In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed bestselling author Meg Wolitzer for my "House Call" column (go here) and reviewed John Coltrane's Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album album (go here). Meg's book The Wife has been made into a movie starring Glenn Close that opens Aug. 17. [Photo above courtesy of Meg Wolitzer]
Here's the trailer...
Catch me on SiriusXM's Feedback (Channel 106) with the show's co-hosts Nik Carter and Lori Majewski this Thursday, June 28, at 9 a.m. (EDT) when we'll be breaking down Joe Jackson's 1982 hit Steppin' Out.
Hank O'Neal, the author, photographer, and record and music festival producer, has written a marvelous new book, Preserving Lives: An American Family's Scrapbook, 1920-1950 (TCU Press). The book is part biography of his mother's and father's life together and part scrapbook of his parents' photos, letters and other mementos gathered through their marriage. A fascinating slice of history. Go here.
Carvin' the Rock. Video clips like this one give me hope that jazz will survive shifting tastes and a tightening marketplace. The musicians are Eric Borczuk on clarinet; Sam Glick on guitar; Ben Caine on piano; Greg Momjian on bass; and Cam Johnson on drums...
In New York this week? Go see vocalist Georgia Mancio backed by pianist Alan Broadbent, bassist Don Falzone and drummer Dave Ohm at Kitano Jazz. They'll be there one night only, on Friday, June 29. Georgia and Alan will be featuring selections from Songbook, their album of original compositions. I posted about their album here, and my interview with Georgia is here. For more information about Kitano Jazz, go here.
Don Stratton. Following my post last week on Dixieland Goes Progressive, Dick Vacca, author of The Boston Jazz Chronicles, sent along the following email...
"Hello Marc. Greetings from Boston. Thank you for your post. It is great to see Don Stratton's name in JazzWax. Don was enormously helpful to me in writing The Boston Jazz Chronicles, and over time he became a friend. I wrote a blog post on Don when he died. I thought you and JazzWax readers might enjoy it." To read Dick's post, go here.
More Dixieland. Following my Dixieland post, Arthur Carr in Australia send along the following:
"Hi Marc. I enjoyed your post on Dixieland Goes Progressive. But pianist Art Hodes, who visited Australia in the late 1970s or early '80s, really makes me tap my shoes. I did not get to see or hear him, as he was playing in Melbourne then, as you can see from the following clip. All of the musicians were on their game." Here's the video...
Jon Hiseman radio. Jon Hiseman, an English drummer who died June 12 at 73, played with the Graham Bond Organisation, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, and the jazz rock/progressive rock band Colosseum. Today (Saturday), Chris Cowles will pay tribute to Hiseman with a four-hour broadcast from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. (EDT). If you're reading this on Sunday, you can access the show's audio via a link. You can listen from anywhere in the world on your phone or computer on Saturday or Sunday by going here.
Arlene Corwin, who was married to pianist Bob Corwin, is herself a singer and pianist. Here she is in Sweden singing a clutch of jazz standards...
CD you should know about.
E.J. Decker's Bluer Than Velvet. If you dig vocalist Arthur Prysock, E.J. Decker applies his deep baritone voice to the famed singer's pop-jazz catalog. Many Prysock classics are here, from Blue Velvet and Since I Fell for You to I Could Write a Book and September in the Rain. Smart accompaniment by Claire Daly (bs), Chris Bergson (g), Elizabeth Frascola (tb), Les Kurtz (p), Saadi Zain (b) and Tom Melito (d). Go here.
What the heck. I'm sure many of you have seen this video. But if not, you're in for a treat...
Oddball album cover of the week.
Maybe it's me, but I'm not getting the party part. Between the guy on the phone with the office or liquor store and the loaded spouse on the floor, this cover doesn't seem like a whole lot of fun, even in suburbia. Judging by the song titles, perhaps that's the point.
