Michael, Rosemary and Iggy

Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actor Michael Stuhlbarg for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Even though Michael plays terrifying characters in films and TV series, he is the sweetest guy. Further proof that great actors are magicians. He currently plays the mob boss in Showtime's Your Honor, he recently played Richard Sackler in the Hulu miniseries Dopesick and he can be seen in Joel and Ethan Coen's A Serious Man (2009). [Photo above of Michael Stuhlbarg in Your Honor, courtesy of Showtime]

Here's a clip from Your Honor, in which Michael is a mob boss and Bryan Cranston stars as a New Orleans judge who must confront his ethics when his son is involved in a hit and run that embroils an organized crime family...

Two weeks ago, I interviewed actor John Larroquette, who is back on the revamped NBC sitcom Night Court (go here). [Photo above of John Larroquette courtesy of NBC]

Here's John in the Night Court trailer...

And, my monthly essay last week for the Arts in Review pages on albums celebrating a 50th anniversary that changed music history was on Iggy and the Stooges' Raw Power (go here). If you love rock, this record paved the way for punk in 1973, two years before the subgenre existed. The album is still thrilling. Here's the title song...

Benny Goodman. I came across this gem last week recorded in September 1945...

Here's Rosemary Clooney on the same song backed by Nelson Riddle...

One more by Rosie. Here's Rosemary Clooney singing You're in Kentucky, backed by Nelson Riddle...

The Brothers Nash. Last week I posted on Ted Nash's The Music of Frank Comstock (1956). I also included YouTube clips of The Brothers Nash, a fabulous album. Fresh Sound's Jordi Pujol emailed to let me know that this album is available on one of his releases, The Brothers Nash—Juntos here.

The Haig was a restaurant and jazz club in Los Angeles in the early 1950s that was one of West Coast jazz's incubators, most notably for the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. Lee Prout sent along a link to a lengthy post by James Harrod back in 2018 at the Jazz Research site. Go here. [Photo above of the Haig by William Claxton/Demont Photo Management]

Dave Stryker Trio—Prime (Strikezone). Dave Stryker has a nifty new organ trio album out, with Dave on guitar, Jared Gold on organ and McClenty Hunter on organ. The album thrashes on the title track, grooves on Lockdown, gets funky on Mac and Dude's Lounge, and takes on a Latin feel on Deep. Unlike most organ trio albums, which simply burn, Dave's highlights each instrument's explosive strengths. All of the compositions are by Dave except for the standard I Should Care. Go here.

Here's Lockdown...

Buddy DeFranco radio. On Sunday, from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET) on WKCR-FM in New York, Sid Gribetz will host a Jazz Profiles broadcast on clarinetist Buddy DeFranco. To listen live to the five-hour show, go here.

Nina Simone radio. Sid tells me that WKCR will host a 24-hour broadcast on Nina Simone on Tuesday (Feb. 21). To listen live, go here.

Clifford Brown. When television was in its infancy in the early and mid-1950s, Soupy Sales hosted shows in Detroit. One of them was Soupy's On, which was on at 11 p.m. The guest was nearly always a jazz star. Soupy had on Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and Stan Getz, while Miles Davis was on six times.

Here's Clifford Brown on Soupy's On...

And finally, Fred Augerman alerted me that Guido Basso died on February 13. The Canadian trumpeter and flugelhornist, and big band leader was 85. Go here.

And here are a few Basso clips:

Here's For Once in My Life, with Basso leading his big band...

Here's Non Dimenticar...

Here's A Portrait of Jenny offered up by Bill Kirchner...

And here's Basso on flugelhorn on Nightcap...