In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actress Christine Baranski for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). She talked about growing up in a Polish-American community outside Buffalo, N.Y., and rooming with her grandmother until she was 8. Her Nana was one of her biggest early influences, since her grandmother had been an actress in local Polish theater. Christine is now in the popular HBO series The Gilded Age. [Photo above of Christine Baranski courtesy of the Television Academy]
Here's the Gilded Age trailer...
Also in the WSJ, my essay on the 50th anniversary of Neil Young's Harvest album (go here).
Here's Young performing Heart of Gold at the BBC in London before the album was released...
Bassist Brian Torff sent along the photo above from Gene’s Books Too in Sanibel, Fla. Looks like I'm in good company. Brian's latest album, Run With Scissors, can be found here and on streaming platforms.
Count Basie. Here's Corner Pocket by one of Count Basie's tightest road bands, in Stockholm, Sweden, in April 1962...
A couple of links. Two jazz articles of note this week:
Writer Martin Chilton on how Stan Getz abused Astrud Gilberto: 'He made sure that she got nothing': The sad story of Astrud Gilberto, the Face of Bossa Nova. Go here.
Writer Jasmin Darznik on Fredi Washington, a Black actress with ambitions to become a starlet in the 1930s who refused to pass for white: She was the Black Actress Who Refused to Pass. Go here.
Music break. Here's Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., formerly of the 5th Dimension, singing Paul McCartney's Silly Love Songs...
Brooks Tegler. Last week, after I posted about drummer Brooks Tegler's rendition of Pussy Willow, I received many emails from readers asking about Brooks's big-band album, That's It!, released in 2007. The album is long out of print. Brooks will sell you a copy for $10 as a digital transfer. Just email him about the purchase, pay him $10 via PayPal and he'll send you the album and cover scans via WeTransfer.com. Here's Brooks’s email: [email protected].
As a reminder, here's the Bruce Tegler Big Band's cover of Bill Finegan's Pussy Willow...
And finally, here's the Harry James band in Hollywood in 1949 on Ultra, a song James (above) wrote based on the chord changes to How High the Moon and Jimmy Mundy arranged, with Bob Poland on the baritone saxophone solo...
And here's this live version of Ultra sent along (after my post went up) by Don Frese, featuring the James Gang at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom in 1952...
