JazzWax

Bud Powell: 1962 Copenhagen

In 1959, pianist Bud Powell moved from New York to Paris. The exact reason for the relocation isn't clear, though the likely explanations include the ability to play more frequently in a city of fans who adored and appreciated him, a chance to boost his income, the ability to relax and seek medical help for his depression and diagnosed schizophrenia, avoiding violent encounters with the police over his odd behavior, and to escape the crush of American racism. By early 1962, Powell was in Copenhagen, Denmark, playing at the newly re-opened Jazzhus Montmartre. Throughout the year, Powell bounced around northern Europe on tour.

Denmark's Steeple Chase label recently issued 1962 Bud Powell, an album of previously unreleased recordings of Powell playing live in Copenhagen. Tracks 1 through 5 were recorded at Denmark Radio concert hall on March 25, 1962. Tracks 6 through 8 were recorded at Jazzhus Montmartre, also in March, and tracks 9 to 11 were recorded at Denmark Radio TV studio in August 1962, with tenor saxophonist Brew Moore on #9, tenor saxophonist Don Byas on #10 and the pair on #11. On all tracks, Powell was joined by Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass and Jørn Elniff on drums.

The songs on the album are Anthropology, Like Someone in Love, Straight No Chaser, 'Round About Midnight, 52nd Street Theme, Blues in the Closet, another Anthropology, a second 'Round About Midnight (with tenor saxophonists Brew Moore and Don Byas), Hackensack, I Remember Clifford and a third Anthropology.

While there are multiple versions of Anthropology and 'Round About Midnight, each is a fingerprint in its own right with different levels of intensity. The album's sound is good, giving listeners ample space to hear Powell clearly. And if there's an unseen presence here, it would be Thelonious Monk. Powell first met Monk in about 1942 and Monk soon became Powell's mentor. Monk's song, In Walked Bud, was written in 1947 in tribute to Powell. Some have said it was for Powell bravely trying to stop the police from arresting Monk during an after-hours raid at New York's Savoy Ballroom in 1945. It's unclear whether Powell was struck in the head with a police nightstick there or in custody, or at a Philadelphia train station. No matter, the blows are said to have been so severe that it wound up damaging his brain but sparing the creative side, and changing his life, health and career.

Throughout the new Powell album, you can hear him pay tribute to Monk on four songs, giving each just the right amount of jagged edge and keyboard pounce that were Monk hallmarks. What's also remarkable is how artists such as Parker, Monk and Powell gave their lives to the music, selflessly playing with every fiber left in their being as their health and quality of life deteriorated. Despite suffering from mental illness and self-medicating with alcohol, Powell remained a singular talent up until his death in 1966.

JazzWax tracks: Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell pictured above. You'll find Bud Powell: 1962 Copenhagen (Steeple Chase) here.

JazzWax clip: Here's 'Round About Midnight...

Here's Straight No Chaser...

And here's the Bud Powell Trio in Copenhagen in 1962...

Three West Coast Jazz Videos

Last week, Bill Kirchner in New York and Danilo Morandi in Switzerland sent along a few superb videos. Bill sent along a link to the Dave Slonaker Big Band recording their Intrada album (Origin Records) at Capitol Studios' Studio A in Hollywood in 2012.

Here's Dave Slonaker's composition and arrangement of Remembering, featuring Wayne Bergeron, Dan Fornero, Rick Baptist, Clay Jenkins and Ron Stout (trumpets); .Bob Sheppard, Brian Scanlon, Rob Lockart, Tom Luer and Adam Schroeder (woodwinds); Alex Iles, Bob McChesney, Charlie Morillas and Bill Reichenbach (trombones); Ed Czach (piano); Edwin Livingston (bass); and Peter Erskine (drums). Solos are by Alex Iles (tb) and Ron Stout (tp)...

Danilo sent along two videos of legendary vibraphonist Terry Gibbs in 2016 and 1017 (at 91 and 92). Here's Terry in '91 with John Campbell (p), Mike Gurrola (b) and Gerry Gibbs (d) jamming on Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea...

