Patton, Chuck and Charlie

In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed actor-comedian Patton Oswalt for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). Patton was named for General George S. Patton, a parental decision that long mystified him. He learned how to do standup by spending college weekends at comedy clubs studying pros rather than partying. Even if you're not familiar with the name, you know his face. [Photo above of Patton Oswalt at the Wall Street Hotel New York by Justin J Wee for The Wall Street Journal]

Here's a reel of Patton as Spence on King of Queens...

What I'm watching.

Killing Eve (2018-2022)—Working through Season 3. An incredible series with sterling acting. Dark, comedic British spy thriller starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer, who is easily one of today's finest actresses. I don't know how I missed this during the pandemic, but I did. Stunning series. (Netflix)

Here's the Season 3 trailer...

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)
• The Veil—(2024/Hulu-FX)
• WPC 56—(2013-2015/Britbox)
• 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)
• Blackout (2022/Netflix) 
• The Bricklayer—(2024/Netflix)
• The Commuter (2018/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)
• Manchester by the Sea—(2016/Prime Video)
• 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)
• The Beach Boys—(2024/Disney)
• Carole King: Live in Central Park—(2023/PBS)
• The Comeback—(2005 and 2014/Max)
• Cunk on Earth—(2022/Netflix)
• Cyndi Lauper: Let the Canary Sing—(2023/Paramount+)
• Facing Nolan—(2022/Netflix)
• Five Came Back—(2017/Netflix)
• Kate Hepburn: Call Me Kate—(2023/Netflix)
• The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
• 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go h

Get a jump on JazzWax by following me on Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter). At Facebook, I'm at Marc JazzWax Myers; at X I'm Marc Myers @JazzWax.

Most of all, make your life convenient simply by subscribing to JazzWax for free by typing in your email in the subscribe box in the right-hand column of JazzWax. Arrives six days a week.

Bill Mays on Jimmy Rowles. Following my post last week on pianist Jimmy Rowles, I heard from pianist Bill Mays [photo above of Jimmy Rowles by Sy Johnson/All Music]

Hi Marc. I kick off "Chapter 14: Singers" of my book, "Stories of the Road," with a quote from Jimmy: "The key to being a good accompanist is when you think of an idea, just play half of it."

Here's a story from the chapter:

I loved Jimmy Rowles’s playing. In the late 1960s, I called him and asked to take some lessons. He growled in that gravelly voice of his, "I don’t really teach. Come up to L.A. where I’m working at the Carriage House with Monty Budwig and we’ll talk. "I drove up from San Diego the following day. Weeks later he invited me to his house in Burbank and asked me to play for him.

“Just keep doin’ what you’re doin’,” he said, and I continued the "lessons" by following him around L.A., watching his hands, checking out his use of the pedals, his delicious chords, his singing and his understated way with some of the greatest standards I’d never heard.

After my move to L.A., I was happily surprised one day when he recommended me for a gig with the singer Bill Henderson. Then, in 1972, he called me and said, "Sass is in need of a piano player. Wanna work with her?" I said, "Who’s Sass?"Jimmy snorted, "Sarah Vaughan, man!"

He sent me to her house in Beverly Hills, and after looking at her 18-inch thick piano book I thought, wow, this is going to be an all-day affair and a hard one. But after we did a couple of tunes, Sarah laughed and said, "You got the job, honey, now let’s eat," and proceeded to fix us a delicious dinner.

Note: The Bill Mays trio is playing tonight (Saturday) at Maureen’s Jazz Cellar (Nyack, N.Y.), on June 16 at the Deer Head Inn (Delaware Water Gap, Pa,) and at Mezzrow (New York City) on June 28 and 29.

Greetings from Paris. One of the joys of JazzWax for me is having friends all over the world who are just an email away. In Paris, photographer Gilles D'Elia last week sent along a wonderful image of the city taken this spring (above). Paris, Gilles says, has been unseasonably cold, which means sweaters are still manditory in late afternoon and evening. Hopefully the temperature will warm up there soon.

To give the French temperatures a nudge, here's Les Double Six singing Four Brothers...

