John, Jimmy and Zoot

In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed EGOT pianist and singer-songwriter John Legend for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). John talked about the January fires and the threat they posed to his house in Beverly Hills, forcing him and his wife, cookbook author and model Chrissy Teigen, to gather their four kids and drive south to a hotel in Carlsbad, Calif. He said he's considering a return to New York. John also talked about his bumpy childhood, being home-schooled by his mom, skipping two grades when he entered public school in eighth grade after his mother left the family following her own mother's death and then reuniting with her.

My favorite streaming series, ranked...

1. Babylon Berlin
2. My Brilliant Friend
3. The Promised Life
4. Killing Eve
5. The Crown
6. The Americans
7. Younger
8. Band of Brothers
9. Landman
10. Friday Night Lights
11. The Old Man
12. Feud: Bette and Joan
13. Downton Abbey
14. The Blacklist
15. Goliath
16. The Gentlemen
17. Turn: Washington's Spies
18. Unbelievable
19. Justified
20. Voiceless (Bella da morire (2020/MHz)
21. Black Doves
22. Web Therapy

Future stuff I loved that has started or will start soon...

• American Primeval S1 (now/Netflix)
• Back in Action (now/Netflix)
• Zero Day (Feb. 20/Netflix)
• Millers in Marriage (Feb. 21/film)
• Long Bright River (March 13/Peacock)
• Dark Winds S3 (March 9/AMC)
• The Better Sister (May 22/Prime)

Watching now and loving...

The Promised Life (2018). Tired of sifting through the platforms of streaming sites looking for something, anything that will engage and entertain on a mature level? Me, too, which is why I've shifted to films made abroad. My fun streaming (vs. work-related viewing) is now centered on Italy, which makes movies that are more in sync with my interests. The Promised Life is a series that follows a Sicilian family that moves to New York in the early 20th century to escape corruption, threats and murder only to find all of that and more are in Little Italy. It's now my third-favorite series in my list above. Two seasons, seven episodes in all, each nearly two hours long. (MHz via Prime Video)

Here's a scene from Season 1...

Recommended series, films and documentaries...

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)
• Black Doves (2024/Netflix)
• 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)
• The Dropout (2022/Hulu)
• Elizabeth 1 (2005/Max)
• 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)
• Friday Night Lights (2006-2011/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)
• Lioness—(2023-current/Paramount+)
• 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/Max)
• The Night Agent—(2023-present/Netflix)
• 1923—(2022-present/Paramount+)
• 1883—(2021-2022/Prime)
• The Old Man—(2022/Hulu)
• On Call—2025/Amazon Prime)
• Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
• The Perfect Couple—(2024/Netflix)
• Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
• Reacher—(2016-present/Netflix)
• Ripley—(2024/Netflix)
• Scott & Bailey (2011-2016/Prime)
• The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
• 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)
• Web Therapy—(2011-2015/Fandango)
• Wilder—(2017-current)
• WPC 56—(2013-2015/Britbox)
• Yellowstone—(2018-present/Paramount Network)
• Younger—(2015-2021K/Netflix)

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)
• The Great Lillian Hall—(2024/Max)
• The Family Man—(2000/Netflix)
• Fury—(2014/Netflix)
• God's Country—(2022/Hulu
• Guy Ritchie's The Covenant—(2023/Prime)
• I Used to Be Funny (2023/Netflix)
• Jack Reacher (the movie)—(2012/Paramount+) 
• Just My Luck (2006/Paramount+)
• Kill Chain—(2019/Max)
• Killers of the Flower Moon—(2023/Apple+)
• La Palma (2024/Netflix)
• Knight and Day—(2010/Roku)
• Last Night in Soho—(2021/Prime)
• Last Seen Alive—(2020/Netflix)
• The Little Things—(2021/Netflix)
• Lonely Planet—(2024)/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/assorted platforms)
• The Pledge—(2011/Peacock)
• Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
• The Queen—(2006/Paramount+)
• 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)
• Some Girl(s)—(2013/Amazon Prime)
• Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
• Spy(ies)—(2009/Prime)
• The Stranger—(2022/Netflix)
• Toscana—(2022/Netflix)
• The Two Popes—(2019/Netflix)
• Up in the Air—(2009/Max)
• Woman in Gold—(2015/Max)
• 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)
• The Only Girl in the Orchestra—(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)

