Summer ended on September 18 in New York. That was our last sticky hot day. Since then, we’ve had significantly cooler temperatures, mostly in the low 70s. As I write this, the city is bracing for a nor’easter—a large-scale extratropical cyclone now barreling up the east coast. The storm is expected to arrive here overnight with wind gusts up to 55mph on Saturday into Sunday. [Photo above and Snaps images below by Marc Myers]

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Nobody likes missing out on stuff they love. Missing out leads to deprivation, misery, grouchiness and regrets. If you’re enjoying JazzWax and you’re a free subscriber, you’re receiving just two out of six posts per week. That means you’re missing out on four posts a week, 16 posts a month and 192 per year! [Photo above of the former General Motors Building (1968) and images below by Marc Myers]

What’s more, if you’re a free reader, you don’t have access to more than 3,000 posts about albums, song histories, artists, interviews with jazz legends and much more dating back to the blog’s founding in 2007 as well as the past year’s posts at Substack.

Please consider upgrading to paid. It’s just $10 per month—or save $20 a year by getting two months free by paying a flat fee of $100. I work very hard each day to bring you the very best jazz albums and provide a jazz education in my posts. For 18 years, JazzWax was free until I had to move the blog to Substack.

Don’t deprive yourself. If you love jazz, you’ll be much happier and less grouchy with JazzWax six days a week plus unlimited access. I hear JazzWax goes great with the morning coffee and toast.

How do you convert from free to paid? It’s simple; Click any “Subscribe” or “Upgrade” button inside one of the blog emails sent to you. Or access JazzWax.com and click on those buttons when you’re blocked at the paywall. Or upgrade in your publication profile.

Don’t miss out. Start the day right and stay happy.

Streamed and loved: Mobland S2 (2026/Paramount+)

9/11 films. Last week, many readers asked me for my favorite documentaries and filmed dramatizations of the 9/11 terrorist attack and the aftermath. I don’t know which ones are available online or not; you’ll have to do a Google search.

Here they are:

• 9/11: One Day in America (2022/Hulu)

• 9/11: The Falling Man (2006)

• 9/11: The Miracle of Stairway B (2006)

• World Trade Center (2006), with Nicolas Cage

• 102 Minutes That Changed America (2008)

• Man in Red Bandana (2017)

• Inside the President’s War Room (2021)

• Man on Wire (2008). This isn’t a documentary on the 9/11 attacks but on Philippe Petit’s wire walk between the Twin Towers in 1974. It will give you lots of up-close views of the beloved towers.

Pat Senatore (1935-2026), a jazz bassist who toured with Stan Kenton in the early 1960s before finding fame recording and performing with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass and then returned to jazz, died on September 8 at age 91.

Born in Newark, N.J., Pat attended high school with saxophonist Wayne Shorter. In high school, Pat began playing baritone horn before switching to trombone and then to bass in his senior year. After he graduated, he studied at the Juilliard School of Music for a period before leaving because the conservatory lacked a jazz program.

To read my interview with Pat, go here.

Here’s Pat with his electric bass keeping time with his hand as he and the Tijuana Brass listen back to their recording of Lollipops and Roses in 1966. Dig Pat’s killer bass line throughout…

Fresh Sound recorded three jazz albums with Pat—two in Los Angeles and one in Rome. Go here.

Spain loves Shorty Rogers. Last week I heard from Fresh Sound’s Jordi Pujol, who shared with me a video of the Púlsar Big Band in Barcelona rehearsing arrangements by Shorty Rogers. For those festival and club bookers who might be interested, email the Púlsar Big Band’s drummer, Enrique, at enriqueherediadrummer@gmail.com

Gene Bertoncini. Last week, I heard from jazz vocalist, songwriter and painter Meredith d’Ambrosio about the late guitarist:

“Hi Marc. I loved this whole piece about Gene Bertoncini! Gene was my good friend. So sorry to say goodbye to one of the sweetest gentlemen in the world. When he played on my Silent Passion album, he was wonderful and a pleasure to work with. Every chord he played made great jazz sense. I was fortunate to have him with me on that album! Thanks so much for writing such beautiful words about him.”

Here’s I Got Lost in His Arms by Meredith in 1996 from her Silent Passion album with Meredith on piano and Gene on guitar…

And here they are on The Shining Sea…

The original, the cover and the hit. Here’s Midnight Plane to Houston in 1972 by composer Jim Weatherly; it failed to chart…

Here’s Cissy Houston’s Midnight Train to Georgia in early 1973, after a few word changes; it failed to chart…

And here are Gladys Knight and the Pips singing Midnight Train to Georgia, released in August 1973. It spent two weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100…

Snaps from last week: From top to bottom, Steinway Tower (2022), 200 Central Park South (1963), former AT&T Building (1984) and the Crown Building (1922)…

That morning, my brother called just before 9. I was preparing for a meeting in Midtown a few hours later with clients from Ernst & Young, the accounting firm, to go over the galleys for my book on the new tax law. “Where are you?,” my brother said. “Sitting in my kitchen, why?” “Turn around.” Looking straight through my living room out over Upper West Side buildings to southern Manhattan, I could see a charcoal cloud rising in the distance. “What’s that?,” I asked. “A plane just hit one of the Twin Towers.” [Photos above and below by Marc Myers]

