Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actor Anthony Carrigan for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Anthony stars as NoHo Hank, a Chechen mobster, in the HBO series Barry. We talked about his condition—alopecia areata—which attacks hair follicles and afflicted him from an early age. In childhood, the alopecia gave his parents anxiety and terrified him. That is, until he discovered the stage in school, where costumes, wigs and makeup allowed him to appear normal. A touching story of bullying, art and determination. [Photo above of Anthony Carrigan in Barry by Isabella Vosmikova/HBO]
Why Jazz Happened, my 2016 book on the eight factors that caused jazz to change over the years, will be an audio book narrated by the great Peter Lerman. It will be available in about a month. I'll keep you posted.
Roger Kellaway. If you're in New York next week, pianist Roger Kellaway (above) will be appearing live at Mezzrow on May 3 and 4 with bassist Jay Leonhart, drummer Dennis Mackrel and, special guest, guitarist Roni Ben-Hur. Sets are at 7:30 and 9 p.m. (doors open at 7). The club is at 163 W 10th Street. For more information and reservations, go here.
Here's Roger with guitarist Jim Hall playing Here Today, Gone Tomorrow in 1964 on A Jazz Portrait of Roger Kellaway, Featuring Jim Hall...
Leon Russell. In 2014, I flew down to Nashville to spend the afternoon with Leon Russell. The interview took place at his home, which from the outside looked as if it had been designed by hobbits. Inside, our conversation took place as we watched TV with the sound off. Leon was in pain at the time and still one of a kind. In addition to being Jerry Lee Lewis's road pianist and Joe Cocker's musical director during his Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour in 1970, Leon had a staggering career as a singer-songwriter, Wrecking Crew keyboardist and, as a leader, shifting effortlessly from pop and rock to soul and country. Most of all, Leon was a naturally gifted pianist.
Here's Leon playing piano and singing A Song for You, one of his best-known compositions and most beautiful ballads. It's part of Signature Songs, a terrific new album of his hits released by BMG...
Sacha Distel.Here'sSacha Distel (above), the French jazz guitarist and entertainer, in 1972 with lyricist Vinicius de Moraes (singing), guitarist Toquinho and singer Maria Creuza performing The Girl from Ipanema on French TV...
Horace Silver.Here'sNutville by the Horace Silver Quintet, with Bill Hardman (tp), Bennie Maupin (tenor saxophone), Horace Silver (p), John Williams (b) and Billy Cobham (d) in 1968 on Denmark TV...
More Horace Silver. Here's Metamorphosis from Silver's The Stylings of Silver (1957), with Horace Silver (p), Art Farmer (tp), Hank Mobley (ts), Teddy Kotick (b) and Louis Hayes (d)...
Two terrific books. Recently, I was able to squeeze two terrific new books into my reading schedule that will definitely be of interest to you:
Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring—by Jon Burlingame (Oxford University). This 467-page book covers the story behind virtually every American TV show's theme, and it's loaded with songwriter interviews and research conducted over the past 35 years. For example, I had no idea that Sid Ramin's Patty Duke Show theme music was adapted by Ramin for his Music to Watch Girls Go By for Diet Pepsi's TV ads in 1966. Or that Warren Barker was called in to do the music for Bewitched on the basis of an album he had recorded using exotic instruments. Hence the xylophone for Elizabeth Montgomery's nose-wrinkle. Witchcraft was going to be the show's theme until the suits did the math and realized it was cheaper to write a new theme song than pay royalties on the standard. Why no vocal? That also had to do with money. This book is loaded. You look up favorite shows in the index and you're rewarded with theme details regarding the song's mishaps, evolution and surprising strategic decisions. Jon's last book The Music of James Bond, is a must-own if you love the big brass, soaring strings and on-edge vocals of 007 themes. Go here.
Funkiest Man Alive: Rufus Thomas and Memphis Soul—by Matthew Ruddick (University of Mississippi). When it came to Stax Records, few were as flamboyant or as funky as Rufus Thomas, the father of Carla Thomas (Gee Whiz, 1960). Rufus started out in vaudeville in the 1930s when he was still a teen and became the first father to land in Billboard's Top 10 with a debut single after his daughter first appeared there. His hits included Walking the Dog (1963), Do the Funky Chicken (1969) and ThePush and Pull (1970). Matthew's book gets behind the hamming and flamboyance of Rufus Thomas and presents the artist, his roots and how he became one of the most fascinating and funky Southern soul artists of the 1960s and '70s. Go here.
Tina wasn't his real name. When Harold Brooks was young, he was nicknamed Teeny, which at some point wound up as Teena and then Tina. Between 1958 and 1961, the tenor saxophonist recorded five hard bop albums for Blue Note as a leader. There were plenty of Blue Note sideman dates as well.
Back to the Tracks was recorded in September and October 1960 but not released until 1998, when producer Michael Cuscuna found the tapes in the Blue Note archives and issued them first on vinyl in a 1985 Mosaic box and then at Blue Note on CD in 1998. Blue Note co-founder Alfred Lion commonly recorded way more than he could issue, for whatever reason. Perhaps he wanted albums held in reserve in case things slowed. Or perhaps he heard a flaw in the recording that is indistinguishable to us. Or perhaps the album was held because the personnel wasn't consistent. Fortunately, Michael rescued this one along with many, many others by Blue Note artists that had gone unreleased for mysterious reasons.
