In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Scottish actor Brian Cox for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Brian plays Logan Roy in the HBO series Succession and has been in more than 100 films, winning an Emmy for his portrayal of Hermann Goering in the miniseries Nuremberg (2000). Brian has a new memoir out, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat. [Photo above of Brian Cox, in HBO's Succession, by Peter Kramer, courtesy of HBO]
Here's Brian in action...
Free jazz documentary this weekend. Filmmaker Tom Shaker sent along an email last week to let me know that his new documentary, Do It Man: The Story of The Celebrity Club, will be available to stream for free this weekend, from Saturday morning to Sunday evening. It's the story of New England's first integrated nightclub, in Providence, R.I. Founded by Paul Filippi, an Italian-American with a passion for jazz, the club operated from 1949 to 1960 and featured all the big jazz and R&B acts.
You can watch for free all weekend by going here.
Here's the trailer...
Worthy read. Helene sent along a terrific 2002 article from The Atlantic magazine entitled How to Want Less: The secret to satisfaction has nothing to do with achievement, money, or stuff. Go here.
Gene Krupa. Anyone who knows drummer Brooks Tegler knows that his passion is drummer Gene Krupa. So much so that Brooks recently published GK: The Tools That Built the Gene Krupa Legend. According to Brooks, it covers Gene's equipment from the late '20's to his passing in '73. It's 328 pages stuffed with 1,800 images and lots of data. If you want a copy, it sells for $16 as an e-book here. Or if you want the book, it's $45 here.
Brian Torff. Last week, I heard from Bob Miller:
Hi Marc: A great many years ago, I had the privilege of sitting through two sets at the old Montreal Bistro in Toronto to hear George Shearing and a very young bassist named Brian Torff. As much as Shearing was his usual impeccable and incredible self, I was totally taken by the work of Mr. Torff. Given it was a duo, Mr. Torff was featured frequently, and the level of his bass playing was superb. Nobody enjoyed his playing more than Shearing, who had a massive smile on his face the entire night. I immediately went to Sam the Record Man and bought a couple of Shearing LPs that featured Mr. Torff. I hadn’t heard Brian Torff's name for years, until your recent posting.
Here's a clip of George Shearing and Brian Torff in action...
Howard Grimes radio. In tribute to R&B drummer Howard Grimes, who died on February 12 at age 80, Chris Cowles, host of Greasy Tracks on WRTC-FM in Hartford, Ct., recently hosted a two-hour show on Grimes's recordings. Grimes was best known for his work at Royal Studios in Memphis as part of the Hi Rhythm Section, a group of session musicians who backed Al Green and many other artists recording for Hi Records. [Photo above of Howard Grimes, left, unknown woman, and Al Green]
Included on Chris's show are interviews with members of the Hi Rhythm Section, including keyboardist Rev. Charles Hodges and bassist Leroy Hodges; drummer Gene Chrisman, a contemporary of Grimes’ who was part of the crack studio band known as “The Memphis Boys” at American Sound Studio; Grammy Award-winning author/documentarian Robert Gordon; drummer Danny Banks, a Grimes protégé; and trumpet player Marc Franklin who played with Grimes in the Bo-Keys. To listen, go here.
Peter Bogdanovich. Director Raymond De Felitta hosts the Movies Til Dawn podcast. He recently uploaded his interview with the late film director Peter Bogdanovich. The two were long-time friends, so this interview sounds much warmer and revealing than most with Peter. Go here.
Larry Coryell and Ralph Towner. Kim Paris, of the FM Radio Archive, sent along the following [photo above of Ralph Towner]:
Hi Marc, thanks for your JazzWax article on Larry Coryell and Ralph Towner's first videos, as members of The Individuals in the '60s. You and your readers may enjoy the concert broadcast recordings on FM Radio Archive featuring Larry Coryell and Ralph Towner.
To listen to Larry Coryell & the 11th House, with Randy Brecker, at the Boston's Jazz Workshop in 1973, broadcast on WBCN-FM in Boston, go here.
To listen to Ralph Towner playing a concert with the band Oregon in Cologne, Germany, in 1974 broadcast the radio in Germany, go here.
Fishink, a U.K. design blog, this week looks at the art of Samiro Yunoki, who recently turned 100. Go here.
And finally, two by June. Last week, I stumbled across these two recordings by June Christy that I didn't even know she covered [photo above of June Christy, with husband and saxophonist Bob Cooper in the background by William P. Gottlieb]:
Here's I Know Why (and So Do You). The song was from Sun Valley Serenade (1941), one of two films made by Glenn Miller. Love those final, Christy flatted notes...
Here's the movie version, with actress Lynn Bari as the vocalist and actor John Payne as the pianist, along with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Her lip-synced vocal was overdubbed by Pat Friday...
And here's Christy singing What Do I Have That I Don't Have in 1965, a song with lyrics comprised almost entirely of questions...
A year later, in 1966, Edyie Gorme crushed it as a single and on her album Don't Go to Strangers. Here she is on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968...
