In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actor F. Murray Abraham for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). As an early teen, Murray belonged to the Rogues, a gang in El Paso, Texas, that stole cars and wrecked them. One day, when his gang was jumped by a rival gang, the other Rogues ran off and left him alone to get beaten up. That's when Murray quit gang life and we wound up with one of the great actors of our time. He co-stars in Season 2 of HBO's The White Lotus, which starts on Oct. 30. [Photo above, from left, Michael Imperioli, Adam DiMarco, and F. Murray Abraham on the White Lotus set in Sicily, by Fabio Lovino, courtesy of HBO]
Here's Murray in an ad for Listerine in 1973...
Here's Murray as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1984)...
Here's Murray in Homeland...
And here's Murray in Louie (2014), created by Louis CK, delivering an amazing monologue...
Two reviews are in for my new book, Anatomy of 55 More Songs, in advance of its Dec. 6 publication, and they're raves:
Wall Street Journal arts reporter Marc Myers continues his explorations of the kind of popular music that turns from melody to earworm. Myers does a fine job of getting behind the hits. Sometimes there’s only one person to reveal a story... other songs use different viewpoints, as with the six interviewees for Donna Summer’s “On the Radio.” With snippets of business, creativity, techno-wizardry, and raw emotion, a pleasure for music fans. —Kirkus Reviews
Insightful... Myers blends research and personal interviews with artists, songwriters, arrangers, producers, and others to create an appealing mix of pop music classics...Each entry begins with a crisp black-and-white photo of the song’s artist, and, like an album’s liner notes, thees pieces provide context and the backstory for each selected song. Pop-music fans of a certain age will enjoy this collection and might even use it as a playlist. —Library Journal
Creed Taylor. A week ago, I was at Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., with Ron Carter, Hubert Laws, Ashley Kahn, Don Sickler, Maureen Sickler, Monica Getz and others to pay tribute to the late Creed Taylor. Creed's immediate and extended family were there and had lovely things to say about the person we know as a legendary jazz producer and they knew as "Big Creed" (there was a Little Creed in the family). [Photo above, from left, Hubert Laws, Ron Carter and me, by Ashley Kahn, and my thanks to Ashley for sending it along; click to enlarge]
There were two stunning musical moments: Listening to Ron and Hubert play Stella by Starlight (sheer poetry) and listening over Rudy's sound system to a recording of Stolen Moments from Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth, which was recorded in that exact space in 1961. Creed would have loved the event. [Photo above by Ashley Kahn; click to enlarge]
Dave Styker's album As We Are (reviewed here) was submitted for consideration in three Grammy categories—Best Jazz Instrumental, Best Instrumental Composition and Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella. From everyone at JazzWax, we wish Dave much luck.
Chuck Israels, the great bassist, arranger and composer, sent along a couple of terrific clips of his octet in action in 2011. Here's Bill Evans's Show-Type Tune...
And here's Thelonious Monk's 'Round Midnight...
Dick Haymes Jr. Paul Cammarata last week posted another video from his vault taped during a gig by singer David Allyn and his big band in March 1992, featuring vocalist Dick Haymes Jr. Go here...
Busy baritones. Here's the Baritone Sax Quartet featuring Cecil Payne, Howard Johnson, Nick Brignola and Ronnie Cuber in Berlin in 1985...
Tough tenors. Here's Arnett Cobb and Buddy Tate playing She Got It in 1979, with Hank Jones on piano, Gene Ramsey on bass and Gus Johnson on drums...
Guess who I saw today—in jail. Last week, I received the following email from pianist Dave Thompson. The story he related was so priceless, I asked if I could share:
Marc, I really enjoyed Florian Ross's octet album, thanks for reviewing. Interesting to come across Frank Comstock's name again in your post. I met Frank (pictured above) in Los Angeles back in the 1970s. I spent a long weekend in the Los Angeles County Jail over a July 4th weekend due to unpaid parking tickets. There were six of us in a two-man cell. Realizing I might not get out for a few days, I made a paper keyboard and spent my time practicing on the floor.
On the second day, in came Frank, for reasons unknown to me. I initially didn’t know who he was, but he immediately took an interest in my paper piano. He came over and started scatting and singing melodies and baselines with real polish and skill and authenticity. That's when he told me who he was and mentioned that he had just been at a party where Bill Evans was playing piano. Long ago and far away.
Henry Mancini was interviewed in the late 1980s by Joe Smith. Arranger Roy Phillippe alerted me that the recorded conversation was in the Library of Congress's archives online. The 1-hour and 20-minute audio interview can be found here.
Jazz Therapy. Last week I heard from Jesse Shapiro, a psychotherapist who has started a site called Jazz Therapy. She said her goal is "to help people have a healthy way to process the news, which is often overwhelming. I aim to analyze current events from a psychological lens and pair it with meditation and, of course, jazz." You can access Jesse's site here.
Joel Quarrington: The Music of Don Thompson (Modica). Bassist Joel Quarrington has long admired the pen and piano of Don Thompson, who, in my estimation, is Canada's most exquisite jazz pianist. Joel is no small fry. He's a world-renown bassist and former principal bassist for the London Symphony Orchestra. Joel and Don's musical relationship dates back to 1981, and Don knows a thing or two about the bass. He played the upright with George Shearing. He also plays the vibes. This mostly duet album opens with A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square, a standard Joel heard Don play and long wanted to record with him. The remaining four pieces are originals by Don: Another Time, Another Place; Egberto; A Quiet Place and Quartet 89. The latter features Joel with three other bassists—Travis Harrison, Joe Phillips and Roberto Occhipinti. Don plays throughout, and he wrote all of the arrangements. A wonderful album by two acoustic masters. Go here.
Here's Don and Joel in the studio recording A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square. Joel's bowing is so beautiful it will break your heart...
And finally, here's Petula Clark in Paris in May 1966 singing A Sign of the Times in French on a jukebox TV show geared for the French youth market...