The personnel on Back to the Tracks was Tina Brooks (ts), Blue Mitchell (tp), Kenny Drew (p), Paul Chambers (b) and Art Taylor (d). Jackie McLean (as) appears on just one track—Street Singer. The songs were Brooks's Back to the Tracks, Street Singer and The Blues and I, plus the standards For Heaven's Sake and The Ruby and the Pearl.
A special thanks to Mark Rabin for sending this one along.
Here's the complete Back to the Tracks, without ad interruption...
Barry Humphries, an Australian comedian who cross-dressed his way to flamboyant fame and fortune as Dame Edna Everage, a lovable, raunchy, barbed-tongued hostess beginning in Melbourne in 1955, died on April 22. He (and she) were 89. [Photo above of Barry Humphries as Dame Edna Everage in a publicity still]
Humphries was among the wittiest comedians who specialized in the warm and polite put-down. He also was perhaps one of the world's best improv comedians who could come up with an endearing, improvised story and punch line faster than most on the fly. Through his eccentric-dressing character, Dame Edna, he perfected this style of humor over the decades to become a star in England in the late 1980s and then in the U.S. in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She was worth catching for her fashionable eyeglass frames alone.
I recall taking my 5-year-old daughter in 2004 to see Dame Edna: Back With a Vengeance on Broadway and watching with delight as she fully understood the sophisticated humor and mischief. At the end, Dame Edna tossed about 20 pounds of gladioli out into the audience until virtually everyone in the orchestra and beyond was holding them like spears. It was all part of the British fun.
I first came across this brand of salty, outlandish humor in London in the late 1960s, when my father took me at 11 to the Palladium to see English Music Hall comedy. My father had been in the Navy and stationed in England during World War II just before D-Day. Like my daughter, I couldn't get enough of the humor.
Here are seven clips of Dame Edna. If you're unfamiliar, you will become a fast fan...
Here's Joan Rivers on the U.K. TV show, The Dame Edna Experience, in 1987. Note how the two styles of humor fight for dominance—Joan's bawdy, rehearsed street bits and Edna's more advanced brand of humor and quick improv ("Have you thought of washing them by hand?"). I'm not sure Edna quite got any of Joan's lines...
Here's Dame Edna with Boris Johnson early in his career...
What do John Coltrane's Lover, Grant Green's Gooden's Corner, Joe Henderson's The Kicker,The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard, Bennie Green's Back on the Scene and Wes Montgomery's Movin' Along have in common? Louis Hayes is playing drums. [Photo above of Louis Hayes by Anna Yatskevich]
Today, Louis is one of the last men drumming from jazz's galloping hard-bop era. Best of all, the 85-year-old artist hasn't lost an ounce of energy or style. As evidenced by his latest album, Exactly Right! (Savant), Louis not only is at the top of his game but also his taste in songs remains terrific.
Recorded in December and produced by Maxine Gordon, Dexter Gordon's widow, Exactly Right! features Louis on drums, Abraham Burton on tenor saxophone, Steve Nelson on vibraphone, David Hazeltine on piano and Dezron Douglas on bass. [Photo above of Abraham Burton]
The tracks are Louis's Exactly Right!, Duke Pearson's Is That So?, Cedar Walton's Hand in Glove, Sergio Mendes's So Many Stars, David Hazeltine's Carmine's Bridge, Wayne Shorter's Nefertiti, Horace Silver's Mellow D, Fred Lacey's Theme for Ernie,Scarborough Fair (traditional) and Cedar Walton's Ugetsu. [Photo above of Steve Nelson]
What's fascinating are the two triangular conversations going on simultaneously. The dominant one consists of Louis, Burton (sax) and Nelson (vibes) playing off each other. The second one is Louis, Hazeltine (piano) and Douglas (bass). Louis is the driving force energizing both the front line and, with different drum figures, the rhythm section. In effect, he's playing cards at two different tables at once. Up front, Burton brings the heat while Nelson lays down the cool, but Louis's drums set the mood and keep the hard bop edgy. [Photo above of David Hazeltine, courtesy of David Hazeltine]
Best of all are Louis's cymbals. They splash here and there with purposeful randomness and erupt with just the right amount of drama, accenting without overshadowing. On drum solos, Louis plays with a taut economy and decades of hard bop experience. He also shows his funk on Scarborough Fair, which is given the soul-jazz treatment. Louis Hayes is a treasure. [Photo above of Dezron Douglas]
To read my three-part JazzWax interview with Louis Hayes, start here. (Subsequent parts can be accessed via the link above the red date at each post.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Louis Hayes's Exactly Right! (Savant) here. It's also available at YouTube here.
By the time you finish reading this post and interview, you will know one more great Brazilian composer than you did before. That's because Luiz Millan is a well-kept secret in Brazil. Little known outside of the country, he has been writing beautiful songs for decades that have been recorded by Brazilian stars. A modest, low-key guy, Luiz writes with poetry and passion, and his songs evoke the hypnotic melodies by bossa nova composers in the late 1950s and '60s. [Photo above of Luiz Millan by Priscila Prade]
As with all good discoveries, this one started with an email. I've long known producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro and his wife, singer Ithamara Koorax. I first met Ithamara at a party in New York in 2008 and interviewed her a year later when she released her glorious album Bim Bom: The Complete Joao Gilberto Songbook. You can read my 2009 interview with Ithamara here.
