JazzWax

Woody Shaw: The Tour Vol. 2

In July 2016, I posted about a previously unreleased live album by the Louis Hayes-Junior Cook Quintet featuring Woody Shaw. It was recorded in Stuttgart, Germany, on March 22, 1976. The excellent album was entitled The Tour: Volume One, which, of course, teased the promise of subsequent installments. Well, that day has arrived.

The Tour: Volume Two recently was released, and it's even better than the first, if that's possible. The material on the new album was recorded in March 1976 at a series of European concert venues, including Graz, Austria; Bremen, Munich and Wackerhalle, Germany; and Heist op den Berg in Belgium.

Trumpeter Woody Shaw was a sideman in the group, but as this album shows, Shaw was the band's main attraction. Drummer Hayes and tenor saxophonist Cook first recorded together when they were members of the Horace Silver Quintet in 1958. They appeared on Silver's Finger Poppin' and Blowin' the Blues Away (both 1959) and went out on the road with Silver's quintet. Hayes and Cook were together again in 1969 and in 1974 on several live dates and studio recordings led by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Then in 1975, Hayes and Cook formed a quintet with Shaw. Between 1976 and '77, the group embarked on a lengthy European tour.

The band featured Shaw on trumpet, Cook on tenor saxophone, Ronnie Mathews on piano, Stafford James on bass and Hayes on drums. In 1977, Cook left the group and Shaw became its co-leader with Hayes. 

Volume Two is remarkable for several reasons. Chief among them are the superb tracks chosen by Shaw's son, Woody Shaw III, who produced the album. All of the selections are jazz standards, but nothing is cliche about any of the performances. There's plenty of traditional lyricism at the start of songs. But as songs develop, Shaw's searing horn and Cook's rearing saxophone create rich improvisational narratives. [Photo above of Junior Cook and Woody Shaw by Riccardo Schwamenthal/CTSImages]

All the Things You Are, for example, builds like a pressure cooker, with Shaw soloing through much of the song, with a bite-sized solo by pianist Mathews. On A Night in Tunisia, Cook takes an extensive, muscular solo followed by Shaw. 'Round Midnight features Cook and Shaw taking ballad solos, with Shaw's growing increasingly hot yet never boiling over.

The last three selections are exceptional. On John Coltrane's Some Other Blues, Shaw and Mathews take extraordinary solos, with tenor saxophonist René McLean, Jackie McLean's stepson, subbing for Cook and providing texture against Shaw's horn.

Invitation is the album's high point. Shaw's solo is truly beyond belief. The 11:19 track is a spirited version of the standard, moving fleetly through the song's theme and hungrily driving toward the solo zone. Hayes is richly stormy on the drums throughout, and Cook wails during his lengthy solo. But Shaw steals the show, entering like a hornet and providing a stinging, sizzling solo. The song becomes hypnotic as you followed Shaw's lines. The final track is What's New?, a ballad on which Shaw plays with roiling grace.

Listening to Shaw, one senses that he isn't blowing the mouthpiece as much as he's kissing it. The fire he adds to his solos is so gripping and action-packed, you find yourself transfixed. One can only hope for Volume Three and beyond.

Woody Shaw died in 1989.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Woody Shaw's The Tour: Volume Two here.

JazzWax clip: Here's What's New?...

What's New?

Sweet Smell of Success

As the years progressed in the 1950s, a growing number of movies began to feature jazz-flavored scores. Film music's shift to a more contemporary feel was a trend expressed in virtually all areas of art and design. Starting roughly mid-decade, sleek modernism took hold in architecture, car design, home furnishings and even office furniture as prefabrication, glass, non-hierarchical geometry and futurism replaced stone, hulking forms and pre-war stuffiness. In film, this movement embraced brassy jazz rather than heavy European-style classical orchestration that had dominated Hollywood since the 1930s. The music of the Old World no longer made sense as America emerged as a world power.

