Carlos, Giorgio and Tito

Last week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed former NBA star Carlos Boozer for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). A fascinating childhood story that started with a murder on a Washington, D.C., basketball court that resulted in a family move to Alaska to escape urban threats and start a new life. Carlos has a wonderful memoir out (here). [Photo above of Carlos Boozer in 2011 with the Chicago Bulls, courtesy of Wikipedia]

Here's a compilation reel of Boozer in action on four different NBA teams...

Stories behind the hits. JazzWax is free because I know readers love it. Instead of asking you to make an annual contribution, I'm urging you to buy my new paperback edition for yourself or as a gift. You will love it and so will friends and family. Best of all, I added three new songs to the paperback edition that the hardback didn't include last year. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and happiness to those on the receiving end of your generosity. Go here.

Dave Brubeck. Following my post on the new album Dave Brubeck: Live From the Northwest, 1959, I heard from author-photographer and Chiaroscuro Records-founder Hank O'Neal:

Hi Marc. Great post, and thanks for the heads up. Recording engineer Wally Heider was one of the best live-recording guys around in those years. I'll bet those tapes were hidden away by him. In 1981, John Hammond and I worked on some tapes Wally had of the Basie band at its best during the Roulette years. John wanted to release them on his new label, and Wally wanted us to do so. But there were two problems.

One, Hammond Music was broke, and two, Basie was under contract to Roulette when the tapes were made. Roulette meant Morris Levy. I called Levy and made an appointment to meet with him. I explained what we wanted to do, and he couldn't have been nicer. It was basically an "anything for John" kind of response. So my one and only encounter with Morris Levy was a good one. I think I still have a few rolls of tape from Wally hidden away in the Chiaroscuro archive. We never issued the Basie material. Maybe someone else did.

But hooray for Dave. So nice the recording has seen the light of day. When I put together the first Chiaroscuro studio at New York's New School in 1969-70, the first tape recorder was a portable four-track Scully I bought from Wally. We recorded all the Jazz at the New School records on it.

What I watched. Below are the movies and TV series I have watched and strongly recommend. No new additions, since I spent the past week pushing through the stunning series 1883. Here's the list thus far:

• Wonder Wheel (2017/Prime)
• The Mule (2018/Netflix)
• Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake (2022/Netflix)
• The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari (2022/Netflix)
• The Stranger (2022/Netflix).
• Dark Winds (2022/AMC)
• 1883 (2021-2022/Paramount+)
• Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
• Spy(les) (2009/Prime)
• God's Country (2022/Hulu)
• MI-5 (2015/Max)
• Guy Ritchie's The Covenant (2023/Prime)
• Kill Chain (2019/Max)
• Five Came Back (2017/Netflix)
• Reptile (2023/Netflix)
• Fisk (2021/Netflix)
• Man on Fire (2004/Max)
• Nobody (2021/Prime)
• Eiffel (2021/Prime)
• Justified (2010-2015/Hulu)
• The Diplomat (2023/Netflix)
• The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3 (2014-2018/Prime)
• Armageddon Time (2022/Prime)
• Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
• Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
• Turn: Washington's Spies—(2014-2017/Prime)
• The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
• Enola Holmes 1 and 2—(2022/Netflix)
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs—(2018/Netflix)
• Goliath—(2016-2021/Prime)
• Lincoln Lawyer—(2022-present/Netflix)
• Downton Abbey—(2020-2015/Prime)
• The Spy (2019/Netflix)
• Pieces of Her (2022/Netflix)
• Unbelievable (2019/Netflix)
• Yellowstone (2018-present/Paramount Network)
• The Accountant (2016/Hulu)
• The Crown (2016-2023/Netflix)
• The Queen's Gambit (2020/Netflix)
• Last Night in Soho (2021/Prime)
• Purple Hearts (2022/Netflix)

Papa Was a Rolling Stone. Following my post on Daryl Hall's cover of the Motown hit on Live at Daryl's House, I heard from Adam Babich:

Hi Marc. I can beat the version you posted with one by guitarist Lee Ritenour that featured Chris Botti, no less. Go here...

Claudia Villela—Cartas ao Vento (Taina). Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Claudia this fall released an album of 10 originals on which she sings and plays piano. The album is her first recorded in Rio, having lived in San Francisco since the mid-1980s. Like many female Brazilian vocalists who have preceded her, Claudia's voice flows in Portuguese with minimal vibrato, producing a beautiful, natural tone. Each of the tracks is a song of passion, and no two sound alike. Her trio remains constant throughout—Villela with Jorge Helder on bass and Marcelo Costa on drums and percussion. The rest of the personnel shifts from song to song, depending on the coloration chosen by Villela and the different arrangers. With these songs, Villela projects joyous heartbreak, as if the singer has suffered but is relieved to be free of what ailed her. A gem of an album by a vocalist whose soul clearly has always been in Rio, even if she was a local hit in San Francisco. You'll find the album on streaming platforms and here.

Here's a promo...

Here's the title track...

Stefanie Joosten—Intermission (Revenge). Curious to know what Giorgio Moroder has been up to lately? I was. I last interviewed Giorgio in 2018, when I was writing about Donna Summer's On the Radio. The synthbeat mastermind behind Summer's late 1970s and early '80s hit albums as well as film soundtracks such as Midnight Express, American Gigolo, Top Gun and Scarface has teamed up with Stefanie Joosten. The Dutch model, singer and actress who lives in Japan has just released a nifty new club album, Intermission, which features Giorgio's electro-dance atmospherics. In short, Giorgio still has it. You'll find Stefanie's album on streaming platforms and here. 

Here's Logistics...

Dave Thompson. Here's Dave working through 'Round Midnight...

In New York next week? Head over to Birdland to catch the Django Reinhardt NY Festival, produced by Pat Philips. Dorado Schmitt and his sons, Samson and Amati, and Peter Beets will have the audience on its feet. I saw them last year, and we were standing and shouting at the end. They will be at Birdland from November 14 to 19. Special nightly guests include:

• November 14 - Anat Cohen (clarinet/sax)
• November 15 - Edmar Castaneda (jazz Harp)
• November 16 - Ken Peplowski (clarinet)
• November 17 - Madeleine Peyroux - 8:30 (vocalist/guitar)
• November 17 - Ken Peplowski - 10:30
• November 18 - Randy Brecker (trumpet)
• November 19 - Houston Person (tenor saxophone)

For more Birdland and Festival information and tickets, go here.

FM Radio Archive. Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive has a new batch of free concert broadcasts for readers this week [photo above of Pharoah Sanders by Quentin Leboucher, courtesy of the National Endowment of the Arts]:

Dave Brubeck—is featured in a 2008 NPR Jazz Profiles episode, hosted by Nancy Wilson. Go here.

Pharoah Sanders—has two broadcast recordings on FMRA, one from Paris in 1975 and the other from London in 2011. Go here.

Daryl Hall is featured in three episodes of "Daryl's House," with Sharon Jones (2010), Booker T Jones (2011) and Amos Lee (2014). Go here.

And finally, sitting down? Here's the Tito Puente Orchestra playing Gigi Gryce's Nica's Tempo...