The email from Arnaldo arrived last week to let me know that his record label, Jazz Station, would be releasing an album by Luiz Millan this week called Brazilian Match. Luiz who? Arnaldo sent along the CD and I flipped. All 16 of the album's songs were co-written by Luiz and feature him on vocals paired with all-star singers such as Lisa Ono, the French singer Clementine and the New York Voices. Musicians include John Tropea, David Sanborn, Randy Brecker, Mike Mainieri, Eddie Daniels, Mark Egan, Danny Gottlieb and Barry Finnerty. Michel Freidenson arranged the music.
Before we jump into my interview with Luiz, here's the album's opening track—Pacuíba, with Luiz on vocals...
The entire album is spectacular, and Luiz's songs are splendidly crafted and doused in soft bossa energy and sensuality. You'll find Brazilian Matchhere, or at YouTube and Spotify.
Now that you have a sense of the music, here's my e-conversation with Luiz Millan...
JazzWax: Luiz, where in Brazil were you born? Luiz Millan: I was born in São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, on August 29, 1955. I'm the middle child, with a sister three years older and a brother eight years younger. My father was a plastic surgeon, and my mother studied history and geography in college but never went on to teach or apply her studies.
JW: How were you exposed to music growing up? LM: My father loved music. I remember him coming home in the early 1960s with records by João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Stan Getz, Dorival Caymmi, Vinicius de Moraes, Gilbert Bécaud and Edith Piaf, among others. When I was 3, in 1958, bossa nova had emerged with the song Chega de Saudade, by Jobim and Vinicius. I fell in love with the bossa sound right away. Later, when The Girl from Ipanema came out in 1964 with Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, I fell in love with the music even more. I then began listening to Marcos Valle, Chico Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Ivan Lins, Elis Regina, João Donato, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Edu Lobo and their songwriting partners. I remember putting their records on my parents’ turntable and later going to record stores to buy their new releases. It was a great time for Brazilian popular music, with rich melodies and rhythms, and brilliant lyrics.
JW: Did you listen only to records? LM: Oh, no. We heard these artists on the radio all the time, too. Through their recordings, they became my bossa nova teachers. But great music was flourishing outside of Brazil as well. In addition to listening to the bossa nova composers, I loved the Beatles. I remember the day I bought their Revolver album in 1966, when it was just released. I was 11. On the album, I heard Eleanor Rigby for the first time and was shocked and in ecstasy. Jazz also has been part of my life, with the beautiful songs of Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, Chet Baker, Keith Jarrett, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and George Benson.
JW: When did you start playing the piano? What inspired you? LM: I took classical piano lessons from age 4 to 8, at my mother's insistence. Back then, I did not like classical or how it was taught. Lessons were formal and Spartan, focusing on scales and scores. Now, of course, I’m grateful for those lessons, since I gained familiarity with the instrument. I started composing at 12, and classical music is present, to some extent, in my writing. As for my inspiration, composing was an existential necessity. I was compelled to compose. Life inspired my songs, along with everyday experiences, challenges, joys and sorrows. Anyway, it was the best way I had to express my feelings.
JW: Thematically, where do your lyrics draw inspiration? LM: My themes are related to nature, in songs such as in Morungaba, Pacuíba, In the Grove of Jacarandas (No Bosque de Jancarandas) and Full Moon. Social issues also have been top of mind throughout my life and are in some of my lyrics, particularly on songs such as Still Looking at the Moon (Farrapos de Lua), 21st Century (Século XXI) and May the Winds Clear the Times (Que os Ventos Limpem os Tempos). It is worth remembering that Alice Soyer, an excellent singer and composer, wrote the English lyrics for Farrapos de Lua, maintaining the same social theme as the original. The same happened with lyricists Ellen Johnson and Peter Eldridge.
JW: Growing up, did you seek out famous Brazilian songwriters to spend time with them? LM: I never did. I was too shy. In the 1960s, I admired melodies and harmonies by Antonio Carlos Jobim, lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes, and the rhythm and singing style of João Gilberto. In the early 1970s, the lyrics of Chico Buarque, the elegance of Edu Lobo and the energy of Ivan Lins also had a profound effect on me. I also liked the jazzy songs of Eumir Deodato and João Donato, and the impeccable lyrics and melodies of Dorival Caymmi. There were also older composers such as Noel Rosa and Ary Barroso. My relationship with all of them was based on what came through my radio and stereo speakers.
JW: Tell me about the composing of your first song when you were 12. LM: I wrote in a totally free and intuitive way, which I do to this day. I have no memory of my first song. I produced a huge number of songs. For me, a song was good when it thrilled people who heard it. That was always my goal as a composer. At 15, I started writing lyrics, too.
JW: Did you take music lessons in school? LM: I graduated from college with a degree in medicine in 1982 and worked at the University of São Paulo School of Medicine for 28 years. I was part of a psychological assistance group called GRAPAL—Psychological Assistance to Students at the School of Medicine of USP. I left nine years ago and dedicated myself to composing. With me, there's always a song emerging, even at the fast pace of everyday life. I work a lot, but between one appointment and another, if a melody comes to mind, I record it on my cell phone and develop the idea later or on weekends.
JW: Did you study guitar? LM: I started studying popular guitar with Jorge Pinheiro when I was 20. It didn't work out very well. After some months, we became writing partners and the lessons stopped. The same thing happened with pianist Moacyr Zwarg, many decades later. We co-wrote more than 20 songs.
