In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed French actress Camille Cottin for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Camille starred in Call My Agent!, the popular French drama-comedy series that became a Netflix rage this year about the ups and downs of a Parisian talent agency. She currently stars in the new hit suspense film Stillwater and will be in House of Gucci this fall. If you haven't seen Call My Agent!, do yourself a favor and watch a few episodes over the weekend. So much fun and so French.
Here's the trailer for Call My Agent!...
Beverly Kenney. Last week, after my post on ill-fated singer Beverly Kenney, I received the following from Bob Bernotas:
Hi Marc. Man, I love so many things about Beverly Kenney: her bold harmonic sense, the way she would improvise on a melody without resorting to scat, and, like most effective jazz singers, she phrased her lyrics in a way natural to her. She would often locate the stress in surprising and unexpected places in a way that was quirky, but not wrong, just personal. And swinging. Her diction was impeccable — the only singer I ever heard who, while performing “Violets for You Furs,” emphasized the first word of the title (correctly) in three even syllables, as a lilting triplet: “vi-o-lets.” And that faultless phrasing and diction are what made Beverly Kenney such a thoughtful and enchanting interpreter of lyrics, with none of the carelessness that betrays certain so-called legends. To me, she was the freshest, most promising jazz singer to emerge during the second half of the 1950s.
Joanne Brackeen and Harold Land. Last week, after my post on pianist Joanne Brackeen and post on tenor saxophonist Harold Land, I heard from writer-photographer Rob Rosenbaum [photo above of Harold Land by Bob Rosenbaum, courtesy of Bob Rosenbaum]...
Hi Marc, in the past week you've happened to invoke two dear friends and mentors. Your piece on Joanne Brackeen was wonderful ("daring, fierce and a emotionally organic" —yes!). I thought you were able to touch on what makes her music so special. Every note is significant. Joanne personally introduced me to some of the theoretical physics found in this music. If you ever have the chance to interview her for the record, do so. She is an honest, deep and gifted communicator.
With your Harold Land post, you once again showed me how well you appreciate the amazing side roads of this music, even those out on the West Coast. Harold was a consistently creative and powerful musical presence in Los Angeles throughout his lifetime, and LA was fortunate to have him there. But your statement "...for whatever reason, he remained on the West Coast longer than he probably should have" needs clarification.
During an interview I did with Land in 1984, I asked him why he left the Roach-Brown Quintet to return to California. He told me he actually left before Clifford's deadly car accident in 1956 and why:
Harold Land: Well, I came back to San Diego before that tragic accident happened because my grandmother was dying in the hospital. So I had left the group in Chicago to come back. And then when she did pass, you know, my wife and son were here along with my mother.
Bob Rosenbaum: You married in San Diego.
HL: Yeah. Right. So I decided that I had better stay, because I had been gone for quite a while. That was pretty hard on me as well as everyone, because my grandmother was very close. And so I stayed and within a short period of time, you know, the accident happened. So that's how that went down.
BR: Something like that changes the whole course of events, really.
HL: Oh yeah.
BR: There must have been some other opportunities after that, where you had to decide whether you're going to stay around here or go somewhere else.
HL: Yeah, there were quite a few opportunities. But I felt that I should stay kind of close to my family after that happened.
BR: I guess, on the whole, looking at the result of Harold Land staying in Los Angeles, in this area, is that probably there's been a great deal more activity here than there might have been otherwise. I've been here long enough to see that the amount of activity here, at least in the last five or six years – probably the last 10 years or so – has been at a low really.
HL: You can say that again!
BR: That said, you've managed to maintain everything in terms of your own activity, and in terms of a group. It's not the easiest place to do that.
HL: You're right. [Laughs]
Seeing how close he was with his family, his affiliation with Buddhism, and his continuously fruitful work on the West Coast, I'd say that Harold was not really that interested in becoming a saxophone legend. He was much more interested in staying attuned to his own inner musical development, wherever that took him. From the same 1984 interview:
HL: Well, my feeling is to constantly be probing and trying to reach different levels of depth, you know. With each approach to a composition. Just trying to get a little more of yourself out through the framework of the composition that you're dealing with. I guess that's probably a worldwide concept with jazz musicians. And that's mine too.
