To quote from a recent reader’s email: “JazzWax is like a daily after-hours party.” Well put! That’s exactly what I want the blog to feel like. JazzWax is an ongoing conversation, a routine, a shot of excitement, a holding-hand and a social handout—all to help lighten your load as you wind your way through the maze of life each week. [Painting above, Nightclub in Harlem, 1943 by Archibald Motley Jr. (1891-1981)]
To those who haven’t converted yet from free to a paid subscription, I urge you to join the global party so you, too, can enjoy all of the posts sent out each week, not just two. Converting to paid also allows you to access the site and read my interviews and everything else at any time.
If you’re riding for free, here’s what you missed this past week: A post on five new great jazz albums; my annual post on the 1967 film The Young Girls of Rochefort, which fills readers with enormous optimism and joy; and free access to Sloane: A Jazz Singer, a 2023 documentary on the late Carol Sloane. Isn’t that worth $10 a month—or $100 a year with an annual savings of $20 (you get 12 months for just the cost of 10 months)?
How to upgrade: Find the “Upgrade to paid” button on any post or in the “Manage subscription” section of your account settings. Give it a click, choose a paid plan. Then you can sign in to JazzWax.com any time of day or night and enjoy. Thanks in advance.
What I streamed and loved this week…
Uncut Gems (2019). A powerful drama film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie and one of Adam Sandler’s finest acting performances. Sandler plays a jeweler in New York with a gambling addiction. He must retrieve an high-value rough opal he purchased from an Ethiopian mine in order to sell it and pay off his gambling debts. I should mention that the film is stressful, the subject matter is strong and there is violence. But it’s still a work of art with superb acting performances. (Max)
Here's the trailer…
Dorothy Donegan. Following my post last week on the extraordinary jazz pianist Dorothy Donegan, I heard from Michael O’Daniel:
“Hi Marc. See the attached photo above. Both she and trumpeter Harry “Sweets” Edison were part of the first group of Los Angeles-based NEA American Jazz Masters honored by Mayor Tom Bradley on April 27, 1992. Benny Carter, Ella Fitzgerald and Gerald Wilson were the other honorees. [Pictured above, clockwise, from the bottom right, Dorothy Donegan, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Gerald Wilson, then-Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and Benny Carter.]
“Jazz musician Buddy Collette, Valerie Fields (Mayor Bradley’s arts deputy mayor) and I put together the event, which we called American Jazz Masters Day. The event pictured above was held in the press room at City Hall. It was packed. Mayor Bradley had the time of his life emceeing the show, and we got great media coverage.
“Dorothy Donegan had a wicked sense of humor to go with her otherworldly keyboard technique. I visited her at her home a couple of times. She was kept in luxurious style by her husband, John T. McClain, a nightclub owner.
“So many of the female pianists you list had the technique to become successful concert pianists but their race and gender denied them that opportunity.”
More Donegan. I also heard from Dutch jazz drummer Eric Ineke:
“Marc, terrific post about Dorothy Donegan. Such a great piano player. I played with her when she came to Holland for the first time to perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague in 1979.
“Festival producer Paul Acket called me and bass player Harry Emmery to back her. We had no rehearsal. She was sensational. The performance was recorded for Dutch TV and is available in the “World of Jazz” series on YouTube.
“After the performance, we played with her many times at the festival. An unforgettable experience! Happy New Year, and keep JazzWax going!”
Here’s the performance…
Another Donegan recollection, from Ria Wigt, co-owner of Timeless Records in the Netherlands:
“Hi Marc. Wim and I produced several tours with Dorothy in Europe. She was such a great pianist—crazy and joyful. Just a lot of fun to be with her. She had loads of stories and was a super woman.”
And finally, here’s a clip sent along by Larry Pluth featuring Eydie Gormé and Steve Lawrence singing Come Back to Me on The Ed Sullivan Show in September 1967…
Remember, upgrading to paid or giving JazzWax as a paid gift to a friend or family member means never missing a JazzWax post.
I never heard of that movie “Uncut Gems”. Just put it on my watch list.
The Dorothy Donegan video with Eric Ineke on drums from the Northsea Jazz Festival is wonderful. And it brings back great memories from my visits there in The Hague and later in Rotterdam. I stopped my visits there a few years ago because it became too crowded for me.
Just a note to say that after resisting a long time--after all, your free posts are so satisfying of themselves--I am glad I "succumbed" and subscribed. The subscriber-only posts are beyond value-for-money.
Donegan's intro to "What Are You Doing the Rest of Her Life" directs us to realize that the opening phrase of that song has a lot in common with that of "In a Sentimental Mood," something I never picked up on before. I'm very much a well-informed jazz dilettante (in that I know what I know and don't know what I don't know) but I wonder if in addition to being a Tatum disciple she was an influence on Oscar Peterson (at times she's like a more interesting Oscar Peterson) and Keith Jarrett.
The clip of Steve and Eydie: Thank you. So good.