JW: Is there a correlation between your medical studies and music? LM: When I was studying medicine, many people in my class were dedicated to the arts. It seemed more like a music school than a medical school. Interestingly, at the School of Medicine there was a huge group of good musicians. I learned a lot from them. We performed monthly, and it was delicious. Musical partners from that time are still close friends, such as Plínio Cutait, Ivan Miziara, Iso Fischer and Márcia Salomão. Back then, I wrote songs with my collaborator, Jorge Pinheiro, and recorded an album entitled Ponta de Rama (1980), an independent production that brought together several composers from USP. For several weeks, we performed at a theater, the Lira Paulistana, in São Paulo. Joyous times.
JW: I’m curious, what made you study medicine instead of music? LM: From the time I was little, when I barely knew how to speak, I told myself I wanted to be a doctor. I loved the medical profession, probably through my father. I've always loved music too, especially songwriting. I never really had skills for anything else. It's not by chance that I didn't follow my father's brilliant career as a surgeon. I also knew I wasn’t going to become a great instrumentalist. When I do play instruments, it’s just to help me compose. Other times the music comes to my mind spontaneously, without any instrument. Then I find harmony, on the piano or on the guitar. Composing is in my heart and what I was born to do.
JW: When did you start to gain serious recognition as a songwriter? LM: From my first album, I was privileged to receive favorable criticism from the media, although their praise never really had a dramatic impact on audience recognition. That's understandable, since the most appreciated musical genres today in Brazil are very far from the style of music I compose. But let me tell you, my new album, Brazilian Match, was the result of two fortuitous random encounters.
JW: What happened? LM: The first encounter was with Michel Freidenson, about 16 years ago. He's a fantastic pianist and arranger. We met at a show and were introduced by my writing partner, Jorge Pinheiro. We had an immediate musical connection and became close friends. I asked him to arrange a song I had composed with Mozar Terra, a pianist living in France who had worked with Joyce and Caetano Veloso. The song was And the Clown Cried. The result was wonderful and became the start of my first major album in 2011, Entre Nuvens, with arrangements by Michel. Since then, Michel has been responsible for arranging all of my recordings.
JW: What was the second random encounter? LM: Connecting with the brilliant music producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro, who has worked with many great Brazilian and international artists. This meeting took place in an unusual way. Moisés Santana, my Brazilian promoter, was releasing an album by New York-based Brazilian drummer Vanderlei Pereira. Vanderlei asked Moisés to send his album to Arnaldo. Moisés, in turn included my album Achados & Perdidos in the same envelope. [Photo above of Arnaldo DeSouteiro by Bernardo Costa]
JW: What happened? LM: As you can imagine, Arnaldo receives dozens of albums a month but he was curious to listen to mine. Then he wrote a generous review on Instagram. From then on, we started talking and he accepted my proposal to produce a new album. Arnaldo wanted to release the album internationally and wanted to include great Brazilian and foreign musicians and singers. Hence the name of the album, Brazilian Match. Our conversations were always very intense, and when Arnaldo came to São Paulo, we had a meeting at my house and listened to many songs together. Among them was Deodato's Spirit of Summer. I've always loved that Spanish-flavored Jay Berliner solo on acoustic guitar. We also listened to Puma Branco by Marcos Valle.
JW: How much time did you spend together? LM: Our conversation flowed in a very pleasant way, until dawn, in the company of my wife, Marília, who provided some of the lyrics for the new songs. We started the Brazilian Match project with fortnightly meetings for a year, along with Michel. We formed a cohesive team, exchanged many ideas and built a project under the direction of Arnaldo, who is, above all, a great connoisseur of music, a living encyclopedia. At my invitation, the singers Ana Lee, Tuca Fernandes, Consiglia Latorre, Anna Setton, Maurício Detoni and Giana Viscardi agreed to interpret my songs.
JW: Did your medical career influence your songwriting in any way? LM: In my opinion, music enriches my medical activity, and vice versa. There is no contradiction between these two disciplines. As a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, I deal with sensitivity and human emotions. There is no art that thrills people more than music, helping to mark times in their lives and to bring forward all kinds of memories.
JW: Your previous album, Achados & Perdidos, released in 2020, is also special. LM: Thank you. Unlike my other albums, Achados & Perdidos features four songs by other composers. Brazil com S is a fun bossa nova that rock stars Rita Lee and Roberto de Carvalho had recorded with Joao Gilberto. Another was Não Pode Ser, by brothers Marcos and Paulo Valle. It was released on Marcos's second album O Compositor E O Cantor (1965). When I was 10, I'd always go off to a friend's house to listen to it. By the way, on that very same album was Samba de Verão (Summer Samba), one of the world's most recorded songs. One day my friend took the album off the shelf and gave it to me as a gift. I had been saving Não Pode Ser for years to record. Another song is Samba da Pergunta (aka Astronauta), by Pingarilho and Marcos Vasconcelos. The song was recorded often in the 1970s, '80s and '90s by artists such as João Gilberto, Elis Regina, Joyce Moreno and Tim Maia. But now, in Brazil, you rarely hear it. Tastes have changed. The fourth song is Outro Cais (2014) by Eduardo Gudin and J.C. Costa Netto, a beautiful melody with great sensitivity. I was flattered when Marcos Valle, Paulo Sergio Valle and Pingarilho all sent videos congratulating me on the recordings I made of their works.
