Cristin, Jackson and Bud

In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed Cristin Milioti for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). You probably know Cristin best from The Wolf of Wall Street or Palm Springs. She now is co-starring in the Batman spinoff The Penguin miniseries. [Photo above of Cristin Milioti courtesy of YouTube]

Here's the Palm Springs trailer...

And here's a reel on Cristin's masterful role inThe Penguin. When I watched it a few months ago, I thought she ran away with the series and told her so. Reviewers this week confirmed this...

Also in the WSJ, for my monthly Album@50 column for Arts in Review, I looked back at Jackson Browne's masterpiece Late for the Sky (go here). The LP was released in September 1974 and many of the lyrics were allegorical commentaries on the stark difference between the 1960s and early '70s. Here's the album's title track, as director Martin Scorsese used it in his bleak film Taxi Driver (1976)...

Film and TV Recommendations

Top 14 favorite streaming TV series, ranked...

Babylon Berlin
My Brilliant Friend
Killing Eve
The Crown
The Americans
Band of Brothers
Feud: Bette and Joan
Downton Abbey
The Gentlemen
Turn: Washington's Spies
Unbelievable
Justified
The Blacklist
Voiceless (Bella da morire (2020/MHz)

Viewing now...

The Blacklist (2013-2023)—I'm still working my way through 10 seasons of his spy-thriller series. James Spader is fantastic as the man who knows where the bad guys are.. (Netflix)

Here's the Season 3 trailer...

Previous recommendations...

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)
Babylon Berlin (2017-2024/MHz via Prime Video)
Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix)
The Bay (2019-current/BritBox)
The Blacklist (2013-2023/Netflix)
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)
Emily in Paris—(2020-present/Netflix)
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)
Killing Eve—(2018-2022/Netflix)
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)
My Brilliant Friend—(2018-current)
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)
Under the Banner of Heave—(2022/Hulu)
Veronica Mars—(2004 to 2019/Hulu)
Voiceless (Bella da morire—(2020/MHz)
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)
Wilder—(2017-current)
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)
Nobody Wants This—(2024/Netflix)
Ordinary Angels—(2024)
Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
The Queen's Gambit—(2020/Netflix)
Queenpins—(2021/Pluto TV)
Reptile—(2023/Netflix)
Ruthless—(2023/Hulu)
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)
Jane Fonda in Five Acts—(2024/Max)
Kate Hepburn: Call Me Kate—(2023/Netflix)
Suzi Q: Suzi Quatro—(2019/Prime)
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here)

Fats Navarro. Following my recent post on trumpeter Fats Navarro's Nostalgia, his 1957 compilation album for Savoy, I heard from John Herr. He sent along alto saxophonist Charles McPherson's version of the Navarro composition Nostalgia with Carmell Jones (tp), Charles McPherson (as), Barry Harris (p), Nelson Boyd (b) and Albert "Tootie" Heath (d). Perfection! Go here...

More Fats, from Jim Eigo of Original Vinyl Records,from December 22, 1946...

Dizzy Gillespie Quintet. Since my post on the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet's Gillespiana in Concert (SteepleChase), the album has gone up at Amazon. Go here.

More Dizzy Gillespie Quintet. Last week I heard from drummer Bruce Klauber, who offered up this story from the book, The View from the Back of the Band: The Life and Music of Mel Lewis, by Chris Smith:

Marc, for those who want to know how Mel Lewis came to be the drummer on that 1961 tour by the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet, here's the story:

Dizzy's regular drummer at the time, Chuck Lampkin, was suddenly recalled by the Army and couldn't make the tour. Dizzy only had a few days to find someone and, thankfully, he found Mel, who never worked a full job with Dizzy before. There was no rehearsal, other than Mel sitting in with Dizzy's group at Birdland for two songs.

Of working with Dizzy, Mel said, "This guy knows his drums, believe me. He knows just what he wants from them. So, I'm learning things from Dizzy; it's another lesson for me."

Still more Dizzy. Following my post, I also heard from Bill Kirchner:

Hi there. What an extraordinary career Lalo Schifrin has had. And he’s still active at age 92.

