In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actress Holland Taylor for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (here). Holland co-stars in the new Netflix miniseries, The Chair. The six-episode dramedy is about the ups and downs of the chair of an English department at a major university. Holland plays Joan Hambling, a witty, no-nonsense professor. [Photo above of Holland Taylor in The Chair courtesy of Netflix]
Here's a trailer for The Chair...
Here's Holland in Legally Blonde...
And here's Holland with Patti LuPone in the series Hollywood...
Also in the WSJ, I wrote about the history of the laugh track, which turns 75 this year, for the Weekend Review section (go here). Bing Crosby played a major role in taped laughter's development. Now canned laughter is making a comeback as a co-star in two cutting-edge sitcoms and why late-night comic hosts passed on the device during the pandemic and why they might rethink that decision if we see a rerun of last year's lockdown. [Photo above of Charlie Douglass, inventor of the "laff box"]
Here's Carroll Pratt, the wizard of canned laughs, in the 1980s...
Louise Alexandra, a vocalist I last wrote about here, sent along a link of her singing Once Upon a Summertime/La Valse des Lilas. She was participating in the Sunday Vocal Jazz Jam series hosted by Jocelyn Medina on Zoom. Go here...
Diana Panton. Diana's final live studio concert was posted last week featuring songs requested by fans, including a wonderful version of (They Long to Be) Close to You. Go here...
Dave Thompson, who plays in the style of Bill Evans, sent along a clip of Dave playing But Beautiful in his home studio. As you'll hear, Dave's playing is so beautiful. Go here...
John McLaughlin. Following my WSJ "House Call" column interview with guitarist and fusion pioneer John McLaughlin, I received the following from Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive:
Marc, thanks for your WSJ "House Call" column on John McLaughlin's childhood in England. You and your readers may enjoy a concert I just posted of John & The Free Spirits on FM Radio Archive. This set from the 1993 Umea International Jazz Festival in Umea, Sweden, was broadcast on Severiges 2 FM, and featured McLaughlin backed by Joey DeFrancesco on organ and Dennis Chambers on drums. Go here.
Movies Til Dawn podcast, hosted by director Raymond De Felitta, features an interview with Mike Medavoy—producer, founder of Orion Pictures, former chairman of TriStar Pictures, former production head at United Artists and current chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures. Listen here (scroll to bottom). If you're an Apple Podcast user, go here. [Photo above of Mike Medavoy courtesy of IMDB]
Catch Russ Kassoff. The pianist hosts a Saturday online jazz radio show (from 10 am until noon, ET) on WFDU HD2 in New York. Shows are archived for two weeks. Listen from anywhere in the world by going here.
Howard McGhee radio. Sid Gribetz this Sunday will host a five-hour “Jazz Profiles” broadcast on trumpeter Howard McGhee from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET) on WKCR-FM in New York. Listen from anywhere in the world by going here.
And finally, here's Tony Bennett on TV's Playboy After Dark in 1969 singing Gene Lees and Armando Manzanero's Yesterday I Heard the Rain and the standard There Will Never Be Another You, with John Bunch at the piano...
