JazzWax

Jason, Brian and Pat

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actor Jason Isaacs for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). Most recently, in season 3 of Max's The White Lotus, Jason plays Timothy Ratliff, a financier from North Carolina vacationing with his family at the Thailand resort just as U.S. authorities are seeking to arrest him at home. [Photo above of Jason Isaacs in The White Lotus by Fabio Lovino, courtesy of HBO]

Here's the Season 3 White Lotus trailer...

Currently, Jason co-stars in the biographical film Words of War, playing the husband of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who took on Putin over the barbarity of the Second Chechen War. Here's the trailer...

Also in the WSJ, with the death of Sly Stone, I wrote an appreciation of the singer-songwriter, leader and arranger of Sly and the Family Stone. Go here. 

Two days later, I wrote one for Brian Wilson when I learned, early in the afternoon, of his passing. Go here.

What I'm Watching

New and watched this past week...

• FUBAR 2—Season 2—(June 12/Netflix)
• Love & Mercy—(the 2014 Brian Wilson biopic/multiple platforms)

Worthwhile stuff that started or will start soon...

• Words of War (film/theaters)
• FUBAR 2 (series/Netflix)
• The Better Sister (Prime)
• Deep Cover (Prime film)
• The Gilded Age—Season 3 (starts June 22/HBO)
• Sovereign (July 11/film/theaters)
• Leanne—(July 31/Netflix)

My favorite streaming series, ranked...

1. Babylon Berlin
2. Adolescence
3. Sovereign
4. My Brilliant Friend
5. Good American Family
6. Killing Eve
7. The Crown
8. Mad Men
9. The Americans
10. Younger
11. Fleabag
12. Band of Brothers
13. The Sopranos
14. Enlightened
15. Friday Night Lights
16. Justified
17. The Promised Life
18. Feud: Bette and Joan
19. The Old Man
20. Downton Abbey
21. The Blacklist
22. Goliath
23. Julia
24. The Gentlemen
25. Turn: Washington's Spies
26. Unbelievable
27. Landman
28. Voiceless (Bella da morire)(2020/MHz)
29. Black Doves
30. Web Therapy

Archive: Recommended series, films and documentaries...

TV series

• The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
• Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime)
• The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
• Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
• Apples Never Fall—2024/Peacock)
• Babylon Berlin (2017-2024/MHz via Prime Video)
• Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix) 
• The Bay (2019-current/BritBox)
• Black Doves (2024/Netflix)
• The Blacklist (2013-2023/Netflix)
• Belgravia—(2020/Prime Video)
• The Bletchley Circle (2012/Britbox)
• Blue Lights—(2023/BritBox)
• Bosch—(2014-2021/Prime)
• Bosch: Legacy—(2022-current/Prime)
• The Crown—(2016-2023/Netflix)
• Cherif—(2013-2019/Prime)
• Dark Winds—(2022/AMC)
• The Diplomat—(2023/Netflix)
• Downton Abbey—(2020-2015/Prime)
• The Dropout (2022/Hulu)
• Elizabeth 1 (2005/Max)
• Emily in Paris—(2020-present/Netflix)
• Enlightened—(2011-2013/Max)
• Feud (S1): Bette and Joan—(2017/Hulu)
• Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans—(2024/FX, with streaming on Hulu)
• Fisk—(2021/Netflix)
• Friday Night Lights (2006-2011/Netflix)
• The Gentlemen—(2024/Netflix)
• Godless—(2017/Netflix)
• Goliath—(2016-2021/Prime)
• The Gilded Age—(current/Max)
• High Water—(2022/Netflix)
• Homeland—(2011-2020/Showtime)
• Il Commissario Manara (Inspector Manara) (2009-2011/MHz)
• Jane Eyre—(2006/Britbox)
• Justified—(2010-2015/Hulu)
• Killing Eve—(2018-2022/Netflix)
• Life & Beth—(Seasons 1& 2, 2022-present/Hulu)
• Lincoln Lawyer—(2022-present/Netflix)
• Lioness—(2023-current/Paramount+)
• Loudermilk—(2017-2020/Netflix)
• MI-5, the Series—(2002-2011/BritBox)
• Mobland—(2025/Paramount+)
• Monsieur Spade—(2024/AMC)
• Murdaugh Murders: The Movie, Parts 1 and 2—(2023/Lifetime)
• My Brilliant Friend—(2018-current/Max)
• The Night Agent—(2023-present/Netflix)
• 1923—(2022-present/Paramount+)
• 1883—(2021-2022/Prime)
• The Old Man—(2022/Hulu)
• On Call—2025/Amazon Prime)
• Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
• Protection—(2024/S1/BritBox)
• The Perfect Couple—(2024/Netflix)
• Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
• The Promised Life—(2018/MHz via Prime Video)
• Reacher—(2016-present/Netflix)
• Ripley—(2024/Netflix)
• Scott & Bailey (2011-2016/Prime)
• The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
• Turn: Washington's Spies—(2014-2017/Prime)
• Unbelievable—(2019/Netflix)
• Under the Banner of Heave—(2022/Hulu)
• Veronica Mars—(2004 to 2019/Hulu)
• Voiceless (Bella da morire—(2020/MHz)
• The Watcher—(2022/Netflix)
• The Way Home—(2023-current/Peacock)
• Who Is Erin Carter—(2023/Netflix)
• The Woman in the Wall—(2024/Showtime)
• The Veil—(2024/Hulu-FX)
• Web Therapy—(2011-2015/Fandango)
• Wilder—(2017-current)
• WPC 56—(2013-2015/Britbox)
• Yellowstone—(2018-present/Paramount Network)
• Younger—(2015-2021K/Netflix)