JW: Where do you live today? LM: I still live in São Paulo, a pulsating city that's very rich, culturally. Immediately before the meeting with Arnaldo, Michel and I had already finished a new album. This project was temporarily put aside, to open space for Brazilian Match. We intend to resume when possible. If I may, I'd like to say how grateful I am to the wonderful musicians and singers on Brazilian Match. Most of the Brazilian artists had previously recorded with me. The foreign musicians were suggested by Arnaldo, who is always looking for true icons of each instrument and interpreters of great prominence.
JW: A lot of great international stars, yes? LM: Interestingly, when I had listened to Rodrigo Lima's Saga album (2014), produced by Arnaldo, I was enchanted by Mike Mainieri's vibraphone. Then Mike agreed to appear on Brazilian Match. It was a dream come true. Something similar happened when Arnaldo suggested Lisa Ono, a singer I've admired for a long time. Obviously, the presence of all participants is something unimaginable. A special thanks to Arnaldo and Michel for their unique competence, sensitivity and dedication over the course of two years needed to complete Brazilian Match. And one of the highlights of my career was to record with Brazil's legendary trombone master Raul de Souza. So I'm very proud of the album, as you can hear. I hope people listen and let it into their hearts. [Photo above of Michel Freidenson]
From 2009 onward, producer-composer Brian Camelio traveled with guitarist Jim Hall on tour to lend assistance as Jim recovered from back surgery. During this performance period, Jim fronted a trio and played some duets. Fortunately, Brian recorded as much as he could and stashed away the tapes. Recently, Brian was asked by Jim's widow, Jane Hall, to assemble an album of the recorded material in celebration of what would have been his 92nd birthday on December 4, 2022. [Photo above of Jim Hall courtesy of Brian Camelio]
So Brian went through his archives and stumbled upon tracks recorded in May and June of 2012. The result is Uniquities, 12 previously unreleased live tracks issued in March in two separate volumes. Jim was joined by bassist Scott Colley and drummer Joey Baron. The sound is fantastic, and Jim's playing is first-rate, thanks to the recording process used and the fine playing by Scott and Joey. [Photo above of Brian Camelio, courtesy of Twitter]
"Uniquities" is a word invented by Jane to describe how Jim would take musical ideas on songs and constantly reinvent them, similar to Bill Evans's revisiting of specific standards and Monet’s Water Lilies series. One shot isn't enough when it comes to artistically interpreting beauty's nuances.
The songs on Vol. 1 are Without A Song, All The Things You Are, Careful (Jim Hall), Chelsea Bridge, Is What It Is (Scott Colley), Uniquities Part 1 (Hall, Joey Baron and Colley) and St. Thomas (Sonny Rollins).
The songs on Vol. 2 are Without A Song, Body and Soul, Big Blues (Hall), In a Sentimental Mood, Uniquities Part 2 and St. Thomas.
This album is superb, deeply inventive and introspective, and an exceptional document, since no official post-2010 small-group recordings by Jim have surfaced until now. A special thanks to Brian, the founder of ArtistShare, the first online crowdfunding website, and the producer of seven other albums by Jim. Brian won a Grammy as producer of Maria Schneider's Data Lords (2020).
And a special thanks to Jane Hall, whom you can learn more about from my 2019 post here. [Photo above of Jim and Jane Hall with Django, courtesy of Jane Hall]
JazzWax tracks:You'll find Jim Hall's Uniquities (Vols. 1 and 2) at ArtistShare here.
Additional Jim Hall albums on ArtistShare can be found here.
In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed big-wave surfer Garrett McNamara, star of HBO's docu-series 100-Foot Wave (go here). I've written on surfing several times before (here and here), so this was a fun one. Garrett talked about growing up in the early 1970s as the child of hippies in California. We also talked about surfing and what it takes to catch a really big wave. [Photo above of Garrett McNamara, courtesy of HBO]
Here's Garrett riding a 78-foot wave in Nazaré, Portugal, which broke a world record. He has since surfed bigger waves, but they weren't measured officially at the time he caught them...
Here's Anderson Cooper of CBS News with Garrett 10 years ago...
And here's the trailer for Season 2 of 100-Foot Wave...
Also last week in the WSJ, my monthly Arts in Review essay on albums celebrating a 50th anniversary that changed music history. This month, I wrote about Bob Marley and the Wailers' Catch a Fire and how it inspired American and British hard rockers and put reggae on the global map (go here).
Here's Bob Marley's Concrete Jungle from Catch a Fire...
Bobby Hackett. Following my post on the trumpeter and cornetist, I heard from Hank O'Neal, author, producer, great guy and founder of Chiaroscuro Records:
Hi Marc. So glad to see nice remarks about Bobby, who, along with Gene Krupa and Milt Hinton, was one of the nicest guys I ever recorded. But did you know he also played guitar with Glenn Miller? And in 1970, a couple of years after his time with Enoch Light being mellow, I recorded him for three weeks or so at the Roosevelt Grill. From those sessions we were able to assemble four LPs and, later, 4 CDs. The Roosevelt recordings were the only ones I ever undertook where the artist—Bobby—set up and helped run the tape recorders.
Bobby was a tape recording/Hi-Fi fanatic. We even used one of his tape recorders as a safety machine, an old Webcor. After each set, he'd come back and check things. During maybe two of the weeks, Atlantic had a truck parked on Vanderbilt Avenue, near the venue. They were recording Yank Lawson and Bobby Hackett's World's Greatest Jazz Band. The WGJB was alternating between the two musicians, sometimes these guys would relax backstage with me and listen on headphones.
