In my recent review of Charlie Chaplin’s painful misfire Monsieur Verdoux, I paid brief homage to “Martha Raye’s memorable performance as the grasping, guileless Annabella Bonheur, the one woman Verdoux can’t kill. I’ve always found Martha’s act hard to swallow, but it seems churlish here to deny her her one moment of glory.” Well, let’s…
Search Results for: jazz
John Fedchock New York Big Band plays “Ruby, My Dear”
John Fedchock New York Big Band at the New Trier Jazz Festival, New Trier High School – Winnetka, Illinois, February 2, 2002 John Fedchock, leader saxes: Mark Vinci, Charles Pillow, Rich Perry, Rick Margitza, Scott Robinson trumpets: Jon Owens, Frank Greene, Scott Wendholt, Barry Ries trombones: John Fedchock, Keith O’Quinn, Clark Gayton, George Flynn piano:…
Mulgrew Miller—“Woody n’ You” aka “Algo Bueno”
Mulgrew Miller on piano, Richie Goods on bass, and Rodney Green on drums, at Ken Beilman’s 1999 Jazz Festival. Dizzy Gillespie wrote the tune in the early forties, dedicating it to Woody Herman, who purchased arrangements from Gillespie while Dizzy was struggling to become a leader in his own right. It was first recorded in…
“Tristanotomia”
Pianist Agnar Mar Magnusson plays an original composition “Tristanotomia” dedicated to legendary piano player and composer Lenny Tristano. Ben Street on bass and Bill Stewart on drums. Recorded on the Reykjavik jazz festival 2008.
Tony Malaby—“Obambo”
Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Ben Monder, guitar; Eivind Opsvik, bass; Nasheet Waits, drums. Live at The Jazz Gallery, New York City, January 24, 2009.
Will there ever be an end to the making of Thelonious Monk albums?
I certainly hope not. What was once a hobby has become a bit of an obsession. I wrote a long piece last year offering brief reviews of 30 “Salute to Thelonious” albums and now I’m back with four more. The pick of the litter for me is Bobby Broom plays for Monk, featuring Bobby on…
New at Bright Lights: Fred, Charlie, Tina, Thelonious, Pannonica, Norman, and Neytiri!
In the new issue of Bright Lights Film Journal I have film reviews of Fred Astaire in Belle of New York, his not-that-good reunion with Vera-Ellen, as well as Tina Fey’s NBC mini-hit 30 Rock The Jazz Baroness, the story of jazz groupie Pannonica de Koenigswarter and her main man Thelonious Monk, book reviews of…
Two ways of looking at “Goodbye Porkpie Hat”
Sometime ago I ran the (fairly) famous jazz clip “Jammin’ the Blues,” featuring Lester Young, and went so far as to include a poem I’d written about Lester, called “Goodbye Porkpie Hat,” in reference to a tune that Charlie Mingus had written to commemorate Lester’s death. Here are two recent versions of GPH, one a…
Early Monk—“Blue Monk”
The famous “Sound of Jazz” clips of Monk. The show aired December 8, 1957. This is the earliest footage I know of Monk, and he’s still wearing period “bebop” attire. Monk was mightily irritated that Count Basie decided to insert himself in the proceedings. I reviewed an early, cheap version of a “Sound of Jazz”…
Little Rootie Tootie Mania!
Well, pretty much. Back in the early fifties, Thelonious Monk wrote a tune, so the story goes, for his son Thelonious Jr. called “Little Rootie Tootie.” He recorded it for Prestige, which was not all that excited about Monk’s limited sales. Then after Monk moved to Riverside, the tune was redone, with Hall Overton rewriting…