Jazz-flavored scores could be found in I Want to Live (1958, by Johnny Mandel), Man With the Golden Arm (1955, Elmer Bernstein), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959, John Lewis), the French film Elevator to the Gallows (1958, Miles Davis), Anatomy of a Murder (1959, Duke Ellington), Private Hell 36 (1954, Leith Stevens) and Touch of Evil (1958, Henry Mancini). The list is too long to go into, and I'm sure JazzWax readers have dozens of others that I've left out.

Tied for first place on my list of '50s favorites are The Wild One (1953, Leith Stevens and Shorty Rogers) and Sweet Smell of Success (Elmer Bernstein, Chico Hamilton and Fred Katz). Last week, Verve re-issued Sweet Smell of Success on CD, with a bonus track and informative liner notes by Peter Bernstein, son of movie-music giant Elmer Bernstein. 

I've long loved Sweet Smell of Success for a range of reasons. The film's memorable lines are plentiful, the opening credits and theme remain one of Hollywood's great New York noir table-setters, and the music is saturated with originals by the Chico Hamilton Quintet. I have a particular fondness for the film's opening because in my early newspaper days at The New York Times in the early 1980s, I worked the night shift and had to pick up the evening's editions as they came up the conveyor belts from the presses below. The film's opening scene was filmed in the truck bays of the Times on West 43rd.

But beyond my own nostalgia, the music is superb. Bernstein's elephantine theme perfectly reflects the menacing out-sized power of the film's gossip columnist, J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). Eleven of the 21 tracks were recorded by the Chico Hamilton Quintet, with the songs written and arranged by Chico and cellist Fred Katz.

The jazz musicians in Bernstein's full orchestra included Pete Candoli, Conte Candoli and Ray Linn (trumpets), George Roberts (bass trombone); Ted Nash and Herb Geller (alto saxes), Bob Cooper and Bill Holman (tenor saxes) and Dave Pell (baritone sax); Buddy Clark (bass) and Shelly Manne (drums). [Photo above of Elmer Bernstein]

The Chico Hamilton Quintet featured Chico on drums, Fred Katz (cello), Paul Horn (clarinet), John Pisano (guitar) and Carson Smith (bass).

As Peter Bernstein writes in the notes, "Ultimately, Sweet Smell of Success proved to be too dark for 1958, and it was a failure at the box office. Test audiences were reportedly disturbed by seeing their favorite actors portraying such unsavory characters, and the film was quickly forgotten." Yet over time, the film remains a '50s masterpiece critical of New York law enforcement, press agents and columnists eager to break talent that didn't bend to their will or bucked the power structure. 

Chico Hamilton and Fred Katz died in 2013; Elmer Bernstein died in 2004.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Verve's 60th Anniversary CD of Sweet Smell of Success here.

JazWax clips: Here are the opening credits backed by Elmer Bernstein's noir theme, shot at the old New York Times building's loading bays on West 43rd St., when the paper was still published in the building...

Here's one of the great scenes in any movie from the period...

And here's the Chico Hamilton Quintet...

So how did actor Marty Milner manage to play guitar in this scene? Find out in my multi-part interview with Chico Hamilton in 2009 here.

Danny, John and Art

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]

Facebook and Twitter. Join fellow JazzWax readers at Facebook as they add comments to daily posts. You'll find me there at Marc JazzWax Myers. And for the latest re-Tweets and links to my WSJ articles when they go up each week, you'll find me at Marc Myers @ JazzWax. See you there!

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?

 

Terry Gibbs Video Series

Several weeks ago, Bret Primack flew out to Los Angeles to interview vibraphonist Terry Gibbs at home on camera. Bret recently edited the fabulous results into mini topic clips and uploaded them to YouTube. Congratulations to Bret for a job beautifully done—a rich oral history by one of jazz's greatest vibists. And Terry's language is so fast and rich! Without further delay, here's Terry Gibbs on tape, courtesy of Bret:

Here's Terry on growing up in Brooklyn...

Here's Terry on performing...

Here's Terry on bebop...