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Because I interview Hollywood stars all week, I have to do a ton of research on each one. That means reading memoirs and past interviews and watching their movies and TV series. Someone asked me recently what I watch each night for fun before turning in? I’m almost ashamed to tell you, but I will. [Photo above of the Empire State Building and photos below by Marc Myers]

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I already have fall on my mind. Way before the Internet, artist discographies could be found only in the Schwann Catalog, which came in two sizes: A small monthly periodical of new releases or a Torah-sized ringed directory that sat in central areas of large record stores for public access. [Photos above and below by Marc Myers]

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Looking back this past week, I counted eight events that had the biggest impact on me growing up in the 1960s. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of mindblowing events took place since the ‘60s that left a mark on younger generations. These include the arrival of the CD and VHS formats and players in the 1980s; the personal computer and AOL Mail in the 1990s; the iPod, iTunes and the high-speed modem in the early 2000s; the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in New York on Sept. 11, 2001; and the launch of the iPhone in 2007. [Photos above and below by Marc Myers]

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Tower of Power, the Bay Area bump-and-grind horn band that emerged in the early 1970s, was best known for their greasy, driving funk hits such as What Is Hip, Get Yo’ Feet Back on the Ground and Knock Yourself Out. But many of these started to sound formulaic by mid-decade. Fifty years later, the real Tower of Power gems are their ballads. [Photo above of Tower of Power in the early 1970s]

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This coming week is traditionally the most quiet time of year in Manhattan, rivaled only by the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. A sizable number of residents are out of town here and young kids are in camp. Parents who remained are enjoying their last pre-children dates until next year. Soon, they’ll resume arguing with their pre-teens and teens about curfew, homework and phone use. [Photos of Times Square above and below by Marc Myers]

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Central Park is a massive sound stage for musicians playing many different types of music. Strolling through the park, you’ll hear groups playing Latin, jazz and rock and singing doo-wop, a cappella. Last weekend, I entered the park at East 76th St and quickly encountered a terrific jazz quartet playing. I had to sit on a bench and listen. [Photo above of the quartet by Marc Myers]

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JazzWax was born exactly 19 years ago. A month before its launch, I was urged to start blogging when the late Terry Teachout, a dear friend and critic, gave me a shove. Since 1996, Terry and I had been listening to jazz at each other’s apartments once each quarter for a few hours on Saturday mornings. We’d choose 10 tracks each and the goal was to blow each other’s minds, point out interesting things going on in the music and just relax. We were both rabid jazz fans.

At the time, I was a financial writer and marketing consultant. My company counted New York’s major real estate corporations, accounting companies and risk advisory firms as clients.

Terry was breathtakingly brilliant, and freelancing for The Wall Street Journal as well as The New York Times, Commentary and many other publications. He hadn’t been named the WSJ’s theater critic yet or arts essayist, nor had he written his regal biographies of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington (though he had already published a bunch of books).

Listening to jazz was our way of kicking back by re-connecting with our college selves, when students sat around staring at two speakers and talked about what they heard. During our July 2007 session at my apartment, Terry presented a challenge that was more like a friendly command.

“You have to start a jazz blog. You know too much and need to be writing about it,” he said.

“Terry, I’m massively busy,” I pleaded.

“No one is busier than I am, and I found time. It’s a necessity. Deep down, you’re a journalist. You started as a journalist and that never leaves you. You need to be doing that, not what you’re doing now.”

“Fine,” I said, “In two weeks I’ll launch a blog.” I recalled that a few months earlier, Mena and Ben Trott of Six Apart had asked me to lunch. They had just started Typepad, a blogging platform, and were looking for writers to sign up. I decided to launch my blog there.

But what would I call it? After playing around with names that were easy to remember, I settled on JazzWax—jazz, for obvious reasons, and wax, because it was a double entendre. “Wax” was shorthand for recording and records in entertainment trade publications of the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. Like this one from Billboard in 1944: “Billy Eckstine Waxes Blues for DeLuxe Records.” Wax also meant to write in an emotional style.

I went to GoDaddy, typed in the URL and found it was available. All that remained was to start writing, which I did on August 3, 2007. As Terry predicted, the journalist in me returned (I had started at The New York Times in 1976 while in college, when the paper was still hot type and pages were set in lead in the composing room).

To stand out among all other blogs, I decided to post six days a week. Most others at the time were weekly. I also decided to interview jazz legends who popped up on favorite albums but were largely overlooked. My first JazzWax phone interview was with Danny Bank, published on August 30, 2007.

The rest, as they say, is history. Over the past 19 years, I never missed a day except once, when Typepad had a technical issue and the site was down. In 2010, Terry felt I had to be writing for the WSJ and introduced me to his editor. That began my career there.

Nat Hentoff, who had become a vocal JazzWax fan and called weekly, urged me to write a book and told his editor at the University of California that I’d be calling. The result was Why Jazz Happened (2012). Ira Gitler sent emails frequently filling me in with eyewitness reports on subjects I wrote about.

