Last week in The Wall Street Journal, for my monthly "Album@50" column for the Arts in Review section, I re-evaluated Joni Mitchell's Court and Spark (go here), which last month turned 50. I also got to catch up by phone with Tom Scott, who arranged the album and played on it with his band, the L.A. Express. Court and Spark sounds better than ever, thanks in great measure to Tom's arranging and the improvised moments by L.A. Express band members. As great as Help Me is as a song, I can't even imagine it without Express artists such as guitarist Larry Carlton, Tom on flute and baritone saxophone and Joe Sample on keyboards. [Photo above of Joni Mitchell, courtesy of the Joni Mitchell Archive]
Also gratified to see that Joni posted my essay on her site. You can read it for free here.
Here's Help Me...
Also in the WSJ, I interviewed English celebrity chef Jamie Oliver for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). His parents ran a gastro pub when he was little, which is where he learned to cook. During our Zoom, Chef Gennaro Contaldo stopped by Jamie's house and joined us. Jamie has a new cookbook out, 5 Ingredient Mediterranean here. [Photo above of Jamie Oliver courtesy of the Jamie Oliver Group]
Here's Jamie in Porto, Portugal, a few months ago...
What I'm watching now. Here's what I streamed last week and enjoyed (I have spared you the junk I had to endure). Past recommendations appear in the list below the new entries, for a handy reference:
Last week...
Watch Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans (2024). I told you about this terrific miniseries a month or so ago when I first watched it in advance of an interview. Now the series is here. Don't miss it. And while you're at it, check out Feud: Bette Davis Vs. Joan Crawford (FX, with streaming on Hulu)
Probably doesn't make much sense for me to let you know the series and films I'm watching now that are due in a few months, since you can't watch them until then. I'll let you know what I enjoyed as they roll out.
Past recommendations...
TV series
- The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
- The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
- Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix)
- Belgravia—(2020/Prime Video)
- Bosch—(2014-2021/Prime)
- Bosch: Legacy—(2022-current/Prime)
- The Crown—(Netflix)
- Dark Winds—(2022/AMC)
- The Diplomat—(2023/Netflix)
- Downton Abbey—(2020-2015/Prime)
- Feud (S1): Bette and Joan—(2017/Hulu)
- Fisk—(2021/Netflix)
- Goliath—(2016-2021/Prime)
- The Gilded Age—(current/Max)
- 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 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)
- Eiffel—(2021/Prime)
- Enola Holmes 1 and 2—(2022/Netflix)
- The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3—(2014-2024/Prime)
- 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)
- Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
- The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
- Spy(les)—(2009/Prime)
- The Stranger—(2022/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)
- Five Came Back—(2017/Netflix)
- The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
Joe LaBarbera sent along an email letting me know that his latest album, World Travelers, is now available on Apple Music, Spotify, Qobuz, Tidal, YouTube, Pandora, Deezer and Amazon Music as well as on LP format. To listen to this legendary drummer's latest recording, go here.
Philly Joe Jones. Following my post last week on drummer Philly Joe Jones's early 1960s quintet, I heard from Fresh Sound's Jordi Pujol:
Hi Marc. Thanks for the coverage. Philly Joe Jones's composition Bebe was never recorded in the studio, which means the live track on the Fresh Sound released you wrote about is the first and only documentation of the song's performance. The song, according to Jones, was dedicated to his mother-in-law.
From bassist Chuck Israels...
Marc, you have asked and partly answered why pianist Bill Evans, a pianist of subtlety, would enjoy playing with Philly Joe Jones's "cacophony" behind him. You wrote, "The appeal must have been Jones's drive, the nuanced stick figures and the shoving energy, which compelled musicians to up their game." All true, but also important was Philly Joe’s understanding and use of form.
He was a drummer who used the form to find opportunities to change texture, time fills for dramatic effect, and respond conversationally to the other members of the band—soloists and accompanists alike. He was loud, but so inspiring. His playing was both intelligent and urgent.
Not many drummers think they need to know the form of the music. The drummers that do are the ones I always wanted to play with, such as Larry Bunker, Max Roach, Roy Haynes and Bill Goodwin come to mind. If Bill Goodwin was playing something you knew, and the rest of the band were to stop, you could venture a good guess as to where you were in the piece just by listening to Bill’s playing. Philly Joe was like that too.
From Carl Woideck...
Marc, like you, I’ve mused as to why Bill Evans liked playing with Philly Joe Jones. Bill had already established that he could play aggressively (George Russell’s “Concerto for Billy the Kid," 1956; “All about Rosie,” 1957), but playing with abandon was not a facet of Evans’s playing that he tended to exploit with his own groups, until, of course, his later years.
A striking exception to this is his 1967 Newport Jazz Festival appearance, recorded by the Voice of America. Philly Joe, high in the mix, is romping and Evans is with him every step of the way. Even on the lyrical “Very Early,” Jones is eager to build the intensity. Only on “Some Other Time” does he stay subdued. An unusually intense Evans set for 1967! With Eddie Gomez on bass.
Go here...
And from Bob McKeon, a drummer in Phoenix, Ariz....
Marc, I loved everything Philly did. For what it’s worth, I sent you a rare small book on Philly Joe Jones's use of brushes, a lost art among drummers. I had the original book but lost it a few years back with one of our house moves. Luckily I made a digital copy. You might enjoy it or please pass it along to drummers who are curious. Someone might enjoy Philly Joe and his brush work.
Editor's note: If you'd like the Philly Joe Jones brush book, email me at [email protected] and I'll send it along.
Duke Ellington. Following my post on Duke Ellington at Grinnell College in 1957, I heard from Ken Krimstein [photo above of Duke Ellington]:
Hi Marc. As a proud Grinnell grad—and a fan of your work—I was happy to see your post on the Duke Ellington appearance and album. The post reminded me of when my dad took my brother and me to see Duke's band perform at Deerfield Illinois High School, sometime around 1974. My dad tried to tape it with a small reel-to-reel unit. My brother and I are still searching for that tape.
On Grinnell, although it was a godforsaken dinky college in the middle of the cornfields, we had some great music, much of it due to a genius of a woman with the rhapsodic name of Georgia Dentel. I kid you not. Among other things, she got Bruce Springsteen to play Grinnell’s Darby Gym in 1975, the very week his mug graced the cover of both Time and Newsweek!
Keep up the amazing work.
Louis Armstrong was interviewed by Dick Cavett in February 1971. Armstrong (above) would die five months later. Go here...
Lenny Bruce, in 1959, had his own TV special One Night Stand: The World of Lenny Bruce on WNTA in Newark, N.J. On his show were Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans and Philly Joe Jones, Nat Pierce and others. Dick Freeman sent along the show posted by Bret Primack. [Photo above of Lenny Bruce] Go here...
And finally, here's Nancy Wilson for Stroh's Beer in the early 1970s...
More Nancy here...
And here...