Here's Terry on the Steve Allen Show...

Here's Terry on his Dreamband...

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Terry's new album, 92 Years Young: Jammin' at the Gibbs' House (Whaling City Sound), here.

For my review of Terry's album, go here.

Ahmad Jamal and Fender Rhodes

We tend to think of Ahmad Jamal as a pioneer of the elegant jazz trio, a style he perfected starting in the early 1950s by making ample use of space, swing and the upper register of the piano keyboard. Or we think of Ahmad's more recent abstract recordings that are bold and percussive. In between, there was a brief period when Ahmad recorded on the Fender Rhodes electric piano. There were three in all for the 20th Century Fox label in the 1970s.

No instrument reminds more of that decade, with its warm, bell-like tones. We can thank CBS for the Fender Rhodes. Invented by Harold Rhodes after World War II as a budget keyboard for returning soldiers, CBS bought Fender in 1965 and kept Harold Rhodes on. Student models were released in the late 1960s, and the familiar 73-key model was first produced in 1970. As the electric instrument rapidly became popular, other models were manufactured. The company was sold to Roland in 1987 before Harold Rhodes bought it back in 1997. Rhodes died in 2000. Today, the Rhodes electric piano is sold by Rhodes Piano.

Ahmad's first studio album featuring the Fender Rhodes was Ahmad Jamal '73, on which he was accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Richard Evans. It's a masterpiece that was in sync with the soul-jazz times. I've always viewed this album as a concept recording, to be heard from beginning to end. Every song is beautifully articulated, and the album features a few hits of the day, including War's The World Is a Ghetto; Stevie Wonder's Superstition; The Stylistics' Children of the Night, by Thom Bell and Linda Creed; and Ratwani Za Yemeni's Sustah, Sustah.

The second album Ahamd recorded mostly on the Fender Rhodes was Jamalca (1974). He was backed by Richard Evans and Jamil Nasser (b), Brian Grice and Frank Gant (d), and Marilyn Haywood, Vivian Haywood, Jimmy Spink, Morra Stewart and Charles Colbert (vcl) along with an orchestra. The Stylistics' Ghetto Child by Thom Bell and Linda Creed opens the album and includes Trouble Man by Marvin Gaye; Leon Sylvers' Misdemeanor; and Johnny Mandel's Suicide Is Painless from M*A*S*H.

The third and final Rhodes album by Ahmad was Jamal Plays Jamal (1974), which featured six original compositions. Here he switched between the Fender Rhodes and the piano. Ahmad was backed by Jamil Nasser (b), Frank Gant (d) and Azzedin Weston (congas).

Ahmad Jamal is still active today. His most recent album is Ahmad Jamal: Marseille, which you can hear at Spotify. To read my interview with Ahmad for the WSJ, go here.

JazzWax tracks: All three of the albums in my post were never released in the digital format, but can hear all three in their entirety: For Ahmad Jamal '73, go here; for Jamaica, go here; and for One, go here.

JazzWax clips: Here are clips from each of the albums mentioned above:

Here's The World Is a Ghetto...

The World Is a Ghetto

Here's Suicide Is Painless, the M*A*S*H theme...

Suicide Is Painless

And here's Swahililand...

Swahililand

Bonus: Here's Ahmad playing Clavinet on Steely Dan's Black Cow from his One album in 1978...

Black Cow

Art Pepper: At the Movies

By my count, Art Pepper recorded on five known movie soundtracks. In most cases, he was the featured soloist: Some Like It Hot (1959), The Subterraneans (1960), The Enforcer (1976), The Gauntlet (1977) and Heart Beat (1980). [Photo of Laurie and Art Pepper above by Phil Bray courtesy of Laurie Pepper]

Let's give a listen...

