This week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actress Jill Hennessy for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Jill talked about her identical twin, Jacqueline, her mom's decision to abandon the family when Jill was young, how acting in school helped her keep it together, and landing major roles in Law & Order, Crossing Jordan and City on a Hill. Here's Jill with Kevin Bacon in the Season 3 trailer for City on a Hill (Showtime), which takes place in Boston of the 1980s [photo above of Jill Hennessy and Kevin Bacon in "City on a Hill" courtesy of Showtime]...
Mike Stern and Bill Charlap. On Thursday, I watched a live high-resolution stream of the 92NY's "Jazz in July" closer—a concert featuring Mike Stern (guitar), Chris Potter and Nicole Glover (saxophones), Bill Charlap (piano), Peter Washington (bass) and Bill Stewart (drums). Wow, the music was spectacular. Just hearing Bill's warm, woody piano against Mike's harp-like electric guitar was a trip. Chris and Nicole were smoking, and Peter and Bill were in the pocket. [Photo above of Bill Charlap and Mike Stern courtesy of 92NY]
You're in luck. This weekend, you can stream the concert video for $20—and trust me, it will be the best $20 you spend all week. Go here and start the process in the upper right-hand side. You can checkout fast as a guest and pay with PayPal. Again, go here.
Airto Moreira needs your help. Airto, the famed jazz percussionist and World Music pioneer, recently spent a month in a hospital in Brazil being treated for pneumonia. His medical and care bills are staggering, so please donate what you can. In addition to being a monster performer and recording artist, Airto is precious and has a heart of gold. Go here.
Al "Jazzbo" Collins. Following my post last week on The Six, I received many emails from fans of Jazzbo, an extraordinary jazz DJ with a fabulous imagination who died in 1997. I remember listening to Jazzbo in 1981, when he was on WNEW-AM hosting the midnight show. As I recall, he opened with Les Brown's Milkman's Matinee and went seamlessly into the middle of Blues in Hoss Flat before coming on to talk about where he was broadcasting from, a place he called the Purple Grotto. Among the emails received was this one from Mark Rabin, whose trove of radio broadcast recordings have been generously airing on the FM Radio Archive:
Hi, Marc. I first heard Al "Jazzbo" Collins as a child on KSFO in San Francisco. I even became a member of his Bandito Club in the early 1960s. I would stay up past my bedtime listening to his show quietly in my bedroom in the dark. I was about 9 or 10 when I met him at a charity event my mother was co-hosting. He was friendly with the crowd while wearing his trademark hat.
There's a nice tribute page to him from the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame here. There are also 10 of Al's "Summer in the Grotto" programs from KCSM here, at the bottom of this page. Another beloved Bay Area DJ was Bob Parlocha from KJAZ and KCSM. He had impeccable taste in jazz programing. When you want to have a few hours of great jazz programming, these shows are always enjoyable. There is the mother lode of his programs, some contributed by me, here.
And if you haven't already seen them, there are some full Jazzbo (or JazzBeaux) TV shows on YouTube from New York that would have been called a production nightmare, if there was actually a producer. However, guests included Slim Gaillard in one show and Jackie Paris in another. Use this link.
Here's the one with Jackie Paris. It's easily the oddest variety show ever taped on early cable-TV...
Rob Crocker of WBGO-FM in Newark, N.J. is still going strong. Now 76, Rob has a warm, mahogany-toned voice that is a comfort and a blessing. He's behind the microphone at the Newark, N.J., station on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. (ET). You can access the show from anywhere in the world by going here. [Photo above of Rob Crocker courtesy of WBGO]
Frank Zappa radio. Recently, WRTC-FM's Chris Cowles devoted his weekly "Greasy Tracks" show to the music of Frank Zappa. If you're uncertain of what the fuss was all about with Zappa, Chris's three-hour show is a great primer. Go here.
Fats Navarro radio. On Sunday, Sid Gribetz will present a five-hour tribute to trumpeter Fats Navarro, 2 to 7 p.m. (ET) on his “Jazz Profiles” show on WKCR-FM in New York. You can listen from anywhere in the world by going here.
And finally, here's Charles Wright on Soul Train in 1974 performing One Lie Leads to Another...