Films

• Anna (2019/Tubi)
• The Accountant—(2016/Hulu)
• American Gangster—(2007/Max)
• Armageddon Time—(2022/Prime)
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs—(2018/Netflix)
• The Ballad of Lefty Brown—(2017/Netflix)
• Blackout (2022/Netflix) 
• The Bricklayer—(2024/Netflix)
• The Commuter (2018/Netflix)
• The Dig—(2021/Netflix)
• Eiffel—(2021/Prime)
• Enola Holmes 1 and 2—(2022/Netflix)
• Enrico Piaggio - Un Sogno Italiano (An Italian Dream) (2019/MHz)
• The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3—(2014-2024/Prime)
• The Great Lillian Hall—(2024/Max)
• The Family Man—(2000/Netflix)
• Fury—(2014/Netflix)
• God's Country—(2022/Hulu)
• Guy Ritchie's The Covenant—(2023/Prime)
• I Used to Be Funny (2023/Netflix)
• Jack Reacher (the movie)—(2012/Paramount+) 
• Just My Luck (2006/Paramount+)
• Kill Chain—(2019/Max)
• Killers of the Flower Moon—(2023/Apple+)
• La Palma (2024/Netflix)
• Life or Something Like It—(2002/Netflix)
• Knight and Day—(2010/Roku)
• Last Night in Soho—(2021/Prime)
• Last Seen Alive—(2020/Netflix)
• The Little Things—(2021/Netflix)
• Lonely Planet—(2024)/Netflix)
• Man on Fire—(2004/Max)
• Manchester by the Sea—(2016/Prime Video)
• MI-5—(2015/Max)
• The Mule—(2018/Netflix)
• The Night Agent—(2023/Netflix)
• 99 Homes—(2014/Roku)
• Nobody—(2021/Prime)
• Nobody Wants This—(2024/Netflix)
• Ordinary Angels—(2024/assorted platforms)
• The Pledge—(2011/Peacock)
• Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
• The Queen—(2006/Paramount+)
• The Queen's Gambit—(2020/Netflix)
• Queenpins—(2021/Pluto TV)
• Reptile—(2023/Netflix)
• Ruthless—(2023/Hulu)
• The Secret: Dare to Dream—(2020/Netflix).
• Sicario (2015/Netflix)
• Self Reliance—(2023/Hulu)
• Seraphim Falls—(2006/Netflix)
• Some Girl(s)—(2013/Amazon Prime)
• Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
• Spy(ies)—(2009/Prime)
• The Stranger—(2022/Netflix)
• Toscana—(2022/Netflix)
• The Two Popes—(2019/Netflix)
• Up in the Air—(2009/Max)
• Woman in Gold—(2015/Max)
• Wonder Wheel—(2017/Prime)

