The Comedian-Pianist Victor Borge, indescribably famous and beloved in his day, is–as far as I can tell–almost completely forgotten. His concerts–most of them televised in the 1950s/60s–and guest appearances on various TV variety shows gave him a platform to do an act that nobody else did; ‘comedy with music’ as
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G_Q1poI6Bw Here’s a thoroughly charming vid/cip of Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber doing a piano/vocal duet at a tribute to Cameron Mackintosh. The number is a mash-up of ‘Send In The Clowns’ and ‘Music Of The Night’ with special lyrics by Sondheim celebrating Mackintosh, the best line of which is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcRHhIRO9OI The Columbia Short Subjects department of the 1930s-50s will remain immortal, of course, for being the home of the Three Stooges. But many other comics had series of their own, most have which went straight from the theaters to the home for old crappy movies. They didn’t seem to
Closing out this weeks posts on the great Jelly Roll Morton, here’s the great Dick Hyman (funniest name in jazz) playing a Morton stride piano showpiece called ‘The Finger Breaker’. Hyman’s impeccable delivery of this wildly inventive and scary/difficult piece is a wonder to behold. Enjoy…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTYAaX7lqjQ In 1926 and early 1927 Jelly Roll Morton recorded what are arguably the most important traditional jazz records ever made. Calling his group the ‘Red Hot Peppers’, the sides they cut for the Victor Talking Machine Company are the earliest fully-orchestrated ‘hot jazz’ recordings featuring a tightly rehearsed and
Here’s an extraordinary recording of Jelly Roll Morton playing a solo piano version of ‘Tiger Rag’. Morton’s piano technique is flawless and the audio is quite remarkable, capturing not only the ‘air’ in the room but the sound of Morton’s foot stomping in tempo. Most versions of ‘Tiger Rag’ reduce
For the past few days I’ve been immersed in one of the best jazz biographies I’ve ever read, ‘Jelly’s Blues’, a biographical history of Jelly Roll Morton and his times. The book, by Howard Reich and William Gaines, is one of the rare musical biographies that makes you want to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxJrRhazLcM Here’s a rocking good version of one of my favorite Sondheim songs from ‘Follies’, the intricately prosaic and wonderfully sour ‘Buddy’s Blues’. It’s performed by Alexander Gemignani and was part of the Sondheim 90th birthday virtual TV concert, which thanks to the pandemic gave us performances via Zoom. Yet
I didn’t know this actually still existed or, if it did, exactly how to see it. But here is a lousy but incredibly valuable VHS copy of the 1966 TV show with songs ‘Evening Primrose’, starring Anthony Perkins with songs by Sondheim and a script by James Goldman. Presented on
Stephen Sondheim was a game fanatic. He collected old board games, did lots of puzzles etc. etc. This fact has been covered thoroughly and I’m getting bored trying to update it and make it sound exciting so lets get to the meat. In 1966 Sondheim was invited to be a