JazzWax

Loving the Criterion Channel

Maybe it was the old movies I put up during the JazzWax Film Festival between the holidays. Or perhaps I was just tired of watching the countless lousy films and series on the ever-expanding number of streaming platforms. Whatever the reason, I made my first resolution in the final days of last year to vastly improve my movie-watching diet going forward. So I paid for a year of the Criterion Channel and have been overjoyed ever since. The best $89 I've spent so far this year. [Photo above of Jeanne Moreau and Claude Mann in Bay of Angels]

Criterion is an American film distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing important classic and contemporary films. Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinephiles and public and academic libraries. It also makes classic films available online at a high resolution to the general public through its platform at CriterionChannel.com.

For me, not being able to travel to Europe has been a major blow. I've sorely missed the civilizing and cheery qualities and cuisines that breaks in London, Paris, Milan, Rome or Barcelona have provided. I also miss terribly the ability to explore places I haven't been, such as Stockholm, Dublin, Oslo and Madrid. Who knows when the pandemic will end and safe travel will resume. For now, I've found that the best way to feed my foreign appetite is through classic films made there. [Photo above, a still from The Bakery Girl of Monceau]

I'm now on a French new wave and Italian neorealism film binge. Each is intellectually rewarding than hours of the usual mindless rom-coms and revenge flicks. There are occasional clunkers and outdated films, but even these have merit. Criterion films from abroad in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s make me think and feel. They're sexy, youthful, sensual, poignant and emotionally striking.

If your hesitancy to bother signing up is being unfamiliar with foreign films or an unwillingness to read subtitles or that you're unsure which ones to watch, today I'm sharing my list with you of the films I've watched at the Criterion Channel and have enjoyed over the past few weeks. [Photo above of Monica Vitti in L'eclisse]

Here's what I viewed thus far and highly recommend...

The six morality tales by director Éric Rohmer. These are, in order:

• The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963)
• Suzanne’s Career (1963)
• La collectionneuse (1967)
• My Night at Maud’s (1969)
• Claire’s Knee (1970)
• Love in the Afternoon (1972)

And these gems...

• L’eclisse, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni (1962)
• Bay of Angels, directed by Jacques Demy (1963)
• Le Beau Serge, directed by Claude Chabrol (1959)
• Le bonheur, directed by Agnes Varda (1964)
• The Lovers, directed by Louis Malle (1958)
• The Fire Within, directed by Louis Malle (1963)

The list will grow, so from time to time I will share my updated list of favorites with you. Jazz is about beauty and feeling. So are great films.

JazzWax clips: Here's the famed opening credits to Bay of Angels, starring Jeanne Moreau, with music by Michel Legrand (this clip isn't from Criterion)...

And here's the trailer...

Here's the trailer to My Night at Maud's (again, not from Criterion)..

Red Garland: Rojo

Red Garland's Rojo doesn't exist as a download. It also hasn't been released for streaming at Spotify, though it is available at Deezer, the free, French streaming platform. Recorded in 1958 and released in 1961, the album made it onto CD 30 years ago but was never remastered and fell through the cracks for some reason as the digital era advanced. Which is a shame, since it's one of my favorite recordings by the pianist, especially on You Better Go Now, which is a masterpiece.

So I decided to treat you to the album today by featuring it here in its entirety, courtesy of YouTube. Sit back, work, lie down, read, exercise—whatever you want to do—and let the album play through. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. The musicians are Red Garland (p) Jamil Nasser (b) Charlie Persip (d) and Ray Barretto (cga).

Here's the full Rojo album, without ads...

Short Film: Peter Bogdanovich

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.

Here's Directors Unplugged...

You'll find the album, Monday Morning Quarterbacks, on YouTube here...