In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed Alan Menken for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Alan wrote the songs for Little Shop of Horrors and Disney's The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Pocahontas. This one was personal, since my daughter grew up watching these movies and singing the songs. When I told Alan that my daughter was thrilled I was interviewing him, he was overjoyed and ended the interview by saying, "And say hi to your daughter for me." Made my day—and hers. [Photo above of Alan Menken courtesy of Spotify]
Here's Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid, words and music by Alan Menken (the lyrcis are so darn—what's that word again?—clever)...
And here's Angela Lansbury singing Beauty and the Beast theme, with words and music by Alan Menken...
Johnny Mandel. A special thanks to Eric Grode of The New York Times, whose obit (here) of Johnny Mandel quoted my 2008 JazzWax interview with Johnny. Same goes for Jon Blistein of Rolling Stone (here), Mike Barnes of the Hollywood Reporter (here) and so many others.
Ack van Rooyen. Last week, Jeroen de Valkin in the Netherlands sent along two terrific video clips of Ack van Rooyen, a Dutch trumpeter and flugelhornist, during a Chet Baker tribute concert in 2013. Here's Van Rooyen playing My One and Only Love on the flugelhorn (move the time bar to 3:00)...
And here's Van Rooyen and William Kroot playing flugelhorns on I've Never Been in Love Before...
For real? Can you imagine Rahsaan Roland Kirk appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show? Well, it really happened in 1971. Here's the really big "shew"...
New song by Roger Kellaway. Last week, long-time concert and club producer Pat Philips of
Stratta Philips Productions shared with me a terrific clip. It features pianist Roger Kellaway playing a newly composed song in tribute to Pat on her birthday and for her many years booking, promoting and producing him at clubs and concert halls. Pat is a long-time friend, so I spent the next hour begging her to let me share the clip with JazzWax readers. Pat, who prefers the shadows to the limelight, finally relented. [Photo above of Roger Kellaway courtesy of Roger Kellaway]
Here's Roger playing the marvelous She Will Find a Way along with a slide show of photos of Pat assembled by Jorjana, Roger's wife, culled from the Kellaways' vast photo archive...
Virus view. In late April, filmmakers from around the world were asked to participate in a special video project entitled Pause. While musicians from Brazil, France and the U.S. recorded their instruments from confinement, cinematographers sent drone footage of their empty quarantined cities to an editor who brought all of it together. [Photo above from YouTube]
Here's the result...
Worthy CD. James & Bobby Purify: The Complete Bell Recordings 1955-1969 (Soulmusic). These soulful, singing cousins are probably best known for their big hit in '66, I'm Your Puppet. They recorded about two dozen sides for Bell Records in the 1960s. Now all of them are on a rewarding two-CD set sung in their gospel-soul style. Go here.
Here's I'm Your Puppet...
Worthy books. Three books came in recently that you should know about:
Erroll: The Essential LPs by James M. Doran. This nifty book is like browsing through the Erroll Garner bin at a record store. Color pages are filled with more than 100 of Garner's 10-inch and 12-inch covers and their song titles. Doran includes a bio as well as discographical information such as personnel, dates and locations of Garner recording sessions for multiple labels. Go here.
Swing Street: The Rise and Fall of New York's 52nd Street Jazz Scene (1930-1950) by Leo T. Sullivan. Curious about what the clubs on 52nd Street looked like? Didn't know that June Christy sang with Georgie Auld at Club Troubadour in 1947? This 8-inch square hardback published by Schiffer provides descriptions of each club lining the street where hip learned to walk. If ever jazz had a Dodge City, this was it, and the book virtually hums as you read through the pages. Go here.
The Blues; A Visual History by Mike Evans. This coffee-table book from Schiffer is packed with visual artifacts and color images. A lively survey that communicates with photos, captions and cogent text. Follow the blues' evolution from the Delta region to cities and recording studios as the blues morphed from a folk form to a slick big-band sound and rock raves. Best of all, load up on the recordings mentioned in the book at Spotify and listen as you read. Go here.
What the heck. Tony Hatch in London wrote Call Me for Petula Clark. The record was released in 1965 and it was a sensation. Nearly ever pop singer took a shot. Here are three favorites:
Here's Petula Clark...
Here's Peggy Lee singing Call Me backed by guitars in 1966...
And here's Astrud Gilberto and Walter Wanderley in 1966...
Bonus: Marty Sheller sent along his arrangement of Call Me for Mongo Santamaria on Hey! Let's Party in 1966, with Marty on trumpet and Hubert Laws on flute. (If you let the next track, Walk on By, come on, the Burt Bacharach song also was arranged by Marty for Mongo and features a solo by Marty. Here's Call Me...