Goodness knows how much Atlantic's Nesuhi Ertegun spent on the truck. I had Sherman Fairchild's two-track ReVox, three microphones and a cheap little six in/two out experimental Sony mixer that the Sony techies had given Sherman to try out, along with the small C-22 (I think) microphones I was using. Bobby's quintet came out just as well as the WGJB. But why not. He had Vic Dickenson, Dave McKenna, Jack Lesberg, Milt Hinton and Cliff Leeman!
A correction. In my post on Hackett last week, I mistakenly wrote that Hackett played the trumpet solo on Glenn Miller's At Last in Orchestra Wives. Last week I heard from Lance Liddle in the U.K. of Bebop Spoken Here:
Hi Marc, according to George T. Simon in his Glenn Miller biography, he wrote that Johnny Best ghosted the trumpet solos on Orchestra Wives. In addition, apart from "String of Pearls," Hackett played mainly guitar with Miller. [Photo above of Johnny Best]
I have adjusted my earlier post.
Ahmad Jamal. Following my appreciation post of Ahmad Jamal following the pianist's death on April 16, I heard from many readers, among them Devra Hall Levy, the daughter of guitarist Jim Hall and the widow of John Levy [photo above of John Levy by Tom Pich/NEA]:
Marc, as you know, John was Ahmad’s manager in the mid 1950s. While the management relationship lasted only a few years, they remained life-long friends and, to the end, whenever Ahmad knew John was in the audience he’d play “Spring Is Here” because he knew it was John’s favorite. Here’s a brief reminiscence from my book with John, “Men, Women, and Girl Singers” (page 119):
"Ahmad Jamal and I had known each other for many years. I first met him back in Chicago when he was still known as Fritz Jones. I heard him working at a club on 47th Street in Chicago and became a fan immediately. The group was called The Three Strings, and it was one of those groups without a drummer, just him on piano with Ray Crawford on guitar and Eddie Calhoun on bass. I used to refer to Eddie as Barry Fitzgerald because I thought he looked like the Irish actor.
When I was managing him, Ahmad switched to a standard trio format, replacing the guitar with drums played by Vernel Fournier. Israel Crosby took over on bass. The format was the only thing standard about that group. I felt that they had a really different sound from other groups. One thing that made a difference was Israel, who developed some wonderfully melodic bass lines for the tunes they played. By playing these melodic patterns instead of the usual bass-note chord progressions, Israel made the bass act as an added harmonic instrument rather than just rhythmic accompaniment. This fit right in with Ahmad’s musical concept. 'I go for the orchestral sound, no matter how many pieces I’ve got,' Ahmad told me.
The trio was hired to be the house band at Chicago’s Pershing Hotel, and in 1958 they recorded a live show there. 'But Not For Me' was the name of the album, and it contained a rendition of the tune 'Poinciana' that remains famous today. I believe it was Israel’s bass line on that song that helped create the hit. That album made it to the top 10 on the charts and stayed in the top ten for 108 weeks!"
Ahmad Jamal appeared on Marian McPartland's NPR radio show Piano Jazz in 1985 [photo above of Ahmad Jamal by Tom Pich/NEA]. You'll find their conversation and piano playing on the full episode here...
Ahmad Jamal. Pianist Joe Alterman sent along a link to his recollections of Ahmad, who took Joe under his wing and became a mentor. Go here.
Bill Evans. One of the most important Bill Evans finds in the last 20 years is coming soon—Bill Evans Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-69)—a three-LP/three-CD set from producer Zev Feldman and Elemental Music. I wrote the liner notes and will be posting about this extraordinary album as we get closer to its release date.
Yesterday, photographer Giles D'Elia in Paris alerted me to a Radio France broadcast about the album and an essay, both of which are in French. A warm salute to the hosts of this broadcast. Go here.
Jack Sheldon. Last week, at his blog, director Raymond De Felitta posted at his blog on black-and-white footage he found on YouTube shot behind the scenes during the filming of The Sandpiper (1965). [Photo above of Jack Sheldon]
Since the home movie is silent, Raymond also provided the film's theme by Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis Webster—The Shadow of Your Smile. It's the vocal version arranged for 12 voices. To read Raymond's post and watch the clips, Go here.
I'll add one more clip: Here's one of the most beautiful movie openings (until Chinatown in 1974), with trumpeter Jack Sheldon playing the theme. The music was composed by Johnny, recorded in April 1965 at M-G-M Studios Scoring Stage at Culver City, Calif., with the soundtrack's score produced by Quincy Jones, orchestrated by Billy Byers and conducted by Robert Armbruster...
Martin Scorsese. In the wake of my post on Martin Scorsese's Italianamerican (1974), Tom Fine sent along a link to another dinner Scorsese had with his parents, this time in 1988. Go here...
And finally,here's Olga Guillot singing La Mentira, from the Mexican film Matar es Facil (1966)...
On July 13, 1960, pianist Bud Powell performed at the Antibes Jazz Festival on the French Riviera. His on-camera solo recording of Sweet and Lovely and Swing Napoli have been colorized, giving Powell and his playing a new, more vivid dimension. Two notes of interest. Powell didn't sit straight at the piano but off to the side. He also rarely looked at the keyboard, which is remarkable.
And here's Powell with Charles Mingus (b), Eric Dolphy (as), Ted Curson (tp), Booker Ervin (ts) and Danny Richmond (d). Powell takes an astonishing solo here...
