Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed all four former members of Talking Heads for my "Anatomy of a Song" column on the group's big 1983 hit, Burning Down the House (go here). David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison talked about how the song came together and the initial inspiration, Parliament-Funkadelic.
Here's my favorite clip of the song—the band's 1983 appearance on Late Night With David Letterman...
Also in the WSJ, I interviewed actor-comedian Wayne Knight for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). The actor reflected on being a class clown growing up, how everything changed when he moved to New York and the inspiration behind Newman's mincing jog on Seinfeld. Wayne is so funny, but he's also a superb actor, appearing in JFK, Jurassic Park, Basic Instinct and many others. [Photo above of Wayne Knight courtesy of Wayne Knight and IMDB]
Here's a roundup of Wayne's best moments as Newman on Seinfeld...
To read my Michael Richards interview in 2014, go here.
SiriusXM. On Thursday at noon, I'll be joining co-hosts Nik Carter and Lori Majewski on SiriusXM's Feedback (channel 106). I'll be on for an hour talking in detail about Talking Heads and Burning Down the House. Tune in!
Kenny Baker1. Following my post last week on the British trumpeter, I received the following from composer-arranger John Cameron in the U.K.:
Hi Marc. Great post on Kenny Baker and the usual studio suspects of the period. Suddenly I was back in 1983 when I wrote the music for Philip Marlowe, Private Eye. It was HBO’s very first venture into dramatic original programming. Director David Wickes wanted the music to feel very “live” 1940s Los Angeles jazz. So we assembled my usual crew: Danny Moss could sound unnervingly like Ben Webster, Tony Coe like Paul Gonzales, Ronnie Ross, Bill Le Sage, Danny Thompson, Barry Morgan, Tony Carr, Norma Winstone and me on piano. We recorded first takes as much as possible to keep a live feel. But we needed one more element—the heft and swagger of a '40s lead trumpet. So we brought in Kenny Baker, late in his musical career. He was magnificent!
Here's John's theme during the opening credits...
And here's the closing credits...
Kenny Baker2. Here's an email from Stuart Hawkins:
Dear Marc. Hello from Thailand! I enjoyed your post on Kenny Baker and shared it with my dad in Hong Kong. He's from London and grew up listening to the Ted Heath orchestra, Don Lusher and all those British jazz artists. Interestingly, trombonist Eddie Harvey, who's listed in the personnel on Blowin' Up A Storm, was my dad's trombone teacher for a while.
Anyway, just wanted to share with you my favorite Kenny Baker solo. It's his feature plunger mute solo on the song The Shepherd at a performance of Duke Ellington's Second Sacred Concert at St Paul's Cathedral in 1982. We used to have a VHS tape of the full concert. If you ever get the opportunity to hear the solo, I think you'll enjoy it! Thanks, as always, for the great blog!
Sari Schorr. Back in May, I posted my interview with blues- rock singer Sari Schorr and her powerful music video (Ordinary Life) of New York's deserted streets during the pandemic lockdown. This past week, she sent along another, combining her 2018 song The New Revolution (in tribute to Martin Luther King) with footage from the recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations. A moving tribute to events that unfolded in June but somehow feels like a decade ago. A great voice and searing energy. Follow Sari's weekly live-stream video essays at Facebook here. To view Sari's new video, go here...
Worthy CD. Dominic Lalli's A Blind Man's Blue. The tenor saxophonist is best known as half of Big Gigantic, a rap-rave funk-bump duo with drummer Jeremy Salken. On his new album, Lalli leads a jazz quintet, blowing with a meaty John Coltrane sound from his Atlantic years. Joining Lalli are trumpeters Ron Miles and Greg Gisbert, pianist Eric Gunnison, bassist Bijoux Barbosa and drummer Rudy Royston. Tracks of note include a superb Love Walked In, A Blind Man's Blue and Golden Earrings. There's loads of poetry here mixed with muscle supplied by all of the band members, particularly Gunnison, who tears into the piano like McCoy Tyner. While EDM has paid the bills, I hope we hear more from Lalli's introspective jazz side. Go here.
Tracks are here as well.
Here's A Blind Man's Blue...
Petula Clark. Last week I found three newly uploaded videos at YouTube that show off Petula's stage charm and vocal gifts:
Here's I Know a Place in 1965...
Here's Petula and Tom Jones in 1971 (only on French TV!)...
And here's Petula's moving tribute to Karen Carpenter shortly after the singer's death in February 1983...
What the heck. Here's a salsa rendition of a Beatles hit that's equal to the original...
