This week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed two-time Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Hilary started with nothing. She dropped out of high school in her sophomore year and lived with her mother in their car in Los Angeles as her mother cold-called agents with hopes of getting her daughter signed. [Photo above of Hilary Swank in Ordinary Angels, courtesy of Lionsgate]
How good is her new film, Ordinary Angels? Here's Hilary in a scene with Alan Ritchson (Reacher)...
Last week...
The Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)—No serial killers, aliens, former snipers with a grudge or ex-CIA agents sold out by nefarious bosses. Just a gentle film about a family helped out by a stranger with a secret connection to the widow's dead husband. I so wish the feel-good genre would return. (Netflix)
Monsieur Spade (2024)—This series checks in with Sam Spade in 1963, when the hard-bitten detective is living in the South of France and is needed after six nuns in town are murdered. (AMC)
Past recommendations...
TV series
- The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
- The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
- Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
- Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix)
- Belgravia—(2020/Prime Video)
- Bosch—(2014-2021/Prime)
- Bosch: Legacy—(2022-current/Prime)
- The Crown—(Netflix)
- Cherif—(2013-2019/Prime)
- Dark Winds—(2022/AMC)
- The Diplomat—(2023/Netflix)
- Downton Abbey—(2020-2015/Prime)
- Feud (S1): Bette and Joan—(2017/Hulu)
- Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans—(2024/FX, with streaming on Hulu)
- Fisk—(2021/Netflix)
- Godless (2017/Netflix)
- Goliath—(2016-2021/Prime)
- The Gilded Age—(current/Max)
- High Water—(2022/Neflix)
- Homeland (2011-2020/Showtime)
- Jane Eyre (2006/Britbox)
- Justified—(2010-2015/Hulu)
- Life & Beth—(Seasons 1& 2, 2022-present/Hulu)
- Lincoln Lawyer—(2022-present/Netflix)
- Loudermilk—(2017-2020/Netflix)
- MI-5, the Series—(2002-2011/BritBox)
- 1923—(2022-present/Paramount+)
- 1883—(2021-2022/Prime)
- Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
- Pieces of Her—(2022/Netflix)
- Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
- Reacher—(2016-present/Netflix)
- Turn: Washington's Spies—(2014-2017/Prime)
- Unbelievable—(2019/Netflix)
- Veronica Mars—(2004 to 2019/Hulu)
- The Watcher (2022/Netflix)
- The Woman in the Wall—Due in January (Showtime)
- Yellowstone—(2018-present/Paramount Network)
Films
- The Accountant—(2016/Hulu)
- American Gangster—(2007/Max).
- Armageddon Time—(2022/Prime)
- The Ballad of Buster Scruggs—(2018/Netflix)
- The Ballad of Lefty Brown—(2017/Netflix)
- The Dig (2021/Netflix)
- Eiffel—(2021/Prime)
- Enola Holmes 1 and 2—(2022/Netflix)
- The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3—(2014-2024/Prime)
- Fury—(2014/Netflix)
- God's Country—(2022/Hulu)
- Guy Ritchie's The Covenant—(2023/Prime)
- Jack Reacher (the movie)—(2012/Paramount+)
- Kill Chain—(2019/Max)
- Knight and Day—(2010/Roku)
- Last Night in Soho—(2021/Prime)
- Last Seen Alive—(2020/Netflix)
- Man on Fire—(2004/Max)
- MI-5—(2015/Max)
- The Mule—(2018/Netflix)
- The Night Agent—(2023/Netflix)
- Nobody—(2021/Prime)
- Ordinary Angels—(2024)
- Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
- The Queen's Gambit—(2020/Netflix)
- Queenpins—(2021/Pluto TV)
- Reptile—(2023/Netflix)
- Self Reliance—(2023/Hulu)
- Seraphim Falls—(2006/Netflix)
- Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
- The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
- Spy(les)—(2009/Prime)
- The Stranger—(2022/Netflix)
- Toscana—(2022/Netflix)
- The Two Popes—(2019/Netflix)
- Wonder Wheel—(2017/Prime)
Documentaries
- Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake—(2022/Netflix)
- Carole King: Live in Central Park—(2023/PBS)
- The Comeback—(2005 and 2014/Max)
- Cunk on Earth—(2022/Neflix)
- Five Came Back—(2017/Netflix)
- The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
- 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here)
Rudy Van Gelder. Following my review of Mike LeDonne's new album, Wonderful!, engineered by Maureen Sickler at Van Gelder Studios, I heard from Maureen:
Thanks, Marc. Nice to see credit and approval for keeping Rudy's legendary place alive and functioning. We now have a Preservation Easement in place from the New Jersey Historic Trust (photo above), to protect the building.
You haven't been out to see the National plaque yet so I've attached a photo (above).
Martin Mull. Last week following my post on twangy guitars, I heard from Mark Rabin [photo above of Martin Mull, courtesy of the Television Academy]:
Hi, Marc. Your post about twangy guitars brought to mind the Martin Mull song "Licks Off of Records" played with Glen Campbell (go here)...
I first heard Martin play it at the Boarding House in San Francisco in 1976. He toured with a full band and backup singers to support his albums, including "Martin Mull & His Fabulous Furniture in Your Living Room." I still have that and two of his other albums on vinyl.
Chiaroscuro Records, the label founded by Hank O'Neal, is now on YouTube. Go here.
Enrico Le Noci—Common Ground (Zennez). For this album, Italian guitarist Enrico Le Noci assembled a crackerjack organ combo with just the right soul-jazz feel. The quartet here features Enrico on guitar, Eric Ineke on drums, Arno Krijger on organ and Pietro Mirabassi on tenor saxophone. The songs are all originals by Enrico and are influenced by his passion for the blues. Quite an album when you consider that the quartet is comprised of three generations of jazz musicians from different parts of Europe. You'll find the album streaming at Spotify here.
Here's the group performing Pied Fries in the Netherlands...
And from the album, here's the title track...
Sonny Stitt radio. Sid Gribetz will host a five-hour radio special featuring saxophonist Sonny Stitt on Sunday, February 25, 2 to 7 p.m. (ET) on WKCR-FM's “Jazz Profiles” in New York. You can listen from anywhere in the world by going here.
And finally, here are five live organ-jazz clips:
Here's Jimmy McGriff in France in the late 1960s...
Here's Rhoda Scott in Europe in 1972...
Here's Rhoda in 1974...
Here's Shirley Scott in 1976...
And here's organist Charles Earland with fellow Hammondistas Jimmy McGriff, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Johnny "Hammond" Smith in the 1990s...
Note: You can read my interview with Rhoda Scott here.