In 2013, Terry thought I should be writing more books and introduced me to his literary agent and attorney. Three books followed. Terry was clever and knew what he was doing. His timing was perfect; I was prepared for each opportunity he presented.

Our workloads increased when the WSJ introduced new sections in 2012 with increased assignments. In addition to his books, Terry wrote a play and an opera in addition to criticism and reviews for the WSJ and other publications. Too much, in fact. He died in his sleep on January 13, 2022 at age 65.

So as JazzWax turns 19, a special thanks to Terry Teachout, Nat Hentoff and Hank O’Neal as well as Michael O’Daniel, Todd Selbert, Bill Kirchner, Carl Woideck, Bret Primack, Stuart Anello, Gilles D’Elia and so many others who have been there for JazzWax and me over the years. And thank you, to my many paying subscribers as well as readers who haven’t yet decided to convert to paid.

PS: Whenever Terry or I would playfully gripe to each other by email about a piece we just finished writing that was an especially heavy lift, the other would send along a YouTube featuring fish in a tank with Joe Mooney singing Nina Never Knew, backed by the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra in 1952. It always generated an instant laugh and sent stress packing.

Sadly, that video has disappeared from YouTube. So here’s the recording that became for us a metaphoric and sympathetic cold bottle of soda pulled out out of an ice-filled cooler after a hot day in the writing fields. Terry was a strategic mentor and always right. I miss him…

The start of August this weekend marks the start of summer’s second half, when thoughts start turning to fall. I already miss not rising with the sun. I’m usually up between 5 and 5:30 a.m. In July, the sun rises at about that time. I love being awakened by the sun. Over the past two weeks, the sun has been rising closer to 6 a.m. [Photos above and below of New York by Marc Myers]

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The passing of Joe Melson last week made me revisit Roy Orbison, one of pop’s most fascinating songwriters who also had one of the most beautiful singing voices of the 1960s. His music style blended rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll, doo-wop and country, and Melson was Orbison’s songwriting partner on many hits. In all, they wrote more than 200 songs together—both of them weighing in on the words and music. Today, a deep dive into Orbison and 10 video clips. [Photo above of Joe Melson and Roy Orbison, courtesy of RoyOrbison.com]

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New York downshifted into the low 80s last week (26.7-29 celsius), a relief from the crushing 90s and 100+ temps of previous weeks. We’re now in what’s known as the “dog days of summer.” This period is named for Sirius, the bright “Dog Star,” because our Northern Hemisphere ancestors believed that the star’s alignment this time of year with the Sun caused extra heat to be beamed down. [Photo of Central Park’s 79th St. Transverse above and photos below by Marc Myers]

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On Thursday, New York, like many parts of the northeastern quadrant of the country, experienced a double whammy. In addition to broiling temperatures climbing above 100 degrees and pudding-thick humidity, Canada’s flaming dry forests sent along a dense fog of smoke that clouded visibility and burned eyes and nostrils. In some ways, the middle of the week was a like a heat blizzard. Most people sheltered at home. On Friday, conditions improved significantly, with cooler weather that shoved the smoke out over the Atlantic. At least that’s true here. The Midwest is still still coping. [Photos above and below by Marc Myers]

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You know I take you with you wherever I go. Even last week, while I was away on vacation, you were top of mind so I posted all week. Now let me tell you about one of the things I discovered on the eastern tip of New York’s Long Island. Photos to come this weekend. [Photo above, from left, of Marcello Pimenta and John Ludlow at the Sail Inn earlier this week on Monday]

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Fifty years ago, on America’s 200th birthday, New York proudly hosted Operation Tall Ships—a harbor filled with historic vessels festooned with billowing sails. As regal as that armada was, New York’s celebration was dwarfed by the Bicentennial Celebration in Boston, where 400,000 gathered to hear a free live concert by Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops, capped by fireworks. [Photo above of the Boston Pops performing on July 4, 1976 courtesy of the Boston Globe/Boston Globe via Getty Images]

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Before Nate Bargatze, Dave Chappelle, Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman, George Carlin, Redd Foxx, Woody Allen, Flip Wilson, Joan Rivers, Bill Cosby, Bob Newhart and Lenny Bruce, there was Jonathan Winters. [Photo above of Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the early morning hours last week by Marc Myers]

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What makes New York special is that everything big happens here all at once. It’s where exceptionalism comes to leave its mark in food, fashion, finance, the arts, sports, entertainment, architecture, technology and writing. [Photo above and below of New York by Marc Myers]

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Every June in Manhattan, the New York Philharmonic performs a live free concert on Central Park’s Great Lawn. Yes, classical music is still a thing among families who love sitting outside in the evening on blankets on the expansive grass space listening to a live orchestra through a huge speaker system. I passed by in the afternoon of June 10 just after they had finished setting up the stage for that evening. [Photo above and photos below of fireworks by Marc Myers]

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This weekend’s post began in the shower, where the best ideas spring forth. For some reason, a shower sets your head in neutral. Washing and shampooing are auto-pilot chores, freeing up your brain to wander. The following came to mind last week [photo above of Central Park by Marc Myers]:

Since the end of World War II, in 1945, major innovations in musi…

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