Last weekend, I posted about a beautiful new album by Aymée Nuviola that came across my desk thanks to Lydia Liebman—Havana Nocturne. Aymée is a multi-Grammy-winning Cuban singer who now lives in Miami with her husband, Paulo. Her new album is devoted to the filin style, which means that the album's songs focus on deeply felt Cuban ballads. [Photo above of Aymée Nuviola, courtesy of Aymée Nuviola]
By Monday, Aymée had reached out by email to thank me for the mention and did so with such a lovely, gracious note. So while I had her on email, I asked if we could do a JazzWax interview. She was overjoyed.
Here in America, we take a great deal for granted, including freedom. For everyone who narrowly escaped hardship and repression elsewhere and arrived here with little more than their culture, freedom isn't something to trifle with but something to nourish, preserve and celebrate. Aymée does this wonderfully through her music and spirit. [Photo above of Aymée Nuviola, courtesy of Aymée Nuviola]
Before I share out e-conversation, here's a bit of music from Aymée:
You'll find Aymée's new Havana Nocturne (Worldwide) here.
Here's Aymée performing La Gota Fría last year at the Grammy Awards in Las Vegas...
And here's a mini-doc on the recording of her new album...
And now, here's my e-interview with Aymée Nuviola:
JazzWax: Where did you grow up in Havana, Cuba? Were your parents musical? Aymée Nuviola: I grew up in the San Leopoldo neighborhood, in the heart of Havana. We were surrounded by music, so I heard many different musical styles and rhythms. I heard rumbas in the corridors. I heard danzones in my house played by my uncle, who paid for his medical studies by playing them in Havana clubs at night. And I listened to the classical piano of my mother, Adelaida, who was and is an excellent player and gave lessons in our living room.
JW: Did you go see live music as well? AN: Of course! The best Cuban musicians and singers met in San Leopoldo, where they played all kinds of music and had jazz jams. I also knew great musicians from my generation, like pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba. We were children together and went to the same music school. Even though he is older than me, we still had a great musical affinity that we’ve cultivated over the years.
JW: Were your siblings musical when you were young? AN: I have three siblings. My older sister, Lourdes, is the oldest, and an excellent singer. I also have two younger brothers, one of whom, Pupi, is a terrific percussionist. My youngest brother is Nelson, the same name as my father. My mother composed songs and taught me to sing. For several years when we were young, Lourdes and I performed as a vocal duo. That’s how we became known in Cuba’s musical universe. Our cousin, Luis Bofill, is a singer of traditional Cuban music such as guaracha and son. All my cousins were around my house, dancing or playing instruments. [Photo above of Aymée, left, and her sister Lourdes Nuviola]
JW: What did your family house look like? AN: Like one of those Colonial houses with high ceilings, thank goodness, otherwise there wouldn't have been enough air space for so much music. The piano was under the main window of the room next to the front door. So the music entertained the entire neighborhood looking out their windows. They were my first audience.
JW: What was your source of musical influence growing up? AN: My earliest influences came from my parents, who listened to classical and popular music. I’d hear Chopin, Debussy, Mozart, Beethoven, Ernesto Lecuona, Ignacio Cervantes, Benny Moré and Omara Portuondo—so a whole mix of sounds and styles. Then, after I started to study at Havana’s School of Music, I began to expand my horizons to the music of America and Brazil. I was growing and discovering all the possibilities that music had to offer and the many ways it could be used. [Photo above of Ernesto Lecuona]
JW: And Cuban music? AN: I greatly admired soneo singer Benny Moré. He is one of the greatest and most complete popular artists that my country has produced. I also met and listened to the great Celia Cruz and greatly regretted not having enjoyed her when I was a child. Back then, she was and still is prohibited in Cuba. She left Cuba in 1960 and never returned. [Photo above of Benny Moré]
JW: When did you start singing? AN: At first I sang for my parents and then in the Casa de la Trova section nearby, which is the meeting place of Cuban musicians and music lovers on Saturday nights. Soon after, my sister and I formed Duo Las Nuviola. We competed in the annual Todo el Mundo Canta contest and finished in first place. Our lives changed, since we were the youngest artists to win this contest. I was 15 and my sister was 17. All of Cuba knew us, since this contest was televised there. The Cuban people warmly celebrate new artists who emerge and sing different musical genres.
JW: Did you take music lessons? AN: I took singing lessons with a Cuban teacher, Jorge Luis Pacheco. He taught me how to position my voice and how to breathe correctly. This happened at the start of my professional career. I also haven't stopped playing and studying the piano. For some years, I accompanied my sister and me in Las Nuviola Duo. But over time our singing styles changed. I then accompanied myself on piano.
JW: What did you and your sister do as your styles changed? AN: My sister and I performed on the same bill with the Cuban orchestra known as Pachito Alonso y sus Kini Kini. After several years, we decided to become a unified group, with my sister and me singing a different repertoire and uniting on some songs. Instead of performing as a duet, we focused on our more individual and personalized styles according to our individual musical inclinations. To my parents' credit, they did everything possible so we wouldn't experience shortcomings. They also gave us the best education as possible as well as love and a lot of music. Both helped us endure many difficult things.
JW: When and how did you leave Cuba? AN: In 1995, the band that I had with my sister was invited to the Limón Carnival in Costa Rica. The Cuban government gave us permission to travel, which was fortunate, since leaving Cuba was impossible without that permission. Once there, we stayed for six years. On that trip, my sister and brother, Pupi, were able to leave the group. The three of us were given a contract by a hotel, where we played five nights a week for six years. Then we found a hotel in Cancun, Mexico, that offered us another contract. With the money we were able to save during those years, the three of us were able to move to the U.S. and settle in Miami. Once here, we were able to send for my my mother. My cousin, Luis, had already been able to reach Miami through Germany, so we all got together and started making music together to sustain ourselves in those early years.
