Skip, Elisabeth and Ebo

In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed Henry Louis Gates Jr. for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). The writer, cultural historian and director of Harvard’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research is best known for hosting the PBS TV series Finding Your Roots. His latest book is The Black Box. [Photo above of Henry Louis Gates Jr., courtesy of PBS]

Here's Skip with comedian Iliza Shlesinger and her family roots...

What I'm watching.

Last week...

The Veil—(2024). Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, The Handmaid's Tale) stars in this thriller miniseries about a deadly game of truth and lies as two women travel from Istanbul to Paris and London, with one of them possessing a secret that the other needs to expose. (Hulu/FX) [Photo above of Elisabeth Moss in The Veil, courtesy of FX]

Here's the trailer...

The Beach Boys—(Disney+). I had an opportunity to screen the upcoming documentary on the group that won over America's youth before the Beatles invaded, turned the beach into a teen destination and cast California as the birthplace of fun. Lots of unseen footage, smart historical analysis and a feel for how the group came together, the collective contribution of all the band's members and how the group ran aground competing with the Fab Four and trying to remain relevant. Available for streaming at Disney+ starting May 24.

Here's the trailer...

WPC 56—(2013-2015). I'm up to Season 3. In the English Midlands of the 1950s, a woman becomes the first female police constable and has to navigate a gauntlet of chauvinism, sexual harassment and crime. The TV series thus far is superb in every way. It's gentle, smart and British. And addictive. (BritBox) 

Previously watched and recommended...

TV series

• The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
• Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime)
• The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
• Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
• Apples Never Fall—2024/Peacock)
• 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)
• The Gentlemen—(2024/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)
• Murdaugh Murders: The Movie, Parts 1 and 2—(2023/Lifetime)
• 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)
• Ripley—(2024/Netflix)
• Scott & Bailey (2011-2016/Prime)
• 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)
• Who Is Erin Carter—(2023/Netflix)
• 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 Bricklayer—(2024/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)
• The Little Things—(2021/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/Netflix)
• Facing Nolan—(2022/Netflix)
• Five Came Back—(2017/Netflix)
• The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
• 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here)

Henri Salvador. Here's the French pop star singing Count Basie, his interpretation of 'Lil Darlin', backed by the Basie band [photo above of Henri Salvador]...

Blossom Dearie. Here's the singer-songwriter and jazz pianist singing My Gentleman Friend and Soon It's Gonna Rain in 1967...

Steely Dan. Last week, Tom Fine sent along four clips from the Midnight Special appearance of Steely Dan in August 1973 [image above of Donald Fagen courtesy of YouTube]:

Here's My Old School...

Here's Show Biz Kids...

Here's Do It Again...

And here's Reelin' in the Years...

Covers of hits. Here are five gems...

Here's Leonid & Friends covering Chicago's Beginnings...

Here's Brass Roots Initiative's cover of Blood Sweat & Tears' You've Made Me So Very Happy...

Here's a rare clip of Alton Ellis' hit cover of You've Made Me So Very Happy in 2007, a year before his death...

Here's Bitty McLean's rocksteady cover of Walk Away From Love...

And here's Ksenia Buzina and Leonid & Friends covering The Carpenters' own cover of Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell's Superstar...

FM Radio Archive. Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive sent along two free listens of live performances by Count Basie (above) and Duke Ellington...

Count Basie—is featured in a 1981 Chicago Jazz Festival recording and also in a 2008 NPR Jazz Profiles episode, hosted by Nancy Wilson. Go here.

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra—performed in 1969 at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen in a broadcast on Mezzo. Go here.

The Four Preps. Beatlemania in the U.S. was so hot in 1964 that groups predating the Fab Four did anything they could to piggyback on the band's commercial success, even those on the Beatles' own U.S. label. Here are the Four Preps and their single that year, A Letter to the Beatles...

And finally, while I was away last weekend, I heard the following track when I walked into a Jamaican restaurant. The bartender kindly went through their digital playlist to find the title and artist. Now I'm passing it along to you. Here's Ebo Taylor's My Love and Music (1976)...