Los Angeles, 1959. If you're unfamiliar with Robert Robinson (above), you're in for a treat. The English journalist, interviewer, critic and author came to Los Angeles in 1959 to try to explain America's emerging entertainment capital built on dreams and fame to his humble BBC viewers in Britain. As you'll hear, Robinson drips with acerbic observations and a wry sense of humor. All that's missing are two olives and a lemon twist.

Here's Picture Parade's Robert Robinson on his travels through L.A., which was broadcast in January 1960...

So Rare was first recorded by the Carl Ravell Orchestra in 1937, a "sweet" hotel band, with Ravell on the vocal. [Photo above of Jimmy Dorsey, who had a hit with the song in 1957] Go here...

Twenty years later, the song was a huge hit for Jimmy Dorsey, whose sound on the alto saxophone was beloved by Charlie Parker before he died in 1955. The record reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart and No. 4 on the R&B chart. It was the highest-charting song by a big band during the early rock 'n' roll era. Dorsey was accompanied by the Artie Malvin Singers, and less than two months after the record's release in April 1957, Dorsey died of lung cancer. Go here...

And here are the Mills Brothers in 1965...

In New York on March 15? Bobby Sanabria will be paying tribute to Arsenio Rodriguez, the godfather of Salsa.

You can catch Bobby and his 24-piece Multiverse Big Band on March 15 at 7 p.m. at the Bronx Music Hall—at 438 E. 163rd St in the Bronx. The band will feature vocalists Jennifer Jade Ledesna, Gerardo Contino and Oreste Abrantes, and Benjamin Lapidus on tres. There also will be a screening of the short film La vida es Sueño (Life Is a Dream), a documentary on Rodriguez by director Arley Veunes Toro.

For more information and tickets ($25 each), visit the Bronx Music Hall site (go here) or call 917-557-2354.

Live on the Air. Last week, Kim Paris of the FM Radio Archive sent along links to radio broadcasts of performances by artists I've featured recently at JazzWax:

Bill Evans—is featured in two broadcast recordings on FM Radio Archive, one with his trio on RSR in Switzerland in 1975, and the other with Tony Bennett on a 1976 CBC-Canada broadcast. Go here.

Art Farmer—played with his quartet and Jim Hall on a BBC Jazz 625 TV broadcast in London in 1964. Go here.

Art Tatum—is featured on a 2007 NPR Jazz Profiles episode, hosted by singer Nancy Wilson. Go here.

Count Basie—is featured on a 2008 NPR Jazz Profiles episode, and with Joe Williams, at the 1981 Chicago Jazz Festival. Go here.

Ray Brown—played with his trio and Milt Jackson at Yoshi's in Oakland, in a 1993 KJAZ broadcast. Go here.

Bob Dylan—has four broadcast recordings in the archive. The oldest is a WBAI broadcast from 1962, as well as a 1975 show on PBS Soundstage, then in 1986 with Tom Petty, and in 1987 with the Grateful Dead. Go here.

Note from Kim: Thanks to Mark Rabin for sharing the Ray Brown Yoshi's & Count Basie Chicago Jazz Fest recordings from his music collection.

Bill Hardman radio. This Sunday, February 16, Sid Gribetz will present the music of hard-bop trumpeter Bill Hardman from 2 to 7 p.m. (ET) on Jazz Profiles, on WKCR-FM in New York. Listen from anywhere in the world by going here.

And finally, here's the remarkable original recording of Jimmy Giuffre's composition and arrangement of Four Brothers (based on the chord changes to Jeepers Creepers) for Woody Herman's Second Herd in December 1947, featuring four perfect solos by Zoot Sims (ts), Serge Chaloff (bs), Herbie Steward (ts) and Stan Getz (ts)...