In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actress Maura Tierney for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Maura, of Primary Colors and Insomnia fame, is currently co-starring in the intriguing Showtime series American Rust. She plays Grace Poe, a seamstress in a rural, dilapidated Pennsylvania town in the 2000s where the American dream has been crushed. Maura was extremely shy as a girl until the day a nun in her Boston all-girls Catholic junior-high school pulled her out of class. The nun asked Maura if she'd represent the school in a poetry-reading contest. She did and from then on, she knew what she wanted to do with her life. [Photo above of Maura Tierney and Jeff Daniels in American Rust, courtesy of Showtime]
Here's a roundup of Maura's scenes in Primary Colors...
And here's the American Rust trailer...
Swell review! Publisher's Weekly, the major book-industry trade publication and traditionally the first with trend-setting book reviews, last week featured Rock Concert, my new book from Grove Press due out on November 9. Here's the review in full...
Myers (Anatomy of a Song), a music writer for the Wall Street Journal, surveys in this engrossing oral history five decades of rock concerts, and the “songwriters, producers, disc jockeys, managers, promoters, and artists [that] sided with the youth culture as it struggled to be heard.” Starting with the emergence of R&B in the late 1940s and ending with 1985’s Live Aid benefit, he vividly recreates what went on behind the scenes, onstage, and in the crowds with intimate accounts from the people who were there. Joan Baez recounts what it was like to perform at the 1963 March on Washington and to lead the crowd in singing “We Shall Overcome”; Bob Eubanks describes how—despite being a disk jockey who’d never produced a concert before—he scrambled to secure the funding to make the Beatles’ legendary Hollywood Bowl performance happen; and Alice Cooper recalls relocating his band from California to the Midwest, where his “lurid and despicable” reputation resonated with Rust Belt kids. Myers also offers a thoughtful overview of the considerable ways in which the rock landscape has shifted since Live Aid, due to the popularity of streaming services and scandals recently brought to light on social media in response to “past or present me-too events.” Eminently entertaining, this is sure to delight rock fans of all persuasions. Agent: Glen Hartley, Writers’ Representatives. (Nov. 9)
Pre-order Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There, by going here.
George Wein. Last week, I heard from Rebecca Reitz on the late George Wein:
Marc, I enjoyed reading your entry about George Wein at JazzWax. My mother, Rosetta Reitz, a champion of female jazz and blues artists and an entrepreneur who started her own record label (Rosetta Records), produced several concerts for Mr. Wein and the Newport Jazz Festival. He supported her idea to celebrate women who sang the blues and proved it by putting on these showcases. See the photo above of Rosetta with performers of the "Blues Is a Woman" concert at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1980 at Avery Fisher Hall.
In the photo above, standing, from left to right: Koko Taylor, Linda Hopkins, George Wein, Rosetta Reitz, Adelaide Hall, Little Brother Montgomery, Big Mama Thornton and Beulah Bryant; seated, left to right: Sharon Freeman, Sippie Wallace and Nell Carter; photograph by by Barbara Barefield.
I remember George stopped by to listen to Dick Hyman leading old pros like Vic Dickenson, Buddy Tate, Doc Cheatham, Kenny Davern and Panama Francis. They backed the female singers. And although the festival included acts that covered a vast array of jazz genres, it seemed that this swinging music was where his heart truly was.
Renee Rosnes. Last week, pianist Dave Thompson sent along a clip pf Renee in 1989 with bassist Ira Coleman and drummer Billy Drummond. Go here...
CDs you should know about:
Staci Griesbach—My George Jones Songbook. To celebrate the 90th anniversary of the late George Jones's birth, Staci has released a compelling album of the country singer's songs with a jazz twist. This isn't Staci's first rodeo. Staci has been working through country-artist catalogs for her recent series of albums and giving important songs a fresh perspective with her hip, warm voice. Among the highlights: The Grand Tour, He Stopped Loving Her Today, A Good Year for the Roses and He Thinks I Still Care. A savvy Los Angeles take on Nashville's countrypolitan standards. Go here.
Here's The Grand Tour...
Poupie—Enfant Roi (Capitol). Poupie de Moncuit, who goes by Poupie on stage, is a French singer discovered in 2018 on Factor X Spain, a sing-off competition show, when she wowed the judges. On her first full-length album out on Friday, the singer shakes a cocktail of Jamaican-Latin fusion, rap and French chanson. The pour-out is atmospheric and sensual, with much of the material written by Poupie and sung in French. Contemporary dance music without the slamming thump found in so much of today's chart-topping fare. Textured, bright and light as a dawning Parisian mist. Go here.
Here's Dollars...
And here's the multilingual Poupie on the French version of The Voice in 2019...
Lee Santa sent along a link to his many jazz images. His photo of Ornette Coleman is above. Go here.
Cedar Walton radio. This Sunday, Sid Gribetz will present a five-hour radio broadcast celebrating pianist Cedar Walton on “Jazz Profiles,” from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET), on WKCR-FM in New York. To listen from anywhere in the world, go here.
And finally, in tribute to John Coltrane's birthday last week (September 23), here's an extraordinary colorized video of the saxophonist in Dusseldorf, Germany, on March 28, 1960. He's backed by pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Then Stan Getz appears during Autumn Leaves, playing Moonlight in Vermont. They play together on Thelonious Monk's Hackensack, with Oscar Peterson on piano. Coltrane wins this one hands down.
Here are the notes from the uploaded video at YouTube:
In the first set, John Coltrane was unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight when Miles Davis was unable play that day. It’s basically a performance of the Miles Davis Quintet without Davis. The film was made during a European tour billed as “Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic Presents Jazz Winners of 1960.” Two of the other “Jazz Winners” were Stan Getz and Oscar Peterson, both of whom join Coltrane and the band near the end of the Dusseldorf set. Getz plays on the last few songs. It’s a historic session—the only known recording of the two great saxophone players performing together. At the beginning of the final song, Peterson taps Kelly on the shoulder and takes over on piano. (Mark Springer/Openculture)
Here's the video...
