For The Wall Street Journal's "House Call" column this week in the paper's Mansion section, I interviewed restaurateur Danny Meyer (go here) on growing up in Ladue, Mo. We talked about his father's stress, why Kreis' German restaurant in St. Louis (Now Kreis' Steakhouse) set the standard for his outlook on hospitality and service, and why a meal helped him decide not to go to law school. In New York, Meyer owns the Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, North End Grill and Marta, among others. All of his restaurants have disbanded with tipping and place a heavy emphasis on service. [Photo above of Danny Meyer courtesy of Union Square Hospitality Group]
And, for the WSJ's "Playlist" column in the Review section, I interviewed TV star Kimberly Hébert Gregory (go here) on her favorite song—Luther Vandross’s Bad Boy/Having a Party, from 1982. The song takes her back to her parents taking a dancing break in the living room on Saturday mornings as the family cleaned house. Gregory stars in two TV shows this fall: the HBO comedy series Vice Principals and ABC’s Kevin (Probably) Saves the World. [Photo above courtesy of Kimberly Hébert Gregory]
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A John Coltrane mural has gone up in Philadelphia on a building near where another Coltrane mural was destroyed in 2014 to make way for development. The new mural can be seen at 29th and Diamond streets in North Philadelphia and was designed by artist Ernel Martinez. Thanks to Ron Kellett for alerting and sending along the link to an article on the mural (go here).
Art Pepper at the Movies II. Following my post, Laurie Pepper, Art's wife, alerted me that he also recorded on Bells Are Ringing (1960) and Popi (1969). Unfortunately he's uncredited on both soundtracks. On Bells Are Ringing, I couldn't hear him on the tracks I could locate from the movie. One scene I wasn't able to access is Judy Holiday's date with Gerry Mulligan, who plays a cad. Pepper is probably playing a solo in there. As for Popi, I didn't have much luck there either.
What is vocalese? It's the art of singing songs with words set to the melodies of famous jazz solos. At a online jazz forum recently, pianist and educator Lewis Porter provided a link to King Pleasure singing All of Me in 1960 (King Pleasure first recorded his vocalese version in 1955)...
And writer and author Elijah Wald provided a link to the 1951 Illinois Jacquet solo from which the King Pleasure interpretation was based...
What the heck. Here are the Dynamic Superiors singing Shoe Shoe Shine in 1974...
Oddball album cover of the week.
Wow, a date with the Devil, who it turns out doesn't drink. Hey, in that outfit, why bother. Here's a taste of how dreadful the Hollywood Playboys Orchestra album sounded. Really arouses devilish behavior, doesn't it?
