Slam Stewart, Red Garland: Good Jazz Guys

This is a tasty fun day so I listened to some old-style jazz swing guys. The man who brightened my day was the elegant bassist, Slam Stewart. In his career his style had such delicious exactness that it enchanted most everyone. I heard his rendition of the good tune called 'Manhattan' and things were so right! Also I heard the very grand jazz piano work of the marvelous Red Garland today. The man's a bit more of a modernist but the guy can make a keyboard come delightfully to life. Enjoyed the Red Garland work on the feisty tune, 'Billy Boy.' The great jazz work of Slam Stewart and Red Garland has made me truly smile today.

Brooke Anderson, Samantha Harris: Great!

Brooke Anderson and Samantha Harris are two of the most delightful new souls on entertainment news culture television. When I watch Samantha Harris on ET on the good ABC it just pleases me so much. The same is true for the marvelous Brooke Anderson on the HLN Showbiz fine show. It is good fun to keep up with the mighty shenanigans of pop stars on the two marvelous entertainment shows. There is something so sparkling and just incredible and super "hip" about viewing the incredible Samantha Harris and Brooke Anderson. They are two refreshing new shining light television stars, indeed!

Erskine Caldwell: A Georgia Author Giant!

This is a blog on a cultural Georgia treasure. Way back in late 1903 there was a man born in Coweta County, (now in metro Atlanta) Ga. by the name of Erskine Caldwell. The fellow great up to be a writer who had plenty of book sales savvy and much cultural impact on the distinct ethos that is the Deep South experience. He worked in Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans and Lord knows how many other places. In 1925 he came to Atlanta and became a reporter for The Atlanta Journal. Years ago, I met a man who knew Mr. Caldwell quite well and he said E. Caldwell was a fascinating intellectual who truly understood the people of the Southern region of this country. In 1932 Erskine Caldwell came out with the mighty book called, 'Tobacco Road' and this work proved to be a remarkable literary juggernaut. It got deep into the souls and the raw passion that is the primal core of so many great Georgians. In 1933, Mr. Caldwell came out with another giant book success, 'God's Little Acre.' This thing gained the strong Mr. Caldwell even more success! 'Little Acre' is a wild story of a Georgia dirt farmer and all his people. It is full of a raw vigor that just vividly overwhelms the reader. In the late 1930s, Caldwell was a news correspondent in Spain, Mexico and Czechoslovakia. Two more Caldwell big novels came out soon. One in 1940 called, 'Trouble in July' and one in 1943 called 'Georgia Boy.' The fascinating aspect of Mr. Caldwell's work is the fact the man so beautifully earned his place as a great regional writer, a gentleman who could encapsulate the complex layers of the Deep South emotional experience and then bring this marvelous deep cultural world to life. Caldwell did for Georgia what the marvelous William Faulkner did for his area, the soulful 'Ole Miss' region. I stand amazed today knowing that I am a product of the very same beautiful state of Georgia, the place that produced a tremendously great man like Erskine Caldwell.

Paul Hemphill, an Atlanta Treasure!

Once upon a time there was a great writer in the Atlanta area, a man named Paul Hemphill. The guy came out of Alabama but he really seemed to dig the metro Atlanta area. He became a columnist for The Atlanta Journal and developed quite a following. Like me, my mother enjoyed his material also, saying he was like a blend of Caldwell, Faulkner and even Scott Fitzgerald. I remember the main thing that delighted me about the charismatic Mr. Hemphill was the fact he was able to capture the constant change that was happening in the Atlanta area and also for that matter the entire Deep South. I loved his books, also. Especially the material on baseball, Nashville and even later his great work on the mighty Hank Williams. It was a marvelous deal also that he snared the essence of great Atlanta Watering Holes like the magnificent Manuel's over on North Avenue and Highland. Paul Hemphill helped make The Atlanta Journal an interesting newspaper giving such great prose over and over to the Southern people.

Ben Webster produces provocative jazz

Wildly beautiful is perhaps the best way to describe the gorgeous sound of the elegant tenor saxophone. This particular Friday was interesting because something in my soul cavorted and allowed me to go looking for the beautiful jazz sounds of the immortal Ben Webster on the tenor. Yes, Ben Webster and the sleek and wondrous Coleman Hawkins are two of may favorite tenor men. But the key aspect is the engaging improvisatory sound of jazz that is the elegant jazz art perpetrated by Mr. Ben Webster, let me tell you people... the man has an amazing way of bringing the lovely tones of a jazz ballad smokingly to life. It is good in our lives to return to the vivid world that is the artful essence of mainstream jazz. Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins had an uncanny gift for letting us have jazz music that engages our brains and indeed stimulates us so profoundly. It remains a grand gift....this thing we call jazz....because it blows beautiful musical experiences our way and the blue tones get so remarkable and refreshing.

Scott Pilgrim. Duke Jordan: Interesting Duo

American culture takes in so many rivers...they all pour lovingly into our soul awareness. We are not ego-niks, because we are searchers, trying to find true clear meaning. The vigor in the jazz music of the super piano man, Duke Jordan has been found by me, recently. This man had great work in the mighty early years with the poignant one, Charlie Parker. His sound is so very lyrical on that piano that is so moving you can feel the thing talking to you. On some of the Duke Jordan material I listened to recently he had the elegant fellow of the drums with him. The one and only Ed Thigpen. The guy knows beautifully how to get the musical job done. Duke Jordan was a man who developed a very revolutionary style. He got exposed at an early time in life to the music of Monk, Gillespie, Parker and the sleek piano fella, Bud Powell. His music even now just rears up and captivates you. Duke Jordan is a person of real style. Getting back to what I said when I started this piece, our present culture is just so cool, because we can enjoy innovative piano jazz and also brash, new engaging wild works, like Scott Pilgrim. I figure this Scott Pilgrim phenom is gonna really take off kind of like the great DiCaprio and the joyous 'Inception.' Let's give great applause for the wild new source of entertainment joy, the delightful Scott Pilgrim but also let's relish the glorious so revolutionary piano jazz music of the superb one....Duke Jordan.

Film Style People...Where Are You Now?

Some big style improvements in filmworld....Lord, they are needed now. The Mel Gibson stuff and the Lohan situation....well it has all been a bit much. What happened to the stylish kind of people. Folks like Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and Ann-Margret. Bring back manners and elegant style. Let us get a little couth going again in this splendid film arena of ours. It's time for a change. Less ego, more soul awareness to paraphrase Chopra.