Black Friday comes I'll be on that hill You know I will
When Black Friday comes I'm gonna dig myself a hole Gonna lay down in it 'Til I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me The Archbishop's gonna sanctify me And if he don't come across
I'm gonna let it roll When Black Friday comes I'm gonna stake my claim I'll guess I'll change my name
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