JW: What about your youngest brother and father? AN: My youngest brother, Nelson, managed to escape with the help of a French friend he met in Havana. His friend helped him escape to France, where he has lived ever since and raised a family. I have an 11-year-old niece, but we didn't see Nelsito for 15 years, until we were able to have a family reunion in Miami. Now we see each other every so often in France when I'm on tour. My father, Nelson Sr., stayed alone in Havana and re-married. He is 70, and I'm making a legal claim to bring him to Miami so he can live free for the rest of his life. My album, Havana Nocturne, is a way of rescuing the memories of a resplendent pre-1959 Havana that I never knew but felt in my soul thanks to family anecdotes, good music and a lot of nostalgia. Those afternoons at home are my most treasured memories.
JW: And how did you meet your husband, Paulo? AN: We met a few years later at a concert in Miami where I was invited to sing a couple of my songs at a club called Hoy Como Ayer. Paulo was in the audience. At the end of the performance, he came backstage to greet us. A very nice friendship started, and we married in 2011. For many years he was production director of sales and marketing at the Univision TV network, the largest provider of Spanish-language content in the U.S. At the same time, he produced the first two albums we made together—En La Intimidad and First Class to Havana. The latter album was twice nominated for a Grammy and a Latin Grammy in the same year. As my career began to take off, Paulo decided to dedicate himself exclusively to me as my manager and producer. [Photo above of Paulo Simeon of Worldwide Entertainment and Productions Inc. in Miami]
JW: Tell me about your new album? AN: It's a very personal tribute to filin. My parents met at the house of a famous Cuban singer—Moraima Secada. She created a special interpretation of filin. Both of my parents were filineros—big fans. They loved those songs that touched the hearts of many and that spoke of love and heartbreak of passions and sleepless nights yearning for romance. My father sang, although he never dedicated himself to the artistic life. But he had an extensive discography of all these filin composers and singers who made Havana nights great with their music and his interpretations. They instilled in me a love of these Jazz-influenced boleros and taught me many of the ones I selected for my album. For me, the Cuban filin is the most sublime way to preserve and interpret a song. It has all the emotional charge and feeling that makes songs immortal.
JW: For those unfamiliar with Cuban filin, which five singers and albums would you recommend? AN: Uff, let me try: Omara Portuondo, José Antonio Mendez, Elena Burke, César Portillo de La Luz, Ángel Díaz, Marta Valdés, Meme Solis and Frank Dominguez, because they are founders of the old school. I also would recommend David Oquendo, Francisco "Pancho" Cespedes and the recently deceased Pablo Milanes as very important followers of the filin style.
JW: What do you love about Miami? AN: I love the climate, which reminds me of Cuba, as well as the mixture of nationalities, cultures, rhythms and flavors. There's something about this city that makes me feel at home and protected. Its geographical location is also very convenient for traveling to any part of the world, which is important for a touring artist like me. And Miami is considered the capital of Latin music, so important and influential figures in Latin music live here.
JW: You’ve won so many awards, and your film performance as Celia Cruz was really special. What’s next? AN: To keep going and not to stop! I will continue to respect the tradition of Cuban music but also incorporate new music trends into it. Everything I do is my legacy for future generations. I am responsible for interpreting the lyrics' message as well as the melodies and harmonies. They are my gift to all who listen to me.
JW: What do you miss most about Havana? AN: I miss the Malecón, the road, esplanade and seawall that runs along the coast. I love the smell of the sea and salt, and the waves that break against the wall, splashing everyone who thinks they can get close and remain dry. The Malecón reminds me of my youth and my innocence—sitting on the ocean wall at night and singing songs in the moonlight, accompanied by a friend's guitar. I don’t know when or if I’ll ever be able to return and enjoy that again. But it's still in my heart.
In 1967 and '68, cornetist Bobby Hackett recorded a pair of gorgeous LPs with strings on the Project 3 Total Sound label—That Midnight Touch and A Time for Love. In 1979, both albums with sterling fidelity were released as a two-fer by Project 3 as The Memorable & Mellow Bobby Hackett. With the advent of the CD player in the 1980s, the double album was issued on CD in 1986.
Now, in 2023, I'm providing these beautiful albums to you as a Backgrounder. But first, some history. Hackett was a Chicago-jazz and swing-era, big-band veteran best known for his years in the Glenn Miller Orchestra. [Photo above of Bobby Hackett in the late 1940s by William P. Gottlieb]
In the 1950s, Hackett on cornet recorded extensively for Capitol on a stretch of mood-music ballad albums geared for dating and unwinding. By the late 1950s, he reprised his wandering sound on the many Jackie Gleason Orchestra albums designed to accomplish the goal of chilling out at home in the suburbs.
If you want to buy That Midnight Touch and A Time for Love, Fresh sound has both albums on a single CD here. For now, here's my ad-free Backgrounder featuring Hackett and his cornet..
Marc Myers writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and is author of "Anatomy of 55 More Songs," "Anatomy of a Song," "Rock Concert: An Oral History" and "Why Jazz Happened." Founded in 2007, JazzWax has won three Jazz Journalists Association awards.