After researching the film's musical numbers as well as the opening and closing themes, my guess is that Art Pepper played the clarinet in the jazz-band ensemble pieces (Dave Pell played the tenor saxophone parts). After the musicians wrapped the soundtrack in 1959, Barney Kessel recorded a Some Like It Hot album, featuring many of the musicians who went uncredited on the 1959 film score, including Pepper. The musicians were Barney Kessel (g), Joe Gordon (tp), Pepper (ts), Jimmy Rowles (p), Jack Marshall (g), Monty Budwig (b) and Shelly Manne (d). Here's Pepper on the title theme...

Here's Andre Previn's gorgeous theme to The Subteranneans, with Previn on piano and Gerry Mulligan on baritone saxophone. Pepper appears in the opening credits. That's Mulligan in an acting roll as the hip minister with a cross around his neck...

Here's Pepper playing Rooftop Chase from Jerry Fielding's score for the Clint Eastwood film, The Enforcer...

Rooftop Chase

(If you want to hear the entire score for The Enforcer, go here.)

Here's Pepper with trumpeter Jon Faddis playing The Pickup from Jerry Fielding's score for the Clint Eastwood film The Gauntlet...

The Pickup

And here's Pepper playing Neal's Theme from Jack Nitzsche's score for Heart Beat...

Neal's Theme

A special thanks to Doug Paterson and David Langner.

Bob Corwin and Don Elliott

An East Coast pairing in 1956 that seemed close to the West Coast's Chet Baker and Russ Freeman was Don Elliott on trumpet and Bob Corwin on piano. Playing together, Elliott and Corwin were breezy, delicate and highly melodic. They could swing with ease, and both had an extraordinary ear for harmony. If you're familiar with Elliott, then you know he was a master of many instruments. On The Bob Corwin Quartet: Featuring the Trumpet of Don Elliott (1956) for Riverside, Elliott and Corwin were backed by Ernie Furtado on bass and Jimmy Campbell on drums.

The Riverside album was Corwin's first leadership date and Elliott's initial album as a trumpet soloist. Corwin had been gigging with Elliott in New York since mid-1955 and recorded with him in early 1956 as a sideman on The Voice of Marty Bell (Riverside) and Janet Brace's Special Delivery (ABC Paramount).

There is no Wikipedia page for Corwin nor an official bio, so here's what I could piece together with a little research: Born in 1933 in Hollis, N.Y., Corwin began playing piano early but viewed the instrument merely as a way to make a few bucks in college while taking pre-dental courses. When Elliott heard Corwin at a club, he asked him to join a quartet he was forming. Corwin agreed to take the job, but just for a week so he could pull down enough money for rent. But after two weeks, Corwin realized that he wanted to spend his life playing piano, not caring for teeth.

After recording this album with Elliott, it seems Corwin married singer Arlene Nover and played local gigs in New York. Bob's former wife, Arlene, picks up the story...

In 1951 I was attending Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., singing on the weekends in a nightclub/restaurant that used to have stage shows. The club's name escapes me. One of my fondest memories was working with and getting to know Jack Teagarden and his band, My newly divorced mom used to come in to the club to take me home at the end of the night.

Slim Gaillard used to come in every weekend to listen. Eventually, he and my mom became friends. They ended up buying a jazz spot together they called The Turf (pictured), which also was in Hempstead. It was probably the first integrated club on Long Island. We booked great musicians, including Stan Getz and Horace Silver.

While I was singing and playing piano at that first club I mentioned, a lovely young man my age named Bob Cohen (soon to be Corwin) started to come in to listen to me play and sing. I always found good little-known tunes and Bob liked good tunes. Soon we began dating. He took me on his gigs. This is when he was with Don Elliott. Things evolved, and by the time I graduated from college—in fact, on the day I graduated—we married. We had one child, Jonathan.

Bob and I divorced in 1958. I married Richard Robin Palmer and then James Thomas Council, with whom I had Jennifer. For the past 34 years, I've been living a delightful and contented life with Kent Anderson here in Sweden.

