In the Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actor Tom Blyth for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Tom plays Billy in the Epix drama series Billy the Kid. [Photo above of Tom Blyth by Chris Large, courtesy of Epix]
Here's the trailer...
Artie Kane (1929-2022), a distinctive West Coast studio pianist and organist who can be heard on dozens of recordings and who was a prolific TV and movie composer and arranger, died on June 21. He was 93.
Perhaps Kane's best known contribution was his opening organ part on Frank Sinatra's The Summer Wind in 1966. I interviewed Artie back in 2016 when I wrote an essay for the Wall Street Journal arguing that Strangers in the Night is Sinatra's finest and most perfect Reprise album, thanks in great measure to Artie's witty organ throughout, except on the title track. [Photo above of Artie Kane with Henry Mancini]
Why the title track was recorded first with a different arranger and orchestra and how Sinatra beat Jack Jones onto the radio with the song even though Jones recorded the song first can be found in my WSJ essay here. My JazzWax posts on the 1966 album and my conversations with Artie are here and here.
In tribute to Artie, I decided on two clips. The first gives you a brief look at Artie at work on a song with the fastest tempo ever recorded by Sinatra. The second is my send-off to Artie, who was adored by singers for his hip and sophisticated musical playfulness. As Peggy Lee says in the following clip about Artie's organ fills mid-song while looking over at him, "I like that"...
Here's Sinatra singing The Most Beautiful Girl in the World from Strangers in the Night. As the boom camera swings off to the left and pans right, watch for Artie Kane on the right side of your screen on the organ and Nelson Riddle conducting...
And here's Peggy Lee singing So What's New, a song for which she wrote the lyrics to John Pisano's music, with Artie on organ...
Jerry Lewis was in his fair share of terrific comedy scenes, but this one takes the cake, from the film Who's Minding the Store (1963). A book could be written just on how exactly this scene was shot and reshot and reshot. I haven't a clue how they did it, but the scene is mind-blowing. Go here...
Jeff Beck has a new album coming with Johnny Depp on vocals (whoops). Here's Beck live with an instrumental of Brian Wilson's Caroline, No. A terrific rendition, leaving me surprised that someone didn't urge him to cover the entire Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album. Would have been spectacular. Go here...
Joan Chamorro is a jazz giant, a high-energy multi-instrumentalist, an arranger-composer and an inspiring jazz teacher beloved by his students in Barcelona, Spain. Here he is in May 2002 on baritone saxophone with Germany's WDR Big Band playing Dizzy Gillespie's Bebop...
And finally, here's Helen Reddy in 1972. No words are needed...
