Helen, Roberta and Dizzy

In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Helen Mirren for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). Helen has won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony, and is co-starring now in season 2 of the Paramount+ series 1923, the Yellowstone prequel. [Photo above of Helen Mirren in 1923, courtesy of Paramount+.

Here's the trailer...

Here's Helen in the trailer for her Oscar-winning performance in The Queen...

If you loved Helen in The Queen, you'll be blown away by her performance in the must-watch series Elizabeth I. Here's Helen...

And here's the trailer for Helen's very first British film, Age of Consent (1968), a delightful film on all levels but most certainly for the chemistry between the kind James Mason and innocent Helen...

Roberta Flack (1937-2025) was a joy to interview, twice, for the WSJ. My first conversation with her was in 2012, when I interviewed Roberta on Let It Be Roberta, her superb Beatles tribute album (go here). Many people are unaware that her covers of Beatles songs are among the best, matched only by Keely Smith's 1964 album, Sings the John Lennon and Paul McCartney Songbook. Then I interviewed her again for my Anatomy of a Song column on Killing Me Softly (go here).

Here's my favorite Roberta Flack song, Feel Like Makin' Love (1974), which has an early hustle rhythm that she told me was created by percussionist Ralph MacDonald...

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 liked that has started or will start soon...

• Dark Winds S3 (March 9/AMC)
• Long Bright River (March 13/Peacock)
• Good American Family (March 19/Hulu)
• Alto Knights (March 21/Warner Bros)
• The Better Sister (May 22/Prime)

Watching now and loving...

Tsunami: Race Against Time (2024)—This miniseries documentary stitches together amazing stories and camera footage of the massive earthquake and tsunami that followed and hit South Asia on December 26, 2004. Most people are familiar with this event and think it struck just the Thai resorts Khao Lak, Phuket and Koh Raya, since those were typically visited by Western vacationers. The damage and deaths were way bigger than that. In all, an estimated 225,000 people died across 14 countries, with the majority of casualties occurring in Indonesia. This documentary shows you what was taking place in different countries hours before, during and after the horrific event. And no one knew it was coming. (Hulu)

Here's the trailer...

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)
• Il Commissario Manara (Inspector Manara) (2009-2011/MHz)
• 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)
• The Promised Life—(2018/MHz via Prime Video)
• 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)
• Enrico Piaggio - Un Sogno Italiano (An Italian Dream) (2019/MHz)
• 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)

Big Al Sears. Following my post on Al Sears, I figure you should see Sears's contribution to R&B and rock 'n' roll. This clip closes the Alan Freed jukebox film Rock, Rock, Rock (1956). Go here...

Dizzy Gillespie. How good was the Tonight Show band when Johnny Carson was at the desk? Max Frazee sent along this clip from 1977, when Gillespie joined the band for Manteca (by Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo and Gil Fuller) and the standard I Can't Get Started. Go here...

Earl Swope. In my post on trombonist Earl Swope last week, I quoted from Ira Gitler's interview with Al Cohn, for his book Swing to Bop: An Oral History of the Transition in Jazz in the 1940s (1987):

Guys [like Swope] from Washington, D.C., had their own kind of thing. Different from anybody else. Had their own way. The way Earl played. Maybe it's just Southern. That relaxed thing that they had. The thing about Earl was, in addition to all of that, Earl was really a virtuoso on a trombone.

Last week I heard from Bill Kirchner:

Al Cohn's point about Swope's D.C.-Southern influence should be taken seriously. Those guys loved Basie and trombonists like Dicky Wells and Vic Dickenson.

Monica Getz (1934-2025), Stan Getz's second wife who was long physically and emotionally abused by the tenor saxophonist but steadfast in her determination to remain married to him and advocated for divorce-court reform, died on January 5. She was 90. A solid New York Times obituary by Trip Gabriel can be found here. [Photo above of Monica and Stan Getz]

Woody Herman. Last week, Bill Kirchner sent along a terrific clip of a muscular Woody Herman Big Band on the Ed Sullivan Show in November 1967. Bill identified Albert Dailey as the likely pianist, Joe Alexander as perhaps one of the tenor saxophonists, Cecil Payne on baritone saxophone and the drummer is John Von Ohlen. The track is Woody's Boogaloo, composed and arranged by Kenny Ascher. Go here...

In New York on March 24? One of my favorite jazz pianists, Leslie Pintchik, will be performing with her trio at Manhattan's Zinc Bar at 7 and 9 p.m. on March 24. Scott Hardy will be on bass and Michael Sarin on drums. [Photo above of Leslie Pintchik by Jimmy Katz]

You can make a reservation by sending an email to Joseph Baldassare at [email protected]. In your email, please include your name, that you'll be attending Leslie's show on March 24th, which set you'll be attending and the number of people in your party. Or just show up at the club 20 minutes before the set. Zinc is located at 82 West 3rd Street, in Greenwich Village.

Here's the Leslie Pintchik Trio in action playing Small Pleasures at Zinc Bar in December...

And finally, here's Tito Puente's El Cayuco...

One more? Here's Tito's Cha Cha Chá De Los Pollos...