In The Wall Street Journal this past week, I interviewed former supermodel Cindy Crawford for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Cindy talked about the now-signature beauty mark over her lip, growing up in Illinois, working in local cornfields in high school, the worst day of her life and the afternoon a photographer approached her at a high school football game asking to shoot her for a local college weekly. The new Apple TV+ documentary The Super Models is terrific. An inside look that humanizes four top models who became friends and revolutionized fashion in the 1980s and '90s.
Here's the trailer...
Elis Regina. Last week, after my posts (here and here) on Elis Regina (above) and Antonio Carlos Jobim, I heard from pianist Harold Danko...
Hi Marc, thanks so much for alerting us to this important documentary. Below are links to my two favorite tracks by Elis:
Here's Waters of March...
Here's Folhas Secas...
Cal Tjader. Following my post on vibraphonist Cal Tjader (above), I heard from singer-songwriter Gary David...
Hi Marc, hope you're doing well. In the early 60's I had a trio in San Francisco. Curry Tjader, Cal's brother, was the drummer, and he also played vibes. We remained good friends until his death in 2001. I met Cal through his brother. Both were first-rate comedians. Curry told me this story about Cal. As you wrote: Cal died in May 1982 at age 56 while on tour in Manila, the Philippines, after a heart attack.
Cal had been having heart trouble before that while on tour in Japan. When he returned to the States and went to a doctor, this scene took place:
Doc: Well Cal it looks like your going-on-the-road days are over.
Cal: Doc, what if I go on the road and don't take any solos?
Clare Fischer. Following last week's Backgrounder on Clare Fischer's (above) Só Danço Samba, I heard from singer-songwriter Tammy Burdett...
Hi Marc, Clare Fischer brings back my Discovery Records gig. Clare came into the office every now and then to chew the fat with owner Albert Marx. My desk was in the office area, and Clare would sit and talk to me when Albert was on the phone. Music was always playing quietly in the background. I tried to keep up with Clare’s complicated conversations about music. He was really smart. One day he held up his hand in the middle of a sentence and said, referring to the background music: "The third violin just hit an A-flat instead of A-natural" (or something to that effect). I looked at him said, "You could hear that?" "Of course," he said.
I was working there when Albert recorded Clare’s group: 2+2. The album was "Free Fall." One of the girls in the group could sing about three octaves above middle C. That's Minnie Riperton territory. The group sang really close and difficult harmonies arranged by Fischer and stayed in tune with or without accompaniment. Quite something to hear. Clare was somewhat of a genius. Thanks again for the memory.
David Letterman. I don't know why this clip transfixes me, but it does. Here's David Letterman and a very tense interview with Cher (above) in 1986 that shows off her natural coolness and Letterman's gift for turning anxiety into laugh-out-loud humor. He remains the best late-night host of all time [photo above of Cher in Moonstruck, courtesy of MGM]...
Pharoah Sanders. Here's Pharoah Sanders in March 2011 playing You've Got to Have Freedom...
Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Here's the Vibration Society singing Kirk's Bright Moments. I saw the Vibration Society at Barry Harris's Jazz Cultural Theater in New York in the mid-1980s with Bill Hardman on trumpet and Junior Cook on tenor saxophone. A great evening...
Sari Schorr, whom I interviewed for JazzWax in 2020 here, is knocking out European audiences with her band. The blues-rock singer is now in Warsaw, Poland, writing songs for her next album. Recently, Sari (above) teamed with guitarist Robin Trower, to record a few songs. Here she is with Robin on the newly released I'll Be Moving On, a single from the upcoming album Joyful Sky...
If you are in Europe, Sari's tour schedule is here.
Georgy Girl. Last week, I heard from Chris Fine on the movie Georgy Girl (1966)
Hi Marc. Hope all is well with you. As always, thanks for all the good work you do.
I happened to watch "Georgy Girl" for the first time last night. It had been on the DVR for a long time, and we finally got to it. I remembered your column about the movie, and re-read it.
First, with respect to "Georgy Girl" overall, I thought it was more serious than the “swinging London” type of coverage it usually gets (I’m not talking about your coverage). There’s a dark underside to the film, which is why, in my view, it’s a significant work. I think it has more in common with the “angry man” British films of the 190s and early '60s than it does with the Carnaby Street era. I think the theme song might have overwhelmed the more serious aspects of the film. It is a great theme song, though.
I’ll read your Charlotte Rampling interview in the Wall Street Journal to get more details on her perspective.
There’s a scene early in the movie in which Georgy leads her young students in a dance program. Some of the music is playing on a tape recorder. There is an intriguing electronic piece that plays for the “crazy dance” segment. The overall dance sequence music is credited to Brian Hunter, but the electronic selection appears to be "Vibration," by Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan. I’ve been a fan of theirs for a long time. It took a bit of digging, but IMDb says that is the correct selection.
Here’s "Vibrations"...
For those who are interested, I found a clip of Dissevelt and Baltan at work in 1959. The narration is in Dutch but the video gives context to the music. This is similar technology to what was used by British pioneers like Delia Derbyshire and Daphne Oram at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Here it is...
And here are the movie's opening credits, with the theme song sung by the Seekers...
Ron Miles. Tom Csatari tells me that the late Ron Miles's long out-of-print album Woman's Day can finally be heard on Spotify here. The trumpeter recorded the album in 1997. [Photo above of Ron Miles by C. Andrew Hovan]
To hear the title track, go here...
Jerry Lewis was always quick to show his disdain for rock 'n' roll. Here's Lewis in action in Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958)...
Rufus Thomas radio. Recently Chris Cowles at RTC-FM in Hartford devoted his three-hour "Greasy Tracks" show to the very funky Rufus Thomas. To enjoy from anywhere in the world, go here and here. [Photo above of Rufus Thomas]
And finally, here's DJ Disco Cat's Purrfection revamp of Crown Heights Affair's Dreaming a Dream in 1975, the year disco kicked into high gear and before Saturday Night Fever mainstreamed and marginalized the music...