In 1960, Bob Corwin married Mandy Mercer, daughter of singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer. Said Mandy in Gene Lees' Portrait of Johnny: The Life of John Herndon Mercer, "I admired Bob....I loved running around with him and not being Johnny Mercer's daughter. I was his wife. We'd go and hang out with all these jazz musicians like Phil Woods. He worked with these guys, and I liked hanging around with him. I knew Bill Evans. I knew Daddy's friends and then I got to know Bobby's friends."

In 1957, Corwin continued to record with Elliott on his Pal Joey album and on The Voices of Don Elliott. Corwin also recorded on Phil Woods's quartet album with Gene Quill called Phil Talks With Quill as well as on Woods's Warm Woods album. He's also on Herbie Mann's African Suite in 1959. Interestingly, he recorded on Chet Baker Plays the Best of Lerner and Lowe in 1959 (I'm going to give this one a re-listen) and accompanied Anita O'Day in Tokyo in 1963 and on Peggy Lee's Mink Jazz that same year. Also In the 1960s, Corwin accompanied Carmen McRae and was the intermission pianist at New York's Condon's and played at the Playboy Club. At some point Corwin relocated with his wife, Mandy, to the West Coast.

What's especially beautiful about Corwin's playing here is his impeccable time, his chord voicings and the influence of pianists Bud Powell and Dodo Marmarosa on his approach. He also reminds me of Pete Jolly. I only wish we had a dozen albums like this led by Corwin. He was, as they used to say, right on time.

Bob Corwin is still with us today and hopefully someone he knows will help him create an all-important Wikipedia page.

As for Concord Records, which owns the Riverside catalog today, hopefully someone there will see this post and the will re-issue this one, at least as a digital download. It's an extremely important album.

JazzWax tracks: The Bob Corwin Quartet: Featuring the Trumpet of Don Elliott appears to be available only on vinyl and is extremely rare.

JazzWax clips: Here's I Remember You....

I Remember You

Here's Gone With the Wind (dig Corwin's Russ Freeman-like hook at the opening and close)...

Gone With the Wind

Here's Corwin's gorgeous piano behind Anita O'Day singing Night and Day in Tokyo in 1963...

And here's Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered...

And here's Arlene Corwin in Sweden singing and playing Benny Golson's Whisper Not...

A special thanks to Doug Paterson, Arlene Corwin and Jenny Council.

Jessica Molaskey: Joni Mitchell

If you're a jazz singer who's going to take on a Joni Mitchell tribute album, you had better know what you're doing. To pull it off, you need a keen understanding of Joni's outlook on life and what makes her sophisticated music tick. As a singer, you must sound enough like her to stir the juices of her fans, but you can't simply mimic her recordings. You have to take Joni's music to another place without losing her distinct expressive feeling. Walking this fine line requires quite a voice, and Jessica Molaskey pulls it off perfectly on her new album, Portraits of Joni (Ghostlight). Molaskey delivers all of Joni's black-coffee, morning-after vocal flavor supported by smart jazz arrangements. This is one of the best jazz vocal albums of the year. [The portrait of Molaskey on the cover above is by Jessica Molaskey]

In October 2014, I spent two hours with Joni at her home in Los Angeles interviewing her about the writing of Carey for my WSJ "Anatomy of a Song' column. Joni's music is complex and difficult. Her songs are highly sensitive and vocally challenging. The melodies alone are tough, and Joni's voice frequently soars up high from a low register for emphasis, which must be a back-breaker to emulate. As Joni told me during our conversation, "I’m an alto who uses a pseudo soprano— a falsetto. Then that disappeared with age. Some of my songs are whispered, some of them are belted and some are whispered and belted in one song. There’s a lot of dynamic to them."

Molaskey (above) handles Joni's vocal obstacle course splendidly throughout the album. She's accompanied by guests, including drummer Duduka Da Fonseca (who plays with enormous sensitivity), pianist and organist Larry Goldings, saxophonist Harry Allen, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and guitarist-husband John Pizzarelli along with many others. The album's personnel changes from track to track. The jazz-flavored arrangements are by Molaskey and Pizzarelli, except for Both Sides Now and All I Want, which are by Larry Goldings, and Little Green, which  is by Molaskey and Madeleine Pizzarelli, Molaskey and Pizzarelli's daughter.

