In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed Geezer Butler, Black Sabbath's founder, bassist and lyricist, for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Geezer talked about how his mother kept him warm at night as a child in a Birmingham, England, house without central heating, his love of Lonnie Donegan and skiffle, and what it was like growing up poor with a passion for music. [Photo above of Geezer Butler by Stephen J. Cohen, courtesy of Wikipedia]
Vic Lewis. Following my Backgrounder post on Vic Lewis Plays Bossa Nova at Home and Abroad, Tom Fine sent along a wonderfully written and narrated minidoc on the Pan Am 707 Clipper pictured on the album's cover. Go here...
Bonus: Tom also sent along this fascinating news report of a Pam Am 707 Clipper that landed safely following a near-catastrophic engine fire minutes after takeoff from San Francisco in 1965. Go here...
I also heard from Rosemary Acerra, the daughter of arranger Nelson Riddle (above) who orchestrated for Vic Lewis when he was at EMI:
Marc, I loved Vic, and Dad really enjoyed working with him. They had a great time together. Vic was such a cricket fan, and we all went to a match when Dad and Mom took us over in 1964.
How good were Riddle's charts for Vic Lewis? Here's Basic Riddle in July 1962 (which I used as my show opener when I did a few for Jazz.FM97 in Toronto some years back)...
Basic Riddle - Take 5 (Issued Take)
The end of West Coast jazz? Joe Lang sent along a link to his essay on the last of the Los Angeles Jazz Institute's West Coast jazz festivals produced by the mighty Ken Poston since 1991. Here's Joe's opener...
Beginning with "Back to Balboa," a four-day celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Stan Kenton Orchestra that took place in Newport Beach in 1991, producer Ken Poston has presented over 40 multi-day events with themes centering around individuals such as Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson, Count Basie, Terry Gibbs, Bill Holman and Frank Sinatra, as well as celebrations of genres of jazz like West Coast Jazz, Bebop, West Coast Big Bands, East Coast Sounds, Latin Jazz, International Big Bands, Broadway Music, and Jazz Vocalists of the West Coast in the 1950s. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and "The Creative World of Stan Kenton" was the final event in this remarkable series.
For more, go here.
Dave Thompson, a beautiful pianist, sent along a link to one of his practice sessions eight years ago after going through old music files. Go here...
From Buenos Aires, With Love. Last week, Roberto Sarfati, founder and sound recording restorer, and Diego Vila, both of Lantower Records in Buenos Aires, Argentina, emailed me to let me know that two more of their warmly restored albums are now up at Spotify:
Astor Piazzolla y su Quinteto Tango Nuevo en Vivo Buenos Aires 1963—go here.
Muddy Waters Blues Band Live Paris 1968—go here.
Leslie Pintchik, a pianist I last posted about in 2018, will perform with her trio in New York on June 21 at the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation at 87 Eldridge Street at 7 p.m. The trio features Leslie on piano, Scott Hardy on bass and Michael Sarin on drums. For tickets and more information, go here.
And finally, in keeping with the Juneteenth celebrations this weekend, I found a 1968 TV special featuring Diana Ross and the Supremes with the Temptations. And yes, 1968 was a glorious year for fashion, music, TV and movies. Everything suddenly seemed to be in color, loud and alive. But it was also an ugly year in terms of the war in Vietnam and national bitterness, violence and assassinations. From a pre-teen's perspective, this TV special was groovy beyond all expectations, especially if your friend had a color TV:
