A big thanks to legendary New York Times Op-Ed columnist Maureen Dowd for citing me and my Wall Street Journal article on Bullitt in her essay about her Mustang convertible last Sunday. Maureen devoted the last three paragraphs of her column to my piece about tracing the movie's chase route in a Mustang with Steve McQueen's stunt double in 2011. If you missed Maureen's column, go here. There's a link in there to my article.
This is the BBC. Last week, Chris Evans, who hosts the BBC Radio 2's ever-popular Breakfast Show (9.38 million listeners), had me on to talk about why Elvis Presley's Suspicious Minds has a double fade-out. I wrote about it in my "Anatomy of a Song" column for the Wall Street Journal in 2012. To listen, go here (move time bar to 2:08:44).
Horray for Clark Terry! Alan Hicks won Best New Documentary Director at the Tribeca Film Festival last week for his Keep on Keepin' On, a documentary about the extraordinary trumpeter and flugelhornist Clark Terry and the three students he taught despite a challenging health crisis.
But Beautiful is the free Art Pepper track that Laurie Pepper, the alto saxophonist's widow, is offering this month. Go here to download.
Denny Zeitlin will be performing solo piano at Jazz at Kitano in New York on Friday, May 2, and with a trio on Saturday, May 3, with Buster Williams and Matt Wilson. Sets are at 8 and 10 p.m. on both nights. The club is in the Kitano Hotel, 66 Park Avenue at East 38th St. reservations are highly recommended: (212) 885-7119. To read my multipart interview with Denny, go here.
Yay Woody Shaw III, who was a awarded Harvard's prestigious Hutchins Fellowship for his ongoing work on behalf of his late father—trumpeter-composer Woody Shaw (1944-1989). Along with 22 other esteemed fellows, Woody III was granted a one-year appointment at the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute housed at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. The primary focus of Woody Shaw III’s fellowship is to finalize research for the completion of the first-ever written biography (and documentary) on his late father entitled Trumpet of Fire: The Life and Music of Woody Shaw.
Gary LeFabvre. In the wake of my post on the saxopohnist, a number of musicians have pointed out that LeFabvre also invented Gary's Belt Loop Sax Strap, which was designed to eliminate strain on the neck, shoulders and back. Zelde Malevitz sent me an email with the following...
"Gary also designed an excellent sax harness. I got mine at Stein on Vine in LA. Being female, it didn't quite fit, so I called Gary. We went to San Diego and he customized it. And this cat was super serious about getting it just perfect. We met at the musicians' union and spent the rest of the day at a sewing factory. He carefully worked out all the angles and adjustments. Most recently, I used that harness yesterday."
Duke Ellington radio. WKCR in New York will present its annual "Duke Ellington Birthday Broadcast" on Tuesday, April 29—spinning the Duke's music for 24 hours. You can access the show starting at midnight (EDT) from anywhere in the world on your computer by going here.
Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Reader Alan Laschiver sent along this clip of the band...
And another...
Jazz in London. The next time you're heading over to London and you're curious about who's playing at the clubs , here's a handy reference. The site is managed by Frank Griffith.
Background music. Working this weekend? Want something good to listen to while getting it done? John Cooper sent along a nifty clip of a 1946 recording featuring the combined bands of Duke Ellington and Woody Herman. Here's the dream band: Taft Jordan, Shelton Hemphill, Cat Anderson, Francis Williams, Bernard Flood, Shorty Rogers, Sonny Berman, Pete Candoli, Neal Hefti and Irving Lewis (tp); Lawrence Brown, Claude Jones, Wilbur DeParis, Bill Harris, Ed Kiefer and Ralph Pfeffner (tb); Jimmy Hamilton and Woody Herman (cl); Johnny Hodges, Otto Hardwick, John LaPorta and Sam Marowitz (as); Al Sears, Mickey Folus and Flip Phillips (ts); Harry Carney and Sam Rubinowich (bar); Duke Ellington and Tony Aless (p); Fred Guy and Billy Bauer (g); Red Norvo (vib); Oscar Pettiford and Chubby Jackson (b); and Sonny Greer and Don Lamond (d)...
Events reminder: On May 5 at noon (EDT), Sonny Rollins will be streaming live and answering questions (go here) ...on May 10 at 5 p.m. (EDT), Jazz.FM91's Ross Porter will be interviewing Quincy Jones (go here).
The Civilized Cinema. This weekend, John Cooper has selected Fourteen Hours (1951), a terrific on-location New York drama directed by Henry Hathaway. It stars Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Barbara Bel Geddes, Debra Paget, Agnes Moorehead and Robert Keith—with a cameo by Grace Kelly, in her first film role. Score by Alfred Newman. It's in six 15-minute segments...
Part 1...
Part 2...
Part 3...
Part 4...
Part 5...
Part 6...
Oddball album cover of the week.
Reader Stuart Yasaki sent this one along. Hey, Pickwick—that's the Queens, N.Y.-based budget label where Lou Reed got his first job. Looks like the low-overhead mantra extended to the "art" department, where they pasted illustrations of birds all over an unflattering image of George Shearing sitting at a low-budget piano. Cheap-cheap!