And here's Terry in 2017 at home jamming...

Alyssa, Ivan and Rick

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed comedian-actor Alyssa Limperis for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Alyssa is perhaps best known for her series of "mom videos" on YouTube, in which she impersonates her Rhode Island mother. They're hysterical. That series led her to a starring role in Too Late, a quirky sci-fi comedy film. [Photo above of Alyssa Limperis courtesy of Alyssa Limperis]

Here's Mom Helped Me Move...

Here's the Too Late trailer...

Rosa Passos. Following my post on Brazilian singer Rosa Passos, Nick Carver sent along the following:

Marc, five years ago my wife and I were in Rio. We went to Ipanema Beach and stopped at a nearby record store (above). We talked with the owner and his wife. They even danced for us. I asked him what he would recommend we buy. He said "Amarosa" by Rosa Passos.

Charlie Watts. Following my post on the passing of the Rolling Stones' drummer, John A. Bargh, a professor of management at Yale, sent along the following [photo above of Paul Klee]:

Dear Marc, I loved today's JazzWax post on Charlie Watts. Your mention of Watts' graphic art background, circa 1960, reminded me of something I just read about Paul Klee, who taught in the Bauhaus for many years but actually started there as their bookbinder. He, in turn, was influenced by music, kind of the obverse of Watts. Here is a link to the material on Klee and I've also copied the main text below, for your interest:

"Paul Klee was an artist and teacher at the Bauhaus for most of that famed school’s existence. Initially head of the bookbinding department, Klee made his greatest contribution as a lecturer on the theory of form in art for the basic design course. There, he developed his ideas about the “polyphony” of painting—the simultaneous effect of formal elements that produces “a transformed beholder of art.

"Klee was also a trained musician and shared with many artists of the early twentieth century the idea that music was the key to producing a new, abstract art. He was interested in the temporal character of music and its possible translation into forms of art. Works like Sunset reflect the principles of rhythm: linear structures, forms, and tonal values are orchestrated into a measured, vibrating image. To produce such a harmonious effect, Klee layered an intricate pattern of dots over a neutral background.

"Abstract, geometric, and overlapping shapes balance with recognizable forms, such as the schematic face in the upper left and the red sun and arrow in the lower right. The resulting composition—balancing stillness and movement, shallowness and depth—relates to Klee’s larger project of looking to music to produce an art that “does not reproduce the visible, but makes visible.”

Music break #1. Singer Louise Alexandra in Holland sent along the following after reading my John McLaughlin interview for the WSJ:

With a high school boyfriend bass player whose hero was Jaco Pastorius, I listened to all the jazzrock/fusion'ers—Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucia, Weather Report, Stanley Clark and George Duke, Steps Ahead, etc. I tried to capture that feel in my song "Lately," with Oscar Stagnaro on bass and Claudio Ragazzi on guitar. The album was co-produced by Rebecca Parris, who sang backing vocals. Here's Lately...

Artt Frank. I last posted on drummer Artt Frank in November 2020. Artt knew trumpeter-singer Chet Baker well and played and recorded with him. Last year, Artt released the first volume of his memoir, entitled Chet Baker: Always Looking for the Light (here). Now he has released Part 2. It's a tender, honest telling with a breezy writing style that feels spoken. Lots of tidbits on Baker: "That was another thing about Chet. No matter where he was, he'd have a television set, and it was always on, 24 hours a day." Must reading for Chet Baker fans. You'll find Part 2 of Artt's memoir here.

9/11 film. My friend Ivan Acosta, a writer and director, who during our many dinners and nights out in the 1990s taught me everything I know about Cuban music and salsa, has released Behind My Eyes. For his documentary on the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, he used film he took that day. Ivan was happy to let me share a link with you. [Photo above of the World Trade Center by Carol M. Highsmith courtesy of the Library of Congress]

Go here...

