Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actor Rich Sommer for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Rich is best known for his starring roles in the film The Devil Wears Prada and the TV series Mad Men. Now he's in the new film BlackBerry and in the HBO series White House Plumbers. [Photo above of Rich Sommer with Woody Harrelson in HBO's White House Plumbers by Phil Caruso/HBO]
Here's Rich as Harry Crane in Mad Men...
And here's the BlackBerry trailer...
Why Jazz Happened, the Audio Book. My 2016 look at the external forces that altered jazz movements is now available as an audio book, and it sounds great, thanks to Peter Lerman, who has just the right tempo, vocal timbre and articulation. Go here.
Don Sebesky. Neil Genzlinger at The New York Times wrote a swell obit of arranger-composer Don Sebesky [photo above of Don Sebesky in the studio, courtesy of Don Sebesky/Joe DeVico, JVD Music]. Go here.
Roger Kellaway was in town earlier this month at New York's Mezzrow Jazz Club. The pianist was recording a new album and played a couple of nights live. You can catch him thanks to the club's video archive. [Photo above of Roger Kellaway]
Here's Roger with Jay Leonhart on bass and Dennis Mackrel on drums on May 3...
And here's the trio on May 4...
Bossa nova. As the bossa nova grew in popularity in the early 1960s, the infectious beat became a dance craze. Like disco and the hustle, the bossa nova became a global fad, sliding at times into silly. For example:
Here's a group learning the dance, with Walter Wanderley's Summer Samba overdubbed...
Here's Sacha Distel in Paris leading a line dance on the Seine for Ting Tong Bossa Nova in what appears to be bitter cold weather, in 1962...
Here's Australia's Shirley Regan Dancers swinging to Quincy Jones's Soul Bossa Nova on TV in 1963, a song released on Big Band Bossa Nova in 1962....
Three solid retro CD collections. Readers are always emailing to ask me about the best new pop collections by 1950s and 1960s artists. Here are three new ones that are terrific:
Tommy James and the Shondells: The Complete Singles Collection (1966-2006) (Rhino). From Hanky Panky to Long Ponytail, this two-CD set features 48 tracks that sound best listened from start to finish. Not only were Tommy's songs edgy for pop and influential but he also was one heck of a producer-engineer, taking steps to ensure that his singles and albums sounded terrific. He's also a prince. Go here.
Here's Tommy on I Think We're Alone Now in 1967...
And here's Mony Mony on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1969...
Dionne Warwick: The Complete Scepter Singles (1962-1973) (Real Gone). This three-CD set should also be heard from start to finish. You know all the big hits, but Warwick also recorded quite a few sleepers by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the Scepter label, including Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets, Window Washing and The April Fools. Seventy-four tracks of bliss. Go here.
Here's The April Fools...
Lush Exotica: The Exotic Sounds of Arthur Lyman (Righteous Records). I'm not a closet exotica fan but I know enough to separate the good from the bad. The style emerged in the early 1950s just as adults in America's suburbs were coping with boredom. This was especially true of homemakers left to deal with the kids, clean the house and have dinner ready for a husband who may or may not arrive home at a reasonable hour. In many respects, exotica was a sensual escape, an extension of mood music, which began in the mid-1940s as a way to help veterans overcome war anxieties and rejoin family life.
Exotica was relaxing, transportive music with elements of excitement, intrigue and danger. It employed the sounds and imagery of Hawaii, Polynesia, the Pacific Rim, the Amazon basin, the Andes, the Caribbean, Africa and other far-off places where wildlife and rituals flourished. The three giants of the form were Les Baxter, Martin Deny and Arthur Lyman. This collection focuses on Lyman and features all of his albums from 1958. The music has many kitschy moments but there's also lavish beauty in there. Go here.
Melvin Rhyne radio. On Sunday, from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET), Sid Gribetz will pay tribute to organist Melvin Rhyne by hosting a five-hour Jazz Profiles show on WKCR-FM in New York. To listen from anywhere in the world, go here. [Photo above of Melvin Rhyne]
And finally, rather than listen to Frank Sinatra albums, I tend to fixate on individual songs, listening to them over and over to soak up the arrangement, study the instrumental textures and hear Sinatra's vocal choices. This week was Tell Her from the much-overlooked Sinatra '65 album, arranged by Ernie Freeman. Interesting how Sinatra joins the choir at the opening, almost as a throwback to his Pied Piper days. Here's Tell Her, with Hal Blaine on drums...
