Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actor Matthew Rhys for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (here). For those who can't put a face to the name, he most recently starred in FX's The Americans series, the film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, the current HBO Perry Mason series and now the Starz series Death and Nightingales. Matthew is Welsh, and it was glorious to hear his accent so many years after I hitchhiked throughout Wales for a month in 1979 along with the rest of Europe, fresh out of college. [Photo above of Matthew Rhys in Perry Mason courtesy of HBO]
Here's Matthew and his real-life wife, Keri Russell, in a trailer for Season 1 of The Americans (now on Amazon Prime)...
Here's Matthew in the film trailer for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood...
And here's the the trailer for the three-episode Starz mini-series, Death and Nightingales...
Meredith d'Ambrosio. Last week, after posting on Meredith d'Ambrosio's new album, Sometime Ago, I heard from vocalist Giacomo Gates:
Marc, at some point in the early 2000's, I was doing a gig for the Gold Coast Jazz Society in Fort Lauderdale, Fl. It was my second or third time working with pianist, Eddie Higgins. He suggested we get together at his place the afternoon before the gig, just to get reacquainted and run a few tunes. I was certainly aware of Eddie's wife, vocalist Meredith d'Ambrosio, but I'd never met her until that day. It was a short rehearsal and a nice hang. Meredith gave me a tune, on paper, that she had written but not yet recorded. She said she thought I would like it. I did the gig with Eddie's trio, and he was wonderful to work with. Shades of Hank Jones. A singer's dream pianist. As you know, he worked with everyone.
I took Meredith's tune home, sat down and played it, learned it, and dug it very much. I called Meredith and told her I thought it was a haunting, beautiful ballad. I also asked for her permission to record it. She responded, "Of course! Please know I wrote it as a medium-up swinger, but you do what you want with it."
So, I recorded it with the first chorus rubato. The lyrics are beautiful and the melody and harmonies are very different and slightly dissonant. Then I respected Meredith's take on the tempo. The song was "Melodious Funk."
Here's Giacomo Gates singing Meredith's Melodious Funk...
Tommy Smothers' spot-on imitation of Johnny Carson in 1992...
Dave Thompson sent along his rehearsal of Yesterdays...
Misty in Paris. Last week I heard from photographer Gilles D'Elia in Paris:
Hi Marc, How are you my dear friend? Today I went to visit Alain Marquet at the Jazz Museum in Paris. Alain says hello to you and warmly thanks for your last article. He told me a story related to the article you devoted to his store, the Jazz Museum. Following your post, a Parisian woman and a JazzWax reader, went to visit him and asked if he had the original pressing of "Misty" by Erroll Garner. She told him this anecdote, the authenticity of which I cannot confirm but which I found very pleasant:
The woman loves the song and always wondered why it was called "Misty." At a jazz festival, she met Erroll and dared to ask him the question. Garner, she said, replied: "I entitled the song 'Misty' because when I composed it, I was staying in Le Touquet, France, in a house called the Villa Misty." Subsequently, thanks to the royalties of the song, he said he bought the house that had brought him luck. Thanks to JazzWax's ability to bring two people together, a great jazz mystery was clarified!
So, how is Paris? Gilles continued:
In Paris, we are gradually finding freedom. We still have the curfew, but next week the outdoor areas of cafes and restaurants will reopen. The following week will be the cultural venues, cinemas, concert halls, theaters. And finally, at the end of June, everything will be as before, no more curfews and no more restrictions. Vaccinations seem to be producing good results. We are starting to see the end of the tunnel. But we must remain vigilant and not let our guard down too quickly, if we really want to get out of it for good. As for masks, the authorities tell us that this obligation may also be removed during the summer. [Photo above in Paris by Gilles D'Elia]
Louise Alexandra, a superb Dutch jazz vocalist whose album, Today, I posted about in January, sent along links to two videos.
The first is a loving tribute to her brother, Rutger, backed by Chain of Life from Louise's album:
And the second features Louise and her beautiful daughter, Mae, who was 14 at the time, singing a Nat King Cole favorite together during a drive. The video is absolutely precious and will make your weekend...
Donovan. Last week, singer-songwriter Richard Barone alerted me to a new song and video Donovan put out for I Am the Shaman. To read my "Anatomy of a Song" interview with Donovan on Sunshine Superman, go here.
Here's the new video for I Am the Shaman directed by David Lynch...
Steve Cropper radio. Recently, Chris Cowles hosted a radio broadcast on WRTC-FM in Hartford, Ct., on guitarist and songwriter Steve Cropper, a member of the Stax Records house band in Memphis and a member of Booker T. and the MGs. Plenty of music and an interview with Crop, whose new album is Fire It Up. You can listen to Chris's Greasy Tracks show for free here.
Marvin Gaye. New York cultural institution 92Y is hosting a muti-day, 50th anniversary tribute to Marvin Gaye's 1971 album, What's Going On. A concert that streamed on Friday can be found here.
Going forward, other streaming Gaye events:
- May 23—A roundtable conversation featuring Christian McBride, Janis Gaye, David Ritz, Nelson George, Angelika Beener and Steven Reineke is here.
- June 4—A listening party with Christian McBride is here.
- June 5—A concert featuring Victory Boyd, vocals/guitar; J Hoard, vocals; Peter Collins, guitar/vocals; Casey Benjamin, saxophone; Jeffandy AllTogether, guitar; Ray Angry, piano/music director; Ben Williams, bass; and Marcus Gilmore, drums. Go here.
In Sweden, pianist Jan Lundgren alerted me to the May 10th passing of Svante Thuresson (above), one of the country's most beloved jazz-pop vocalists. Known best as a founding member of Sweden's vocalese group Pals and Gals in 1963, Thuresson also had a solo career. From Svante Thuresson's 1968 album, Du Ser En Man, here's Burt Bacharach's This Guy's In Love With You, as sung with Swedish lyrics by Thuresson...
And here's Sweden's Pals and Gals singing a vocalese rendition of Oliver Nelson's Miss Fine...
Johnny Mercer radio. On Sunday, May 23, from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET), Sid Gribetz at WKCR-FM in New York will host a five-hour radio program on jazz interpretations of Johnny Mercer's music. You can listen from anywhere in the world by going here. [Photo above of Johnny Mercer]
Surf's up. I'm a big follower of surfing social media groups on Facebook. Don't ask. One day I'll explain. At any rate, here's an example of what distracts me each day. Looks to me like the video is from Shipstern Bluff at the southern tip of Australia's Tasmania, where the baddest of the bad surf, despite what the YouTube posit...
And finally, relax with guitarist Paulinho Nogueira by going here. Have a great weekend!