Music break #2. Here's another gem from pianist Dave Thompson, who sent along Waltz for Debby from his studio...

Bird-Prez radio. WKCR-FM in New York will be hosting its annual Charlie Parker/Lester Young Birthday Broadcast from August 27 to 29. The 72-hour marathon (ET) starts with Young on August 27, a mix of Young and Parker on August 28 and Parker on August 29. This show always provides invaluable education on two of the most important artists in jazz history. Tune in from anywhere in the world by going here.

And finally, from Rick Weinberg, editor-in-chief of California Business Journal, this fabulous clip of David Bowie singing 1984 on The Dick Cavett Show in 1974, with David Sanborn on alto sax....

I'll add two more. Here's Starman from Top of the Pops in 1972...

And here's Life on Mars...

Rosa Passos: The Bossa Whisperer

If João Gilberto is the male bossa-nova whisperer, Rosa Passos is certainly his female peer. Unfortunately, there is way too little biographical material about her online other than she was born in 1952 in the Brazilian state of Bahia, and that at 13, she was inspired to give up the piano for the guitar and a singing career after hearing Gilberto and the music of Dorival Caymmi. Still active today, Passos has recorded with jazz artists such as Kenny Barron and Ron Carter, and she has performed in the U.S. multiple times. If you're out there, Rosa, please email me at [email protected]. [Photo above of Rosa Passos]

Passos began recording in 1978, but many of her albums are out of print or sell her at import prices. To give you a feel for her soft, beautiful, conversational style, here are a few of my favorite Rosa Passos albums up at YouTube. Listen and relax, it's Friday:

Here's the astonishing Festa, from 1993...

Here's Pano pra Manga (1996), with Chico Buarque on the third track and Ivan Lins on the seventh...

Here's O Melhor de Rosa Passos (1997), a "best of" compilation...

And here's Eu e Meu Coração (2001)...

Bonus clips: Here's a mini doc on Passos recording with Henri Salvador...

Here's Passos earlier this year with Rafael Barata...

And here's Passos at the Berklee College of Music in 2017...

For more female Brazilian vocal legends, here are links to my other posts on singers in my ongoing series: Sylvia Telles, Beth Carvalho, Nara Leão, Eliana Pittman, Elis Regina, Ana Mazzotti, Maria Creuza. Elizete Cardoso and Astrud Gilberto.

A special thanks to Irving Greines.

Charlie Watts (1941-2021)

In most photos of the Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts, who died this week at 80, looked like the band's accountant. Unlike Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman, Watts didn't seem to fit in nor did it appear he wanted to. And in many ways he didn't. Watts, at the tail end of the 1950s, was on his way to a jazz drumming career, or so he hoped. But that sort of life was clearly going to be a big gamble, since it didn't take long to realize that jazz was drying up around him. The 1950s were ending fast.

In all fairness to Watts, most of us start out heading someplace because we want to and wind up someplace else because we had to. That was Watts. Like many young serious British jazz drummers of this period, Watts fell under the spell of English players like Phil Seaman, Tony Crombie, Lennie Hastings, Kenny Clare and Jackie Dougan. They lived hard lives touring and playing smoke-filled clubs for less money than they should have received. But they loved the fraternity and camaraderie of jazz, the taut intensity of polyrhythmic playing, and the mandatory risks that made jazz drumming special and rewarding. If you managed to break into that scene, you were indeed exceptional and cool.

In the late 1950s, while in art school, Watts played in jazz combos in Middlesex, England, with an eye on London. But in 1961, Alexis Korner approached him to join his Blues Incorporated band. Watts was heading to Denmark for a graphic design gig and took a rain check. When he returned to England at the start of 1962, he joined the band but kept his advertising agency day job. He still wasn't sure what he wanted to do.