Documentaries

• Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake—(2022/Netflix)
• The Beach Boys—(2024/Disney)
• Carole King: Live in Central Park—(2023/PBS)
• The Comeback—(2005 and 2014/Max)
• Cunk on Earth—(2022/Netflix)
• Cyndi Lauper: Let the Canary Sing—(2023/Paramount+)
• Facing Nolan—(2022/Netflix)
• Five Came Back—(2017/Netflix)
• Jane Fonda in Five Acts—(2024/Max)
• Kate Hepburn: Call Me Kate—(2023/Netflix)
• The Only Girl in the Orchestra—(2023/Netflix)
• The Stones and Brian Jones—(2023/Hulu)
• Suzi Q: Suzi Quatro—(2019/Prime)
• The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
• 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here)

Kirk Lightsey. Noel Thomas asked for a recommendation by the great American jazz pianist. Here's the Kirk Lightsey Trio backing Chet Baker on Ray's Idea, from Everything Happens to Me, recorded in 1983 for the Timeless label in the Netherlands, produced by Wim Wigt. Joining Kirk was David Eubanks on bass and Eddie Gladden on drums...

Heading to Spain? The Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, has been around since 1977. This year it will be held from July 14 to 19. What's more, Vitoria-Gasteiz is an hour and 15 minutes away from San Sebastián, the foodie capital of the country and maybe Europe. For more information, go to the festival site and click your language in the lower left-hand corner. Go here.

Supermarket music. This past week, director Raymond De Felita posted on why it's impossible to dine out today without being slammed by loud, lousy music and his yearning for gentle background music that was pumped through ceiling speakers in supermarkets in the 1970s. To read his post and give a listen, go here and here.

New Music of Note 

Danny Grissett—Travelogue (Savant). The pianist and keyboard player delivers one of his finest albums of mostly original material. He's backed by Vicente Archer on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. Sophisticated tenderness with a hushed quality. Listen on streaming platforms or buy here. 

Here's Here's That Rainy Day...

And finally, here's Pat Metheny playing Better Days Ahead from his 1989 masterpiece Letter From Home...

Backgrounder: Joe Puma - 'East Coast Jazz/3' (1954)

I love precious jazz guitarists who place a premium on harmony, swing and compelling chords. One of the best in this category was Joe Puma. In the 1950s, Puma was a session sideman on many recordings and led his own groups. He recorded into the 1990s and died in 2000 at age 72.

One of his finest early albums was Joe Puma Quintet: East Coast Jazz/3, which was part of a series produced by Creed Taylor for Bethlehem. Recorded in November 1954, the album featured Don Elliott (vib), Joe Puma and Barry Galbraith (g), Vinnie Burke (b) and Ted Sommer (d).  

Creed told me in an interview that he launched the series "to distinguish the new music emerging in New York from the new jazz in Los Angeles and San Francisco." The series featured nine albums in total.

What's particularly notable about this album is the uniting of Puma and Barry Galbraith, who was equally as prolific as Puma in the New York studios and just as tasteful. Puma has all the leads and solos here, with Galbraith comping on rhythm.

The tracks:

• Loris
• A Little Rainey
• What Is There to Say?
• Hallelujah
• How About You?
• Pumatic
• Liza
• Moon Song

Here's Joe Puma Quintet: East Coast Jazz/3, without ad interruptions...

