Yesterday I posted about the hard-kicking all-female big band Francis Carroll and Her Coquettes. Today we take a look at ‘The International Sweethearts of Rhythm’, who were believed to be the first racially-integrated all-female big band in the United States. Though they’ve been more or less lost to history–and that’s
The all-girl orchestra was generally regarded as something of a ‘gimmick’–an oddity that amused audiences due to the rarity of seeing women playing horns, saxes, basses and drums. Indeed, only singing, violin and piano playing seemed to be considered appropriate and not jarring for a woman to be seen playing.
Apropos of this weeks posts on non-French, non-Greek director Jules Dassin, here’s a lovely scene from his 1960 hit “Never On Sunday’, starring his wife Melina Mercouri. In an act of immense chutzpah, Dassin–who was essentially a non-actor–cast himself as the co-lead–an American who’s visiting Greece. He’s the gray haired
It took three days to shoot the scene in which Judy Garland performs Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin’s haunting and highly unusual (in form) torch song ‘The Man That Got Away’, for the 1954 version of ‘A Star Is Born’. Above is a nifty split screen demonstrating two of the
As a jazz pianist, I’m less sensitive than most others of my ilk to people’s frequently (and freely) expressed negative opinions about the music that I love. This is largely due to my belief that when people say that they don’t like jazz they’re not really referring to jazz–they’re either
I occasionally get obsessed with a recording and go on a listening jag that defies explanation. This happened yesterday with the above recording of a song by Doris Day accompanied by Harry James and his Orchestra. It’s called ‘Would I Love You?’ and is hardly so well-known or even terribly
“The April Fools” (1969) may not have left any mark on cinema history but it did bring to life two of Burt Bacharach’s best songs, one of which is the title song. The film stars a very Jack Lemmony Jack Lemmon and an absurdly gorgeous Catherine Deneuve as two people
Once upon a time watching television was easy. You didn’t need to subscribe to channels, download apps, scan QR codes, binge, DVR, Roku, Apple, or Tubi your way through the media universe. Thirteen channels, one remote control and a couch was the whole deal. And the seasons were simple and
When I was a kid I had a two-disc LP comprised of the audio of ‘Tonight Show’ segments. The Johnny Carson album was a big flop for some reason–Carson liked to joke about it–and I can’t remember quite why we had it since neither I nor my parents watched Carson.
Last week I posted the ridiculous version of ‘Ole’ Man River’ as performed by Frank Sinatra in the Jerome Kern biopic ‘Til The Cloud Roll By’, wearing a white suit on a white set in a all-white world. Another version of a ‘whiten-ing up’ of the song comes in a