Operating in an R&B orbit and playing in blues clubs, it was only time before Watts would meet Brian Jones, Ian Stewart, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in mid-1962. Blues fanatics, they wanted Watts in their new group, the Rollin' Stones. According to Keith, they turned to shoplifting to help pay Watts what he wanted to sit in at the start of '63. A month later, Watts became the band's official drummer, recommending Ginger Baker to Korner as his replacement.

Watts likely imagined at the time that his bit with the Stones was a pit stop, a way to make some money before moving on to a jazz group. Blues wasn't jazz, but it was a lucrative cousin. Before Watts could reconsider, the Stones' fame and fortune took off following the success of the Beatles and the Dave Clark 5 in the U.S. in 1964. That's when Watts probably heard the heavy metal trap door slam shut. He was stuck.

For more than 50 years, Watts made a fortune touring with the Stones but found himself playing many of the same hits over and over again in concert. It was a Faustian bargain for the drummer who loved Charlie Parker. While Watts would be photographed smiling from time to time, his face was typically as still and emotionless as an Alpine lake, the regret in his eyes impossible to hide. The Stones was a job for Watts, something he settled for artistically, and he made the most of it, giving the band a sassy feel.

In exchange, Watts never became a true jazz player, he never became a significant graphic artist and he seemed to have no idea how he wound up drumming for the world's greatest rock band. But once you're in and the rocket takes off, your entire life grows accustomed to the checks, the luxury and the attention. It's a different kind of cool measured in things like suits and homes rather than self-satisfaction and admiration of peers.

Watts in public seemed to live an internal, what-if life. He always appeared to be wondering what might have been had he been determined to give jazz a go, if he had been accepted in jazz circles and made the financial sacrifice. He might have starved, but at least he'd be in his element. Perhaps then he might have been pleased with himself.

Over the years, Watts bankrolled a string of jazz groups to briefly re-live the chills of playing brushes or bop. And for a short time in between Stones tours, while his jazz combos and big band played, Watts was transported back to that crossroads in 1963. But deep down, he had to have known that the jazz groups he assembled were rides in his own amusement park. As good as the experience was, he quietly must have yearned for the improvisational challenges of playing with the heavy cats he respected. After all, what could possibly be more rewarding than one or more of these guys looking over at him after a set with a smile that said job well done.

For Watts, that was the dream that got away. Images of Stan Levey, Max Roach, Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Don Lamond and Roy Haynes danced in his head. Rather than spring into Jordu or Along Came Betty, he'd continue to play Jumpin' Jack Flash and Brown Sugar night after night on tour, perched Sphinx-like at his jazz drum kit imagining he was keeping time behind his heroes at Ronnie Scott's or the Village Vanguard and rising to the occasion.

For me, Watts always looked the way a saloon song sounds: Sullen and riddled with regret. No different than the way many people feel when what they wanted to do becomes what they have to do. A terrific rock drummer with a jazz veneer, Watts just wasn't very good at hiding his disappointment. He had married the wrong career.

JazzWax clips: Here's Charlie Watts on The Dennis Miller Show in 1992 with his quintet. This clip more than any other illustrates Watts in his true element, experiencing the pleasure of a dream...

And here's a video documentary sent over by Fred Augerman on when Charlie Watts met jazz drummer Stan Levey...

5 Videos: Dave Brubeck Quartet

After my post on Alan Broadbent's new album, Broadbent Plays Brubeck, I spent a chunk of time yesterday listening to the Dave Brubeck Quartet. I also slid onto YouTube for a bit. Here's what came up in my net:

Here's the Dave Brubeck Quartet playing Lover on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1955...

Here's the Dave Brubeck Quartet playing I'm In a Dancing Mood on Ed Sullivan in 1960...

Here's the Dave Brubeck Quartet at the Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival in Antibes, France, on July 22, 1967 playing One Moment Worth Years ...

Here's the Dave Brubeck Quartet on August 17, 1958, playing my favorite piece, Nomad, shortly after recording the song for Jazz Impressions of Eurasia. This clip is from the French Lick Jazz Festival in French Lick, Indiana...