Other ad-free Backgrounders in my series:

• Sammy Davis Jr. Sings and Laurindo Almeida Plays, go here.
• Paul Quinichette: Moods, go here.
• Jimmy Forrest: Forrest Fire!, go here.
• Brazilian Jazz Quartet: Coffee and Jazz, go here.
• Art Blakey!!! Jazz Messengers!!!, go here.
• Sidney Bechet/Martial Solal, go here.
• John Carisi: The New Jazz Sound Of "Show Boat," go here.
• The Marty Paich Quartet, Featuring Art Pepper, go here.
• João Gilberto, 1998, go here.
• Bobby Timmons: Soul Time, go here.
• Gerry Mulligan: Jeru, go here.
• Ray Bryant: Alone With the Blues, go here.
• Leon Spencer Jr.: Bad Walking Woman, go here.
• Jimmy McGriff: Step 1, go here.
• Johnny "Hammond" Smith: Breakout, go here.
• Oliver Nelson: Taking Care of Business, go here.
• Quincy Jones: Americans in Paris, go here.
• Sonny Stitt: Tune-Up!, go here.
• Herbie Mann: Yardbird Suite, go here.
• Quincy Jones: Twilight Time, go here.
• Lou Levy Quartet: Jazz in Four Colors, go here.
• Johnny Alf: Rapaz de Bem, go here.
• Hank Mobley: Poppin', go here.
• Barney Kessel: Kessel's Kit, go here.
• Larry Young: Into Somethin', go here.
• Henry Mancini: The Jazz Sound From Peter Gunn, go here.
• Sonny Stitt: Night Crawler, go here.
• Maynard Ferguson: Around the Horn, go here.
• Frank Rosolino: Franky Speaking!, go here.
• Ben Webster: King of the Tenors, go here.
• Kenny Dorham: Una Mas, go here.
• Gigi Gryce: Nica's Tempo, go here.
• Charlie Parker With Strings: The Master Takes, go here.
• The Great Jazz Piano of Phineas Newborn Jr., go here.
• The Complete Chet Baker Sings, go here.
• Shorty Rogers Courts the Count, go here.
• Miles Ahead: Miles Davis +19, go here.
• Kenny Burrell, Jazzmen - Detroit, go here.
• Bill Watrous, In Love Again, go here.
• Gene Ammons, Boss Tenor, go here.
• Roy Eldridge: The Strolling Mr. Eldridge, go here.
• Clifford Brown and Max Roach with Sonny Rollins, go here.
• Fats Navarro: Nostalgia, go here.
• Hank Mobley: Hank Mobley Quintet, go here.
• Sandy Mosse: Relaxin' With..., go here.
• Maynard Ferguson: A Message From Newport, go here.
• Jimmy Raney: Two Jims and Zoot, go here.
• Zoot Sims Plays 4 Altos, go here.
• Jimmy Forrest: Out of the Forrest, go here.
• Jazz Studio 2, From Hollywood, go here.
• Billy Taylor: My Fair Lady Loves Jazz, go here.
• Hank Mobley: Soul Station, go here.
• Sylvia Telles, Lúcio Alves and Roberto Menescal: Bossa Session, go here.
• Horace Silver: The Horace Silver Trio, go here.
• Walter Davis: Davis Cup, go here.
• Wynton Kelly: Kelly at Midnite, go here.
• Jack Sheldon: Jack's Groove, go here.
• Herbie Nichols: Complete Masters, go here.
• Hank Mobley: Hank Mobley Quartet, go here.
• Mundell Lowe: Satan in High Heels, go here.
• Hal McKusick and Art Farmer: Quintet Sessions, go here.
• Os Poligonais: Os Poligonais, go here.
• Buddy Fite: Tasty, go here.
• Al Sears: Swing's the Thing, go here.
• A.K. Salim: Complete Savoy Recordings, go here.
• Rosinha de Valença, go here.
• Remo Rau, Evening at Cafe Africana, go here.
• Georgie Auld, Plays the Winners, go here.
• Complete Oscar Pettiford Orchestra, go here.
• East Coast - West Coast Scene, go here.
• O'Donel Levy: Black Velvet, go here.
• Sonny Rollins: Alfie, go here.
• Music to Listen to Barney Kessel By, go here.
• Complete Grant Green and Sonny Clark Quartets, go here.
• Marge Dodson: A Lovely Way to Live, go here.
• Sal Salvador: Colors in Sound, go here.
• Sam Lazar: Playback, go here.

