In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Nancy Wilson of Heart for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Nancy talked about her family's many moves growing up and how she came to play the guitar with her sister, Ann. She also talked about how life changed after her Marine Corps father retired and the family settled down near Seattle in the 1960s. Nancy has a new album out, You and Me. Here's the title track:
Ack van Rooyen. Last week, after posting on Dutch bassist Ruud Jacobs, I heard from David Childer in England:
Hi Marc, some elder jazz statesmen live to a grand age, but very few continue to play actively into their 90s. Svend Asmussen, who lived to over 100, was one. Ack van Rooyen is another. A wonderful flugelhornist who should be celebrated more than he is. He released a lovely new album last year, "Ack van Rooyen 90," to mark his 90th birthday. The clip below features him playing "My Ideal"...
Soul showcase. When temperatures rise above 80, I'm often transported to summers in the mid-1960s when I'd live on my transistor radio searching for the music I loved most—soul singers and vocal groups:
Here's Jackie Wilson on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1962, with an awkward moment when Wilson's swinging arm while crossing the stage is misunderstood by Sullivan as an extended hand to shake. Back then, such an act of friendship between the white host and Black talent could be perilous for the show's ratings and ad dollars in segregated states. At the last second, both think better of it, and Wilson delivers his customary electrifying performance on Lonely Teardrops...
Here are the Superbs in 1964, with Eleanor "Punkin'" Green on lead vocal, singing Baby Baby All the Time. Dick Clark always sounds like he's going to say something that makes you cringe and then he goes ahead and does just that...
Here are the Royalettes in 1965 singing It's Gonna Take a Miracle...
Here's Betty Everett singing The Shoop Shoop Song in 1964...
Here's Barbara Mason in 1965 singing Yes, I'm Ready...
Here's Mary Wells singing Use Your Head in 1965...
And here are the Dixie Cups singing Chapel of Love in 1964...
David Allyn. Some years back, Les Block conducted a significant number of superb audio interviews on singer David Allyn for his radio show. The list included Bill Holman, Tony Bennett, Van Alexander, Sue Raney, Johnny Mandel and so many others. All of the audio interviews are now up online here, including one with me. Of if you want to hear them week by week, tune in online to KSAV.org each Thursday at 7 and 10 p.m. (ET). [Photo above of David Allyn, left, and Johnny Mandel at Dizzy's Coca-Cola in New York in 2010 by Marc Myers]
Why is David Allyn important? He was one of the most exceptional, and hippest male vocalists of the 1940s and late '50s and early '60s Here's David singing A Sure Thing from David Allyn Sings Jerome Kern (1957), arranged by Johnny Mandel...
Here he is with the Bill Holman Orchestra in 1958 singing You Send Me...
Here's David on the Steve Allen Show in 1959 singing Get Out of Town...
And finally, a swinger with the Bob Florence big band from the early 1960s recorded onto 35mm film tape...
For my interview with the late David Allyn, start here.
Ari Erev. Last week, I caught pianist Ari Erev at YouTube playing Bill Evans's The Two Lonely People. So beautiful! It's from Ari's album, About Time. His new album is Close to Home. Here's The Two Lonely People...
Ike Quebec radio. On Sunday, my main man of the airwaves Sid Gribetz will present a five-hour broadcast on the career of tenor saxophonist Ike Quebec. Tune in to WKCR-FM in New York from anywhere in the world from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET) here.
