Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actress Amanda Peet for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Amanda co-starred in the successful series Jack and Jill and in The Whole Nine Yards with Bruce Willis. She's now the cheated-upon wife in the Paramount+ miniseries Fatal Attraction. She's very funny and was a blast to interview. [Photo above of Amanda Peet courtesy of Paramount+]
Here's Amanda in The Whole Nine Yards...
And here's Amanda holding her own with Craig Ferguson...
Also in the WSJ, I wrote my monthly 50th anniversary album essay on Tower of Power's eponymous third LP, which deeply influenced bands that followed, particularly the Saturday Night Live band, which became the gold standard for the late-night TV talk-show sound (go here).
Here's Tower of Power on Soul Train in 1973 performing This Time It's Real....
And here are the Tower of Power horns on David Letterman in 1987...
Benny Green. Following my review of Benny Green's new album, Solo (Sunnyside), I heard from Jeffrey Abrahams:
Marc, You've had a great series of blog posts for quite a while but I've refrained from sending you a congratulatory note because I know you are generally swamped. I’m amazed you manage to accomplish all that you do.
However, I thought I would pass along a short, short story about Benny Green. When I moved to the Bay Area in 1980, my jazz musician friends (all college buds who moved to the Bay Area from Ohio) told me about a jam session in Berkeley I simply had to attend. The sessions were held weekly at the office of a Berkeley pediatrician named Dr. David Kittams. I think he had a piano in his waiting room. At these sessions was a teenage pianist, still in high school, named Benny Green.
He was phenomenal. And a thrill to listen to live and up close. The other musicians gave him a lot of room and respect. Later, he got hired by vocalist Betty Carter and toured with her as her pianist. Then he got booked to play Yoshi’s in Oakland for the first time as a headliner. I lived across the street from Yoshi’s for many years.
One night, I went to the club alone and sat at a table with an older couple. They turned out to be Benny’s parents. We had a fascinating chat about Benny's childhood and the blossoming of his talent. When I mentioned the jam sessions at Dr Kiddams’s office, they expressed their ire that he would
sneak out to join those sessions on a school night when he had homework to do.
Oh how I wish I could have recorded that conversation. And photographed their pride and joy watching Benny perform at such a storied venue as Yoshi’s. Thanks for doing what you do so brilliantly.
Johnny Dankworth. Following my post on British saxophonist Johnny Dankworth, I heard from singer Tammy Burdett:
Hi Marc. Thanks to Ray Brown, I attended the recording session of Cleo Laine and Dudley Moore’s album "Smilin’ Through" (1982). Ray produced the album. It was fun seeing Cleo and Dudley joking back and forth, although Cleo’s husband, Mr. Dankworth, was more about getting the job done. They soon realized they were a song short. I grabbed Ray’s arm and said “How about 'Soft Shoe',” which Ray and I co-wrote. Ray agreed and mentioned it.
"Where’s the music?," they asked. I told Ray I'd call home and get my son to bring it. I lived only a mile or so away. He did. They ran it down, and Cleo recorded it. When Ray was managing Ernestine Anderson, he asked me to arrange a few of the songs for her album, “Hello Like Before” (1976). Included was "Soft Shoe."
Ernestine was a bit reluctant to sing a song she wasn’t familiar with, but Ray was a difficult person to say “no” to. I haven’t heard either of these arrangements since they were done. My favorite arrangement of "Soft Shoe" was the instrumental Quincy Jones did for his album "I Heard That" (1976). I loved the intro.
Here's Quincy Jones with Toots Thielemans on harmonica...
Chet Baker. Last week, Gezinus Wolters sent along a link to a YouTube clip of Chet Baker in Belgium in 1964 playing Miles Davis's So What on flugelhorn. He was backed by Jacques Pelzer on saxophone, Rene Urtreger on piano, Luigi Trussardi on bass and Franco Manzecchi on drums. Here's the clip...
Bernt Rosengren, RIP. Last week, I heard from Jan Olsson in Sweden about the passing of the great tenor saxophonist Bernt Rosengren. He was 85.
Here's Bernt, on the right with Nisse Sandström (ts), Göran Strandberg (p), Sture Nordin (b) and Bengt Stark (d) playing Moon Lake in 1992...
Bill Evans. Last week, Dave Thompson, who loves pianist Bill Evans as much as I do and can play piano in Evans's style, sent along the image above and the following email:
Hi Marc. I was having coffee this morning when Myles, our standard poodle, came in and started watching Bill. The video was from YouTube and featured Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums, taped at the Molde Jazz Festival in August 1980. Myles, who isn't named for Miles Davis, watched for about 20 mins and was particularly fond of Bill's "Days of Wine and Roses." Here's the video...
Fania Records. As Tom Fine noted this week, Craft Recordings, a subsidiary of Concord, has been issuing salsa albums that appeared originally on the Fania label. Tom sent along a YouTube link to the great salsa documentary Our Latin Thing (1972), featuring the Fania All Stars. Here's the documentary:
More Latin. Since I am a huge mambo, cha-cha-cha, boogaloo and salsa fan, let me add two more clips. Here's Tito Rodriguez's El Guapeton (late 1950s)...
And here's Andy Durán leading his orchestra, with Juan José "El Indio" Hernández on lead vocal, on Cuando Cuando...
And here's Hector Lavoe and Ceilia Cruz performing Escharcha...
And finally, here's the great Teddy Pendergrass with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes on Soul Train singing The Love I Lost in 1973...
