In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed celebrity chef and actress Valerie Bertinelli for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Interestingly, Valerie was painfully shy when little—until she met a classmate in school who was in TV ads. Then she figured that if she was in ads, too, she'd be more popular. The rest fell into place quickly, including TV sitcoms One Day At a Time and Hot in Cleveland, as well as her Emmy-winning show, Valerie's Home Cooking. [Photo above of Valerie Bertinelli, courtesy of IMDB]
Here's a reel of Valerie on different talk shows. Her years in sitcoms pay off as she gives as good as she gets, especially with Craig Ferguson...
Last week's photos. If you purchased my books around the world, send a photo and I'll post over the weekend. Here's the latest group...
In Stockholm, above, Guy Jones received his copy of my new book and immediately sat down to read it in between ski trips with the kids.
In Utrecht, the Netherlands, above, bassist Hans Mantel stopped playing his upright for a moment to show the love with a thumbs up. Writes Louise Alexandra: "While we were chatting about jazz, I mentioned you, and Hans took out your book, showering it with praise."
And I'm also in good company, above, at Dan Podkulski's house in Houston.
Love to Guy, Hans, Louise and Dan. You can join the club here, here and here.
Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Last week, following my post that included trombonist Ira Nepus, I received the following from Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive:
Marc, thanks for sharing the Basin Street Blues clip from Ira Nepus of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (CHJO). JazzWax readers will enjoy this CHJO performance from the 1991 Monterey Jazz Festival, broadcast on KJAZ shared by Mark Rabin. You'll find it here.
CD you should know about:
Nick Hempton—Slick (Triple Distilled). Whatever you're doing this weekend, grab this album and let it play. Newly released, Slick features Nick on saxophones, Peter Bernstein on guitar, Kyle Koehler on Hammond B3 organ and Fukushi Tainaka on drums. Six of the 10 tracks are by Nick, and the quartet smokes all the way through. Prime inspirations are records by Stanley Turrentine, Lou Donaldson and Jimmy Smith. This quartet bounces on the blues, and Nick and Kyle's interplay on reeds and organ and the exchanges by Peter and Fukushi are terrific. Go here.
Here's Upstairs Eddy...
In New York next week? Pianist Joe Alterman will be playing at New York's Birdland for five days next week (January 18-22)—his first week-long run at the club. He'll be with his trio—bassist Nathaniel Schroeder and drummer Marlon Patton—and a special guest, tenor saxophonist Houston Person. Two shows nightly at Birdland. For more information, go here and choose your date, time and tickets.
Joe's latest album is The Upside of Down: Live at Birdland. Here's Joe playing the title track...
Dick Van Dyke Show doc. Last week, David Van Deusen, editor and publisher of The Walnut Times, the Dick Van Dyke Show newsletter, sent me an email. Last year he completed an authorized, feature-length documentary to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the TV sitcom (1961-1966). The film includes both archival and new interviews with those who were there. By the way, the set you see David standing in at the start of the film was created on his computer in 3D and placed behind him. Of course, it's a perfect recreation of the writer's room on the iconic show.
You can watch the documentary for free here...
To read my WSJ "House Call" interviews with Dick Van Dyke and the late Rose Marie, go here and here. For more on the 3D set David created, go here.
And finally, here's Lee Morgan in London playing Lament for Stacy, with John Gilmore (ts), John Hicks (p), Victor Sproles (b) and Art Blakey (d)...