I think he was quite successful at that, as your very thoughtful review also suggests.
Harold Land 2. I also heard from Kim Paris at FM Radio Archive...
Marc, I enjoyed your article about Harold Land. I had the opportunity to see him perform with Bobby Hutcherson and the Timeless All Stars in the mid-1980's in the San Francisco Bay Area. You and your readers may enjoy these three concerts with Harold Land and Bobby Hutcherson on FM Radio Archive. These were recorded in 1969, 1982 and 1989, so they cover a 20-year span of Land's musical career. Go here.
Birthday card. It's blurry, above, but a special thanks to Jeannine in the Netherlands for sending it along with best wishes for JazzWax's 14th anniversary.
Sari Schorr. Blues-rock vocalist Sari Schorr is on her way to Europe for a lengthy tour this fall and winter. Naturally, she's overjoyed, since fans there love her (as we do here). After so much time without live music, audiences are eager to feel that power and emotion again. For my European readers, Sari's tour schedule is here.
To read my interview with her, go here. [Photo above of Sari Schorr courtesy of Sari Schorr]
Here's Sari's newly released cover of Lead Belly's Where Did You Sleep Last Night?...
And here's Sari and The New Revolution, which went up in July of 2020...
CD you should know about.
Nelson Riddle—Centennial, Vol. 1: The Instrumentals (Allestone). The 100th anniversary of Nelson Riddle's birth was on June 1. To celebrate, a new two-album set is available as a digital download. Riddle divided his arranging time between pop-star albums (Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Linda Ronstadt, etc.), movies (El Dorado, Come Blow Your Horn, Paris When It Sizzles, etc.) TV variety shows (The Rosemary Clooney Show, The Nat King Cole Show, etc.) and easy listening. Much of this set features Riddle's easy listening and dance band instrumentals. But there are plenty of swingers here as well, such as C'est Manifique, Route 66 Theme, Naked City Theme, Theme From TV's Sam Benedict, Time Was and others. No matter the music, Riddle always a clean, textured and whimsical feel with fascinating instrumental combinations and elegance. This album delivers on all of it. Go here.
The Los Angeles Jazz Institute is hosting another West Coast concert-series extravaganza from October 29 to 31. The West Coast Big Band Showcase will be held at the Westin LAX (at the Los Angeles airport). If you go, you'll see and hear the Tom Kubis Big Band, the Carl Saunders Bebop Big Band, Sammy Nestico Gala Tribute Concert, Mike Barone Big Band, the Bill Holman Band and many others. Full registration includes reserved seats for all events. Seats are assigned in the order received so call now for the best seats. If you have any questions or would like to order tickets or make a donation, call 909-939-0777. For more information, go here.
Charles Earland radio. On Sunday, from 2 to 7 p.m., Sid Gribetz will host a five-hour radio tribute to organist Charles Earland on WKCR-FM's Jazz Profiles. You can listen from anywhere in the world by going here. [Photo above of Charles Earland]
Crime novelist jazz. Bestselling crime/mystery author Jon A. Jackson hosts a four-hour streaming jazz show from 8 to 12 p.m. (MT) each Tuesday night at kbga.org. To listen, go here.
Million-dollar band. Last week, I came across a nifty recording of One O'clock Jump by the 1941 Metronome All-Stars. The band was loaded with pros: Harry James, Ziggy Elman, Cootie Williams (tp), Tommy Dorsey, J.C. Higginbotham (tb), Benny Goodman (cl), Toots Mondello, Benny Carter (as), Coleman Hawkins, Tex Beneke (ts), Count Basie (p), Charlie Christian (g), Artie Bernstein (b) and Buddy Rich (d). Though Basie was along for the ride, it pales by comparison to the Basie's band's renditions. That's what made Basie special and impossible to imitate. Here's the 78...