Brian Wilson (1942-2025)

Like the late Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, who died yesterday at age 82, was collateral damage of a culture that in the 1960s insisted LSD was a safe alternative to alcohol and narcotics and freed you from your inhibitions. What wasn't known is that not everyone reacted the same way to the hallucinogenic. Some took it occasionally or often and could still live a normal life when they weren't high. [Photo above with Brian Wilson in his trailer pre-concert at California's Mid-State Fair in 2016]

Others dropped acid and found it did permanent damage to their brains. Or put more simply, they took a trip but never fully returned. Brian was one of those victims, and the American youth culture, I suppose, was the beneficiary of the resulting music. Brian's career was ostensibly over in 1967, when his LSD-fueled far-out Smile project was shelved by Capitol for coming in way late, lacking in singles the band could play on tour and seriously over budget. 

I know about Brian's regrets because he told me so at his Beverly Hills home in 2011. He regretted his use of LSD and knew it had crushed him and contributed to his struggles with depression. He subsequently suffered from a range of mental issues and was eventually diagnosed with paranoia and schizoaffective disorder. 

But before the ferociously competitive Beach Boys frontman, composer, arranger and workaholic decided to take LSD to stir up ideas that would top the wild imaginations of equally competitive British bands like the Beatles, he and his band were alone at the top of the Billboard pop chart. Between President Kennedy's inauguration and his assassination, the Beach Boys re-imagined Southern California and invented teenage dreams. 

Before the Beach Boys, teens were worthless, and Southern California was a sprawling suburb peppered with strip malls and supermarkets. Parents didn't care what teens thought or felt. Kids were meant to be seen, not heard, and tasked with chores. After the Beach Boys caught on in 1962, the Pacific Coast took on new national meaning—as did fast cars, surfing, the beach, dating, bikinis, hamburger shacks and summer vacations.

Fortified by beach movies, the Beach Boys awakened the imaginations of pre-teen and teenage boys and girls and legitimized their desires. For us, Los Angeles was Shangri-la, a neverland of teen power, outdoor fun and satisfied needs. Overnight, the youth culture had its own world of fashion statements, TV shows, turntables, records, cereals and fantasies.

Whether you were landlocked in middle America or lived in the mountains, bodies of water and sand took on new meaning with the Beach Boys. Their songs were infectious and painted a fantasy image of L.A. where all kids were cool, buff, promiscuous and daring. Most of all, when you listened to their songs and albums, you felt you were part of the movement, not on the outside looking in. Brian Wilson was the architect of the endless summer.

I interviewed Brian four times—once at his home when the full Smile compilation came out in 2011, twice by phone for different projects, and lastly in the summer of 2016, hours before a Pet Sounds concert at California's Mid-State Fair to talk about the writing and recording of Good Vibrations for my Anatomy of a Song column. I also interviewed Mike Love and Al Jardine for House Call.

The first time we met, in 2011, Brian was nervous. The phone interviews didn't register much. But by the Mid-State Fair, he was comfortable with me. Asking me to sit, we talked about everything from swimming pools to easy listening music. The concert was a classic summer scene—a massive outdoor crowd, with oversize beach balls being bopped around until dusk ended and the liquid colors of the rides' neon lights behind us reminding you it was a night to remember.

You couldn't help but love Brian. He was eternally a teen, even as the years piled on. What's more, Brian and the band had transformed the culture. I still wish I had known the pre-LSD Brian, the pure innocent with a high voice, his narrow eyes on the orange horizon and a vision. 

Rather than offer up audio clips, let's just end today's post with one. Miss ya, Brian...

Here's A Young Man Is Gone...