In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Sissy Spacek for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Listening to Sissy's voice alone was a joy. She has a warm, soothing drawl that's laced with artistic intelligence and kindness. And what a career.
Here's Sissy in her first movie, Prime Cut (1972) with Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman...
Here's Carrie (1976)...
Here's Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) and Sissy's portrayal of Loretta Lynn, which won her an Oscar...
And here's her latest, Prime Video's Night Sky...
Frank Sinatra. Here's Sinatra at United Western Records in Hollywood singing down It Was a Very Good Year in 1965 with Gordon Jenkins conducting...
Art Hodes. Following my post on Art Hodes, Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive sent along a link to a live performance by Chicago jazz the pianist in 1981, courtesy of Mark Rabin's personal collection of broadcasts. Art plays on three songs with the Hot Three on a broadcast from the 1981 Chicago Jazz Festival. Go here.
On June 14 at 9 p.m., PBS will air Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road as part of its American Masters series. It's a superb documentary of Brian Wilson directed by a friend, Brent Wilson (no relation to Brian). For more information, go here.
Here's the trailer...
And here's a fun clip...
Denny Zeitlin last week sent along a link to The Name of This Terrain, an experimental electronic album he recorded in 1969 with George Marsh and Mel Graves.
As Denny wrote:
Back in 1969, I was immersed in an electro-acoustic integration of jazz, rock, avant-garde classical, funk and free-form music. My long-time close friend, Bill Young, suggested we co-produce a project where I would write new music and lyrics, and my trio, with George Marsh and Mel Graves, would perform and sing the lyrics as a demo. Bill would try to interest a label in completing the album with professional singers, and supporting a tour. The project was completed in November 1969, and a custom run of demo LPs created, but no labels were interested. My trio returned to instrumental explorations in concerts and recordings.
"The Name Of This Terrain” remained stored away on a shelf until 2003, when Bill Young’s death somehow led to a stack of demo LPs ending up in a thrift store, setting off a gradual low-level international buzz. I began receiving inquiries from fans, collectors, and record labels, wanting to hear, purchase, or release this album. I was taken aback at the prospect. Although I felt the music and lyrics were very strong, none of us trio members had ever done any singing, and this demo album was never intended for release. I destroyed my copies, and for years successfully fended off inquiries.
But every few years, Eothen Alapatt of Now-Again Records would circle back, enthusiastically proclaiming the album’s musical importance and the passion and emotional immediacy of the trio’s untrained vocal cords. In 2020, I was prompted to give the project a relisten, and to my surprise, was struck by the freshness of the concept, passion of performance, and spirit of adventure on the album, and felt it was worthy of release, as long as the demo nature was made clear.
You'll find a digital download of The Name of the Terrain here. To listen to the album, go here...
Meredith d'Ambrosio will make a rare live public appearance on June 12 to sing accompanied by pianist Chris Taylor. If you're in the Boston-Cambridge area on June 12, see information above.
And finally, no song reminds me more of London in the late 1960s than Jackie Trent's Where Are You Now. The song she wrote with Tony Hatch was her only No. 1 single on the U.K. chart. Even though it was released by Pye in 1965, I remember hearing it on BBC's Radio 1 in 1968. There was a sound over there in the late 1960s that differed from the British invasion fare we heard here in the U.S., which was largely boy bands. Many of the best Brit hits were by female pop singers and lingered on themes of lost love, broken hearts and romantic yearning. In addition to Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Lulu, there was Jackie Trent. [Photo above of Jackie Trent in the 1960s]
Here's Jackie Trent's Where Are You Now...