The songs on the album are Help Me, Dreamland/Carey, A Case of You, The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines, Marcie, In France They Kiss On Main Street, The Last Time I Saw Richard, Raised on Robbery, Little Green, Circle Game/Waters of March, All I Want/Blue, Chelsea Morning/Aquelas Coisas Todas, Both Sides Now and Big Yellow Taxi. By the way, the album is worth hearing for The Last Time I Saw Richard alone.

Molaskey clearly worked hard on the vocals to get them just right. Same goes for her arrangements and background vocal overdubs. I can imagine Joni listening to the album and smiling broadly. [Photo above of John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey]

My only quibble is the decision to slide Antonio Carlos Jobim's Waters of March behind Joni's The Circle Game. Waters of March is a perfectly grand song with its own beautiful properties, but somehow the standard's commercial value and familiarity adds whipped cream to an already elegant and joyous work. The Circle Game is one of Joni's finest constructs and would have worked perfectly well without the Waters echo. Same goes for the heavy bossa added to Chelsea Morning. But these are tiny nits. More important, Molaskey's new album has Joni's strength and vulnerability along with her gentle soul, which is why I love it. [Photo above of Antonio Carlos Jobim]

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Jessica Molaskey's Portraits of Joni (Ghostlight) here.

You'll also find the album at Spotify.

JazzWax clip: Here's Jessica Molaskey singing Joni's In France They Kiss on Main Street (with Duduka Da Fonseca on drums and percussion, Larry Goldings on organ, Leo Traversa on electric bass, John Pizzarelli on electric guitar and solo, Madeleine Pizzarelli on steel string acoustic guitar, and Molaskey, Pizzarelli and Madeleine Pizzarelli on background vocals...

In France They Kiss on Main Street

Misty, Loudon and Walter

For my "House Call" column in the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland (go here). Misty talked about the bubble of tranquility she created growing up, focusing on her passion for dance in a home with enormous stress. It's remarkable what she went through, emerging as one of the great ballerinas of our time. Here's Misty in action in 2015...

And here's another clip...

For my "Playlist" column in the WSJ's Review section, I spoke with Loudon Wainwright III on how The Band's Chest Fever helped him escape a brown-rice cult in Brookline, Mass., in 1970 (go here). Here's Loudon in action...

Terry Gibbs. Bret Primack recently interviewed vibist and bandleader Terry Gibbs in Los Angeles. Here's Gibbs on Jerry Lewis...

Here's Terry in action with Buddy Rich's 1948 band (that looks like Hal McKusick on alto saxophone right behind Buddy and Allen Eager on tenor saxophone)...

Walter Becker. I'm not ready to write about Walter yet. The news of his passing is still too raw. For now, this 24-minute clip will tell you all you need to know about what made Donald Fagen and Walter Becker such a special songwriting team...

Here's Sammy Davis Jr. and Buddy Rich followed by Rich's West Side Story Suite...

Teri Roiger will be appearing at New York's Mezzro on Tuesday, Sept 12. She'll be joined by
Frank Kimbrough (piano), John Menegon (bass) and Steve Williams (drums). Sets are at 8 and 9:30 p.m. Mezzro is at 163 West 10th Street (basement). Tickets are $20. For more information and reservations, go here or call (646) 476-4346.

What the heck. Here are the Flamingos singing Mio Amore in 1960...

Oddball album cover of the week.

Wow, actual business letters! Dictated at various speeds! And dig all the analogue technology. What I'm especially curious about is if the tonearm is on the record and the letter is being read, why is our assistant phasing out?

Video: Joe Turner & Jack Dupree

Following my late-August post on stride pianist Joe Turner, Jimi Mentis sent along a link to a rare half-hour French TV show from the 1960s featuring Turner and blues pianist Champion Jack Dupree. Here it is...