This week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed two-time Oscar winner Michael Caine for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Michael grew up in one of London's poorest neighborhoods and had to be evacuated several times during the Blitz between 1940 and '41. The movie Alfie changed his career. Every other actor in London had turned down the role. After Alfie, Michael only wound up with leading roles. As for Michael's favorite song associated with the film, he said Sonny Rollins's music for the score remains his favorite. [Photo above of Michael Caine and his mother in 1964]
Here's nine minutes of Michael as the cad in Alfie, with Sonny's saxophone and Oliver Nelson's orchestration as background (other film parts follow)...
Here's Sonny's Original Music From the Score to Alfie (all of the tracks follow each other)...
To read the JazzWax story of how Sonny Rollins came to record the music with Oliver Nelson for the movie and why Hal David and Burt Bacharach were then asked to write their hit single, Alfie, go here and here.
Supersax. Last week, I came across a wonderful video of Supersax playing Star Eyes in concert. From right to left, facing us, the reed section lineup looks like Jack Nimitz on baritone saxophone, Lanny Morgan on alto sax, Med Flory (the tall one) on alto sax, Jay Migliori on tenor sax and Ray Reed on tenor sax, with Conte Candoli on trumpet, Lou Levy on piano, Monty Budwig on bass and John Dentz on drums. Recorded sometime in the mid-1980s. Here's Star Eyes...
And here's the original Charlie Parker Quartet version in 1950, with Hank Jones (p), Ray Brown (b) and Buddy Rich (d), so you can compare...
Felix Grant. Last week, after posting about the start of America's love affair with Brazil's bossa nova and the crucial role that Washington, D.C., jazz radio host Felix Grant played, I received upward of 30 emails from readers who lived in Washington and recalled listening to him. Here's the Felix Grant Archives, which includes many of his on-air interviews with jazz musicians (including Jackie and Roy!) (go here).
New York transit. One hundred years ago, the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) operated the Sixth Avenue Elevated. The line was built during the 1870s by the Gilbert Elevated Railway and was the second elevated line to go up in New York after the Ninth Avenue Elevated (underground subways first opened in New York in 1904). In 1919, someone mounted a movie camera in the last car and filmed a bit going down Sixth Avenue.
I know the opening segment is Sixth Avenue because The Hippodrome Theatre appears on the right. It stood at Sixth between 44th and 43rd Streets. The other locations are hard to decipher and my guess is that the film captures bits of different rides on different days. It's hard to know what park that is in the next scene, since the Sixth Avenue El didn't pass Madison Square Park nor did it pass Union Square or Washington Square Park that closely. It is most likely Battery Park at the bottom of Manhattan that the line skirted, but the architecture looks more like 14th Street and Union Square Park. The other intersections are hard to pin down as well and may be the Ninth Avenue El. There were only four elevated lines in Manhattan in 1919—on Second and Third Avenue Els on the East Side and the Sixth and Ninth Avenues Els on the West Side. I didn't have time to find a Manhattan map from 1919 showing parks that existed then but no longer do now or a map of businesses along the Els. Here's the clip...
Gal Costa, the Brazilian singer, launched her performing career in 1964 and released her first recording as a duet on Maria Bethânia's eponymous first album. Costa's first album, Domingo, was released in 1967. Here she is more recently singing Antonio Carlos Jobim's Wave...
What the heck: Here's the eternally charming Cilla Black singing Alfie on stage in 1966...
Oddball album cover of the week.
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a quiet hour. I have no idea where that hour went but I'd love it back. By the way, great stage name for a singer. Perhaps the sister of May July?