It’s often overlooked that Dizzy recorded five major orchestral albums in three years:

"A Portrait of Duke Ellington" (1960, arr. Clare Fischer)
"Gillespiana" (1960, comp/arr Lalo Schifrin)
"Carnegie Hall Concert" (1961, comp/arr Schifrin)
"Perceptions" (1961, comp/arr J.J. Johnson)
"The New Continent" (1962, comp/arr Lalo Schifrin)

This is a major achievement rivaled only by the Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaborations on Columbia. In the cases of both Dizzy and Miles, they were in their late 30s or early 40s—peak years for brass players.

Also, it’s often forgotten what a first-rate player alto saxophonist Leo Wright (1933-1991) was. His years with Dizzy were ones of peak exposure before relocating to Europe in 1963.

As for drummer Mel Lewis, his big-band skills obscured what a unique small-group drummer he was. I heard Mel and Thad Jones do wonderful small-group gigs in the 1970s. One night I heard Mel play a terrific solo on "Body and Soul” at ballad tempo.

Bob Fosse. In 1953, choreographer and dancer Bob Fosse appeared in the film The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), which preceded the sitcom,The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959-'61). Here, Fosse dances with Barbara Ruick while Bobby Van dances with Debbie Reynolds to You Can't Do Wrong Doin' Right...

Bette Davis. I love Bette Davis films. Like Katherine Hepburn, she had an internal fire and confidence combined with rapid-fire delivery and quite a mouth. Largely unknown were Davis's multiple attempts to star in her own sitcom in the late 1950s and '60s.

One of those attempts, in 1965, was The Decorator, which only resulted in a pilot. The Aaron Spelling Productions sitcom did not air and wasn't sold to a network, probably because they had trouble landing advertisers. The script mocked the South, and at the dawn of the youthquake following the Beatles' arrival in the U.S. a year earlier, the show also seemed a tad dated.

Davis's other pilots were filmed as guest appearances on many series. The hope was that a production company could develop a spinoff based on Davis's characters. These included episodes of Wagon Train and Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr.

In The Decorator, Davis was to play a struggling interior designer who moves in with her clients. She befriends them and gets drawn into their personal problems at home. Here's the pilot (the wealthy Oklahoma oilman was played by Ed Begley, father of Ed Begley Jr.). As you'll see from Davis's performance, it really was a lost opportunity..

Warren Wolf. Last week, I posted about Warren Wolf's new album, The History of the Vibraphone. Mark Rabin sent along the following:

Hi, Marc. Jazzway, a Baltimore-area nonprofit that organizes live jazz performances, recently presented Warren Wolf's "History of the Vibraphone" live with special guest Christian McBride on bass. It was a wonderful evening and two of the performances are available on YouTube.

Here's Bobby Hutcherson's "Herzog"...

And here's the Milt Jackson/John Lewis song "Django"...

Leslie Pintchik—Prayer for What Remains. I last posted about pianist Leslie Pintchik in 2018, before the pandemic. Now she's back with an album of eight originals and two covers. It's the finest album of her career. Her playing is even more deeply felt and moving as songs evolve, grow and flower. Leslie is joined by Steve Wilson on soprano sax, Scott Hardy on bass and acoustic guitar, Michael Sarin on drums and Satoshi Takeishi. What a comeback. A gorgeous collection of songs that work their way to your heart. Leslie remains an important jazz pianist who deserves much more media attention and wider exposure.

Here's Later Than We Thought...

Here's Paul McCartney's I Will. A great choice and a wonderful jazz interpretation...

And here's Joni Mitchell's Banquet...

Delia Fischer—Beyond Bossa (Origin). Brazilian singer, pianist and songwriter Delia Fischer just released her first English-language album after a dozen others in her native Portuguese. On these original songs by Delia, Allen Morrison worked with her to create English lyrics so they'd be in an American vernacular. The songs are ballads, and Delia's voice is soothing. Guest artists were invited to help interpret them—including Gretchen Parlato, Luciana Souza, Marcos Valle, Chico Pinheiro, cellist Eugene Friesen, New York Voices, and Italian soul singer Mario Biondi. You'll find this album here or on streaming platforms.

Here's Lemon Jugglers of Rio...

Bud Powell radio. Next Friday, September 27, WKCR-FM in New York will present a 24-hour radio broadcast celebrating the centennial of pianist Bud Powell. The tribute will start the night of September 26 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) and end 24 hours later. To listen from anywhere in the world, go here.