Chuck Israels on Frank Rosolino. Following my post on Frank Rosolino, I heard from Chuck Israels, bassist in the second Bill Evans Trio. He told me he will be celebrating his 88th birthday by performing at Dizzy's in New York on August 11 and reading from his memoir. For more information, go here. Check out Chuck's memoir, Bass Notes, here. [Photo above of Chuck Israels]

Here's Chuck on trombonist Frank Rosolino:

In late June and early July of 1963, all eyes and ears were on the Bill Evans Trio as we played at Shelly's Manne-Hole in Hollywood. Every musician I’d known about in Los Angeles showed up to listen to us. I was in what felt like a spotlight, both basking in the attention and under pressure to match what I thought were the listeners’ expectations.

Only three musicians had the nerve to ask to sit in with us. One was Frank, who certainly was musically qualified. He played a tune, and during my bass solo, maintaining his reputation as a clown, took off the slide of his trombone and pretended to struggle to line it up in order to put it back.

It was funny and distracting, and irritated me in a situation in which I felt helpless to either respond or overcome. I was both hurt and angry. In the grand scheme of things, it made no difference in our communication with the listeners during our two week engagement there, nor in their appreciation of my playing.

I wish I’d had a better sense of humor about Frank’s clowning. If I’d participated in the joke, everyone, including myself, would have been happier. I was taking myself a little too seriously then, and it prevented me from appreciating the beauty and virtuosity of Frank’s playing.

Jo Harrop—The Path of a Tear (Lateralize). British singer-songwriter Jo Harrop is out with the best album of her career. Smartly produced by Grammy-winner Larry Klein, Jo wrote the lyrics to eight of the 11 songs, including the CD's bonus track. Klein's genius is that he recognized Jo's voice could be smartly leveraged to go beyond jazz and songbook standards and given a fresh, contemporary framing. The moody album juxtaposes melancholy lyrics and feathery arrangements, and there's a Boz Scaggs feel throughout. Highlights include Beautiful Fools, You'll Never Be Lonely In Soho, Leon Russell's If It Wasn't for Bad, Too Close to the Sun, Steve Earle's Goodbye and Stay Here Tonight. Jo is backed by Jim Cox (keyboards), Anthony Wilson (g), Victor Indrizzo (d), David Plitch and Larry Klein (b). Might be time for Larry to unite Jo and Boz for a duet project. You'll find this album here and on major streaming platforms.  

Here's Beautiful Fools...

Winther, Anderson, Watts—WAW! (Hobby Horse). What do you get when you unite Danish pianist-composer Carl Winther and bassist Richard Anderson with drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts? A powerhouse album loaded with jazz energy and modal excitement. Four of the five songs are by Winther, with the fifth, the standard My Old Flame, an outlier in some respects. Winther's piano rides elegantly on top, coupled with Anderson's punching bass. Watts' drums take center stage underneath, constantly shifting, exploding and driving like a modern-day Art Blakey. Hopefully this trio will stick together for additional albums. The partnership is magic. You'll find it on most major streaming platforms. You'll find the album here and on most major streaming platforms.

Here's Deconstructing Mr. X...

FM Radio Archive. Last week, Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive sent along links to free live performances based on my posts [photo above of James Moody, courtesy of the National Endowment of the Arts]:

James Moody and Dizzy Gillespie—both were members of the Charlie Parker All Stars who performed at the 1980 Chicago Jazz Festival, broadcast on WBEZ & NPR member stations. Thanks to Mark Rabin for sharing this from his collection. Go here,

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra—played at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen in 1969, in a TV broadcast. Go here.

Art Blakey—played with the Art Blakey All Stars, including Jackie McLean, Eddie Henderson, Curtis Fuller and Cedar Walton, at Keystone Korner in San Francisco for NPR's Jazz Alive! broadcast on New Year's Eve in 1979. Go here.

And from Mark Rabin, featuring Jimmy Rowles...

Ella Fitzgerald—at the Chicago Jazz Festival 1981, backed by Rowles. Go here.

Al Cohn and Zoot Sims—backed by Rowles, at New York's Blues Alley in 1979. Go here.

And finally, here's Charlie Parker on March 25, 1952 playing Almost Like Being in Love backed by a monster big band: Jimmy Maxwell, Carl Poole, Al Porcino and Bernie Privin (tp); Bill Harris, Lou McGarity and Bart Varsalona (tb); Charlie Parker, Harry Terrill and Murray Williams (as); Flip Phillips and Hank Ross (ts); Danny Bank (bar); Oscar Peterson (p); Freddie Green (g); Ray Brown (b); Don Lamond (d) and Joe Lippman (arr,cond). For more on this recording seesion, see my 2007 interview with Danny Bank here...