Jake, Steve and Al

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actor Jake Lacy for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Most readers will remember Jake from season 1 of The White Lotus. He currently is in the Peacock drama series Apples Never Fall. [Photo above of Jake Lacy courtesy of the Television Academy]

Here's the trailer...

Also in the WSJ, I wrote on Queen's second album, Queen II, released this month in 1974, 50 years ago (go here). In the band's early music, we hear an emergence of their glam-prog rock pomp and operatic vocal flamboyance. Critics chided the album when it came out but completely missed what Queen was up to—Super Bowl-sized anthems that animated massive audiences and record buyers.

What I'm watching

TV series

• The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
• Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime)
• The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
• Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
• Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix) 
• The Bay (2019-current/BritBox)
• Belgravia—(2020/Prime Video)
• Blue Lights—(2023/BritBox)
• Bosch—(2014-2021/Prime)
• Bosch: Legacy—(2022-current/Prime)
• The Crown—(2016-2023/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/Netflix)
• 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—(2024/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)

Steve Lawrence (1935-2024), a smooth-voiced pop singer who started recording in the early 1950s, married Eydie Gormé in 1957 and, together, came to define the Las Vegas residency, died on March 7. He was 88. Gormé died in 2013. [Photo above of Steve Lawrence]

In many ways, Lawrence's buttery smooth baritone cast him as the suburban Frank Sinatra, a crooner without the urban edge or drama. While wives in the audience viewed Lawrence as the nice husband next door, he lacked Sinatra's street restlessness, combative tension and hands-on involvement with his albums. As a result, many of Lawrence's LPs wound up loaded with subpar material, a problem that Sinatra worked hard to avoid. Nevertheless, Lawrence had an enormous following and career, due largely to his sunny, easy-going charm, warm voice and playful stage chemistry with his wife and duet partner.

Here's my favorite Lawrence album, with Gormé, in 1960, arranged by Don Costa...

The Temptations. I found this video gem last week...

Shorty Rogers. Mia Rogers, Shorty's daughter, posted the above image on her Facebook page. From left, trumpeter Shorty Rogers, his wife Marge, bassist Howard Rumsey, unknown, Jimmy Giuffre, unknown, Flip Manne, drummer Shelly Manne. Based on my research, the photo is from 1952.

Here are the Lighthouse All-Stars in 1952, which included all four of the musicians above, plus Milt Bernhart on trombone, Bob Cooper on tenor saxophone and Frank Patchen on piano...

Russ Garcia. Last week, I heard from Lee Prout, who shared a photo of Russ Garcia's former home on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles that the composer-arranger and conductor owned prior to his death in 2011:

Hi Marc. As a career architect and fan of mid-century modern architectural design, I believe John Lautner to have been one of the most gifted of all Frank Lloyd Wright's pupils. He developed his own, totally unique style that showed no obvious influences from Wright. As a serious jazz fan who cut his teeth listening to West Coast jazz, I naturally had an interest in Russ Garcia, who was, without doubt, a uniquely brilliant composer/arranger. The “marriage” of Lautner and Garcia to create the iconic Rainbow House (above), provided both an aural and visual jolt to my senses.


I recently bought Fresh Sound’s release of the Wigville Band, which included the album featuring Peggy Connelly. I also acquired the Garcia-O’Day recording, "Waiter, Make Mine Blues." I went through your list of JazzWax interviews, found your Russ Garcia interview (go here) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Editor's note: The house is at 7436 Mulholland Drive.

The Carpenters. For years, I've yearned to hear a female vocalist who not only appreciated Karen Carpenter's voice but also sounded like her. So imagine my surprise when I came across Tori Holub. Watch as she and her musician friends recreate every vocal and instrumental overdub on We've Only Just Begun. [Photo above of Karen Carpenter]

Go here...

More? Here's another...

Serge Chaloff. Last week Bill Kirchner sent along a clip paying tribute to late actor David McCallum, including his role as Ducky on TV's NCIS. At 01:05, McCallum says he's escorting "Serge Chaloff," pronouncing the first name SER-gay rather than the soft "g" variant. [Photo above of Serge Chaloff]

As Bill notes:

Serge Chaloff (1923-1957) was a great American jazz baritone saxophonist. McCallum and/or the writers must have been jazz fans. McCallum himself was a gifted musician who recorded several albums of music for Capitol Records in the 1960s.

Here's the clip...

Patty McGovern (1928-2024). Last week, David Torresen alerted me that singer Patty McGovern had died. She was best known for her only album—Wednesday's Child (1956) for Atlantic with the Tommy Talbert Orchestra. Given how good the album is, it's odd her recording career didn't last longer, unless she threw in the towel for personal reasons.

Here's her obit. And here's Crazy He Calls Me...

Here are the Spinners singing Could It Be I'm Falling in Love...

FM Radio Archive. Kim Paris, who founded FM Radio Archive, sent along a batch of live gigs for your listening pleasure based on the artists I covered over the past week:

Bill Evans—has two recordings, one with his trio in Switzerland in 1975 and another with Tony Bennett in 1976. Go here.

Billie Holiday—was featured in an episode of Just Jazz with Ed Beach on WRVR around 1966. Go here.

Dodo Marmarosa—was featured in an episode of Jazz Profiles with Sid Gribetz on New York's WKCR-FM in 2014. Go here.

Hampton Hawes—played at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco in a 1976 KJAZ broadcast. Go here.

Harold Land—is on three broadcasts with Bobby Hutcherson, first in Antibes in 1969, then with the Timeless All Stars in 1982 & 1989. Go here.

Johnny "Hammond" Smith—played with the CTI All Stars at the Paramount Theater in Seattle in 1973, in a KPLU broadcast. Go here.

Ornette Coleman and Bix Beiderbecke birthday broadcasts. WKCR-FM in New York will present its annual back-to-back birthday events for Ornette and Bix. Coleman's music will go first, for 24 hours, on Saturday March 9. Twenty-four hours of Bix Beiderbecke will follow on Sunday, March 10.

To listen from anywhere in the world, go here.

And finally, here's singer Al Green with the band Chicago in the 1970s singing Tired of Being Alone...