And here's a half hour of the Dave Brubeck Quartet live in Brussels, Belgium, on October 10, 1964...

Alan Broadbent Plays Dave Brubeck

A tribute album to Dave Brubeck isn't about emulating Dave. It also isn't about interpretation. To hit the bull's eye, you have to capture Dave's spirit—his broad smile, his post-war optimism and his sunny, sophisticated feel, which is purely emotional. Either you get it or you don't. Having spent an afternoon on assignment with Dave in 2010 watching the creek that rushed past his home and into a lake, I totally get that spirit. So does pianist-arranger Alan Broadbent. [Photo above of Alan Broadbent at Abbey Road Studios]

Released today is Broadbent Plays Brubeck (Eden River). It features Alan at the piano with bassist Harvie S and drummer Hans Dekker backed by the London Metropolitan String Orchestra. Alan wrote the arrangements and conducted. For the album, Alan chose 11 songs. Ten are by Dave and one—Theme for June—is by Howard Brubeck, Dave's older brother. The 10 songs by Dave are The Duke, One Moment Worth Years, Bossa Nova USA, Summer Song, Blue Rondo a la Turk, Strange Meadowlark, In Your Own Sweet Way, Weep No More, When I Was Young and Home at Last. I would have loved if Alan had included Nomad, my favorite, but that's a quibble.

Alan's playing is fluid and breezy, playing all of the material at just the right tempo and with just the right feel. The Duke, for example, is often played solely with swing when in fact it should have a slight lurch. When he wrote the song, Dave heard the melody while listening to the loud, metronome-like quality of the windshield wipers on his Kaiser Vagabond driving his kids to school. Alan gets The Duke just right. The same goes for Strange Meadowlark's meandering groove and In Your Own Sweet Way's fragile innocence. [Photo above of Dave Brubeck]

Theme for June was new to me. The classical-jazz piece was originally part of a larger work called Dialogues for Jazz Combo & Orchestra, first played by the Dave Brubeck Quartet with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in 1960 and released a year later on Bernstein Plays Brubeck Plays Bernstein. [Photo above and below of Alan Broadbent and the London Metropolitan Strings]

Alan's first musical exposure to Brubeck came in 1961 when he was 14. Alan came across Howard Brubeck’s transcriptions of the music Dave Brubeck played on Brubeck Plays Brubeck in two volumes at a music store in his native Auckland, New Zealand. By then, Alan had already heard the Dave Brubeck Quartet's Take Five on the radio but had no idea how the songs he was holding were supposed to be played. Alan didn't have Brubeck Plays Brubeck (1956) and wouldn't have found it in his remote town. A good sight reader even then, Alan began to play the pieces as written.

Broadbent Plays Brubeck is a breezy joy and a marvelous introduction to the Dave Brubeck Quartet, if you're unfamiliar. I'll be re-listening to Dave's music all day today as a result of Alan's album. Most fascinating is how Alan arranged the orchestra so his piano would nest neatly in the strings when overdubbing the trio. The strings aren't so much a backgrounder as another instrument the trio converses with on these songs. The interchanges are wonderful.

I know Alan captured Dave's spirit because I grew dewy-eyed while listening to the album yesterday. It took me back to my Wilton, Ct., visit as I traced the lines on Dave's sun-drenched face with my eyes as he watched that lake with intensity and love. You'll feel his spirit, too, listening to Alan Broadbent's new album. [Photo above, from left, Howard Brubeck, Leonard Bernstein and Dave Brubeck]

Dave Brubeck died in 2012; Howard Brubeck died in 1993.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Broadbent Plays Brubeck (Eden River) here. A CD and vinyl are coming shortly to the American market.

JazzWax clips: Here's The Duke...

The Duke

And here's Bossa Nova U.S.A....

