Andie, Richard and Billie

This week in The Wall Street Journal, I interviewed actress Andie MacDowell for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Andie currently stars in Season 2 of the Hallmark Channel feel-good series The Way Home. She also stars as a crime boss in the action-crime film Red Right Hand. [Photo above of Andie MacDowell courtesy of the Hallmark Channel]

Here's Andie in the trailer for The Way Home...

Here's Andie in the trailer for Red Right Hand...

And here's Andie in an ad for Calvin Klein Jeans in 1983...

Richard Lewis (1947-2024). I interviewed Richard twice for The Wall Street Journal, once for my "House Call" column (go here) and for my "Playlist" column (here), which ran for six years in the Review section. It's hard to rationalize that Richard is gone. The comedian was wonderfully open, funny and happy to talk. He also was one of those rare celebrities who sent and returned emails to the media himself and was down to earth with everyone. A rare soul.

What I'm watching

Last week...

Blue Lights (2023)—A gripping crime series set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that follows three probationary police officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland as they deal with a local gang. A second season is currently being taped. Wonderfully written and acted. (BritBox)

The Bay (2019-current)—Detective Marsha Thomason (played by Morven Christie) in season 1 investigates the whereabouts of two missing teens in the town of Morecambe Bay, Lancashire, in northwest England. But a slam-bang twist hangs over her head as she walks a fine line between her own kids and what happened the night of the disappearance. TV suspense writing and acting at its best. Four seasons in all. (BritBox)

Past recommendations...

TV series

• The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
• Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime pay)
• 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)
• Monsieur Spade—(2024/AMC)
• 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 Way Home—(2023-current/Peacock)
• 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)
• The Secret: Dare to Dream—(2020/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)

Duane Tatro. Last week following my post on Art Pepper's Smack Up, which included the song Maybe Next Year by saxophonist Duane Tatro, I heard from Bill Kirchner [photo above of Duane Tatro courtesy of the Television Academy]:

Hi there. About 40+ years ago, I found a used LP copy of "Jazz for Moderns" in a used-record store. I flipped over it, got Tatro’s phone number from AFM Local 47 and called him in L.A. Not long afterward, I had a business trip to L.A., so a composer friend and I visited him at home. He was utterly charming. He played some of his more adventurous TV cues for us.

He also gave me the score and parts to his octet version of “Maybe Next Year.” I rewrote a couple of parts and added a piano part, and played the chart with my Nonet. It sounded undated. Duane and I kept in touch over the years. He died in 2020 at age 93. A sweet man—I miss him.

Billie Holiday. I am opposed to colorizing movies, since a film is a work of art (good or bad) and should remain in its intended state. But I am in full support of colorizing videos of jazz musicians, since what's important are the artists and a full understanding of what made them special. Coloring video brings jazz artists to life for me and humanizes them, adding a contemporary feel to what we're watching. [Photo above of Billie Holiday]

To see Billie Holiday in color sing Now, Baby, or Never in 1949, go here...

Monsieur Spade. I recently recommended the 2024 series updating the life of the fictional Sam Spade detective character. You'll find it above on my weekly list. Last week, I heard from Michael O'Daniel:

Greetings Marc. I was planning to send you this info in the near future but did not realize "Monsieur Spade" was already in release.

Cheryl Collette—Buddy's daughter and estate executor—and I got the news a little more than a month ago that the synch rights to one of his original compositions, "The Cute Monster" (originally recorded on the album "Buddy's Best" in 1957 on Dooto Records, later acquired by Ace Records), had been licensed for use in episodes 1, 3 and 5 of Monsieur Spade. The producers are not using Buddy's original recording; instead the song is played by a band they had put together for the series. 

What is equally remarkable is that the song was discovered and pitched for film and TV use by the founding partner of Cosmos Music, a giant Swedish music conglomerate that represents the Ace Catalog for such purposes. It would be wonderful if Cosmos and other European companies were to begin plumbing the catalogues of American jazz performers and composers. There's a ton of good material that would be perfect for soundtrack use.

BTW progress is also being made, albeit at a glacial pace (it's academia, Jake) on getting Buddy's archive transferred into UCLA Library's Special Collections.

YouTube Jukebox:

Here's Quincy Jones in 1960...

Here's Michal Karniel playing Frank Wess's flute solo on Neal Hefit's Cute...

Here's trombonist Al Grey, trumpeter Roy Eldridge and tenor saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis in 1972 with Count Basie...

Here's The Party's Over by Russ Freeman...

Here's Dodo Marmarosa on April Played the Fiddle...

Here's Hampton Hawes on There Will Never Be Another You...

And finally, here's Claude Williamson on Obsession...