Bossa Nova USA

Joe Alterman: The Upside of Down

Yesterday, I spent my hours writing and riding out Hurricane Henri while listening to Joe Alterman's new album, The Upside of Down (Ropeadope). Joe not only is a gifted jazz pianist but also is a rarity in jazz—someone who believes he has something to gain from the history of the jazz piano. He also is immensely likeable. His upbeat disposition serves him well, since he has befriended many of his jazz heroes and learned quite a bit from them. It shows in the music featured on his new live recording. Joe has reached a new maturity as an artist and the results are quite exciting, as you'll hear at the bottom of this post.

I've known Joe for years, all the way back to 2013, when the late and esteemed jazz writer and critic Nat Hentoff and I used to talk about him over the phone. Nat heard what I heard and was astonished. A young pianist still in college was doing the unthinkable: continuing the tradition of jazz's living wisemen. That year, when Nat wrote about Joe in The Wall Street Journal (here), he quoted me on what makes Joe special. 

For his new album, recorded live at Birdland in 2019 and 2020, Joe was joined by Nathaniel Schroeder on bass and Marlon Patton on drums. The liner notes were written by Les McCann, Ramsey Lewis and Ahmad Jamal. Not a bad trio to have in your corner and artists who don't do favors unless they mean it.

Here's McCann on Joe:

I first met Joe at the Blue Note nine years ago, but it feels like I’ve known him forever. From the moment we met I knew that I had met someone very special. And then to hear him play…WOW! It was mind-blowing. I said, “Damn! What a great pianist. Damn!” It reminded me quite a bit of
my beginning in the business. The joy that I feel in who he is reminds me of myself and how I grew: always having fun, always learning and always evolving.

Here's Ramsey on Joe:

Joe Alterman is a breath of fresh air on the music scene. I love hearing him play! It’s happy music with tasty meat on the bones! He covers all the bases creatively, rhythmically and harmonically, and his playing is destined to reach a wide, wide audience. I've known Joe for the best of ten years and I deeply appreciate our friendship.

And here's Ahmad on Joe:

I have had the pleasure of listening to Joe Alterman’s latest, recorded at Birdland, February 2020. One of Mr. Alterman's gifts is listening to and drawing from the past Masters of this Art Form that has contributed immensely to the present world of music.

Yesterday, I must have listened to Joe's album seven or eight times. Each listen was a joy. Joe plays with a commanding ease but the style is flavored by the elegance of Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, Red Garland, Ramsey Lewis, Les McCann, Erroll Garner and others. Joe hasn't lifted their licks or approaches. He simply has soaked his ears in their sound, and their swing and respect for space has rubbed off on his own style.

What the three artists above recognize is that Joe can play, that his heart is part of his art and that he hears value in their approach and wants to know as much as possible. It has always astonished me that so many young jazz pianists today lack the curiosity to engage jazz legends and explore their jazz treasure. While I understand that all artists like to go their own way and feel their way along. And they should do just that. But every great jazz musician has spent time studying and playing with the masters of their day. It's how jazz has been handed down for decades. Joe is one of the few who has done just that, speaking with them at length and seeking their creative insights and advice.   

As you listen to Joe's new album, you will hear the feel of these legendary artists coming through Joe's fingers. Joe always had the talent. What makes him exceptional is that he had the good sense to tap into sterling resources and the courage to ask them questions about their playing. The price of admission? Kindness, communication and skill. Sounds simple, but Joe is one of the few who made the effort. And it shows.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Joe Alterman's The Upside of Down (Ropeadope) here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Steve Allen's Pretty Eyes, Pretty Smile...

Here's Jule Styne and Bob Merrill's Funny Girl...

And here's Joe's own The Last Time I Saw You...

Holland, Howard and Tony

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...

Doc: Legends of Jazz Drumming

Last week, Bruce Klauber sent along links to Legends of Jazz Drumming, a two-part documentary he co-produced and wrote in the mid-1990s. Bruce and his partners were able to get Louie Bellson (above), Jack DeJohnette and Roy Haynes to contribute as narrators. Part 1 covers 1920 to 1950; Part 2 covers 1940 to 1970:

Here's Part 1...

Here's Part 2...