Count Basie music proves so very sparkling

Atlanta area weather has been so super,today. I feel so much better since it warmed up. Celebration was on my mind so I dug Count Basie big band music this lovely Friday. Lord, the bright and electrifying living large sound of the Count Basie unit is so refreshing. The best tunes I heard today were 'April in Paris' and 'Shiny Stockings.' Both these numbers had great tight arrangements with the brass and saxes showing lots of sparkling punch and drive. Later on today I figure I'm gonna delve into some grand Duke Ellington big band music. My two favorite Duke Ellington compositions are 'Satin Doll' and 'It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing. Yes, that Mr. Ellington is a tremendous jazz icon just like the profound man with a classic beat, Count Basie. Please remember the gigantic sound of jazz music is a superior healer of our inner anxiety and those huge woes. Jazz can turn us all around and make us feel grand and get us away from the brittle cynicism and pseudo-intellectualism that seems to permeate our multifaceted society. Enjoy the fun that is right there in your lives, people!

Chet Baker paints good sense of 'Cool'

"Cool" trumpet playing knocks me out. In a huge way, I can really get into that brand of sounds. The slick man of "cool" from the West Coast, the grand horn man Chet Baker, is a marvelous exponent of the shiny, beautiful linear lines kind of mainstream jazz. Since the huge snow has eased here the super sounds of Chet Baker are apropos' for driving my mood up to a better plane. A finite, ice-cold biggie of a jazz composition interpretation is a track with Chet Baker on trumpet, the craftsman Paul Desmond on alto sax and the clever Bob James on keyboard. This particular track I am referencing is a mellow rendition of a pretty tune, 'Autumn Leaves.' Bob James work has a kind of picaresque mystery that is so good here. The alto sax work of Paul Desmond is interesting also on this one. One more grand ditty for me today was a vamping, sort of modal reading of the good standard, 'But Not For Me.' I have always enjoyed that one cause I can even recall one of the first times I heard the thing. That was the famed Prestige recording I think that had Miles Davis the trumpet master and the elegant man of the vibes, Milt Jackson. Anyway, it is great to get the "cool" and thrillingly refreshing sounds of Chet Baker plunked down in one's soul. That is a "fun" trip if there ever was one. Ciao!

Garbo's 'Ninotchka' has me chuckling

I dunno what's the matter with me. Lately, I am getting to be a more and more enthused person on the subject of old movies and old-style movie stars. A case in point is my recent viewing of the fascinating 1939 film, 'Ninotchka' with Greta Garbo and the fine actor, Melvyn Douglas. This rather comic-romance is a charm in every way. The main line is the fact of Ninotchka (Greta Garbo) a Russian woman coming to Paris and falling for the clever man, Leon (Melvyn Douglas). This shrewd movie was directed by the talented Ernst Lubitsch and its sleek evidentiary style evokes the late 30s and early 40s France and Russia in a unique way for us film enthusiasts to "dig." This story with Greta Garbo and her friends has a bunch of laughs. Culture of the war years comes across as a large unusual experience and film buffs can have themselves a huge fun time with the merry story of 'Ninotchka.'

Richard Widmark can make a film 'right-on'

I truly love strong film noir material. This genre of film making can enthrall a person. The other night I watched a solid, powerhouse film with one of my favorite tough guy actors, the incomparable Richard Widmark. Yes, Richard Widmark and Lee Marvin are two of my real favorite strong actors cause Lord knows they get the job done, beautifully. This particular film, 'Pickup on South Street' is a finely etched thriller drama that snares the viewer and pulls the person into the story's web in an artful, interesting way. Directed by the vigorous and innovative Samuel Fuller, this tale details the machinations of a pickpocket who not knowingly takes a message from a woman's bag. The message was supposed to be for enemy agents. So then, Widmark's character becomes a guy with a bulls-eye target for the spy ring bunch really hurriedly sets out to get him. There are two other grand performances in this film. The very versatile actress, Jean Peters, is in the role of Candy, a real, hard-luck woman. When I was a young guy I remember how many people talked about the acting skills of Jean Peters. Like many superb actresses she had a wide spectrum of very diverse parts and she always pleased her fans. Another good soul in this film is Richard Kiley in the role of a mean, testy rough guy named Joey. Kiley is a devilish feisty actor. He is so hard-boiled that he looks like he stepped right out of a Raymond Chandler novel. Another clever person in the film is Thelma Ritter in the crafty part of an informant for the law...she plays a woman named Moe Williams and she performs so delightfully. The amazing thing about films put together by the elegant, somewhat brutal film strongman, Samuel Fuller is the fact he has so much zing and yes so much enthralling cinematic artistry in his a bit tumultous work. I feel that sitting through a Samuel Fuller movie is kind of like getting overwhelmed by good writers like Don D. or Philip Roth. Yes the man Samuel Fuller and the skilled film noir artist, Richard Widmark can bring a superior fulfilling film experience to life.

The New Orleans Saints Go Marching In!

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints! Tonight at 9:45 p.m. Eastern Time, the mighty Saints put on a fantastic performance. They won the Super Bowl big time, knocking off the terrific strong Colts from Indy. Peyton Manning tried and tried but Coach Sean and Drew Brees and most of all some of the finest passionate defensive guys I have ever cheered on, well Lord they did the most wonderful job this man has seen in a long, long time. Tonight the Powerful Super Bowl Champions are the New Orleans Saints and Lord the Southern men like me are so happy. I am so thrilled by the super work done by the superb defensive unit. That giant defensive play, yeah that tremendous interception toward the end was just so wild, so gigantic and so magnificent. The city of great Jazz has risen up, yeah the good folks of New Orleans have gone way past the maddening horror of Katrina and yes the grand passionate souls of old New Orleans with its Great Art and Superior Music have good Lord outdone everything. Thanks so much Sean Payton, Drew Brees and all you wonderful fellas who are indeed Saints. God bless the New Orleans Saints and yes God Bless us all!

The exciting, horn man, Freddie Hubbard

This evening I got rip-roaringly back into top-notch trumpet work. Yes, I listened to a real jazz great soul...the elegant trumpet power man, Freddie Hubbard. His work on the fusion honed 'Red Clay" album got me so excited with all his so brash, muscular good brass guy strength. He really gained huge fame when he had that sizzling music going with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Lord, he was right there working with the so-fine Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone and Curtis Fuller on trombone. The merry and so profound jazz sounds of Curtis Fuller and Wayne Shorter are so full of huge listening thrills. Wow, Freddie Hubbard, sterling trumpet man, made fabulous music for Impulse, Atlantic, Blue Note and CTI. Another wonderful time this evening was giving a listen to Freddie Hubbard doing that soulful big horn work on the super album, 'Maiden Voyage' a fine performing job with the masterful keyboard artist, Herbie Hancock. Yes, everyone, the classic modern jazz totality of sound of Freddie Hubbard shows us what a powerhouse musical icon he was.

My aunt, a grand Southern lady passes

This morning my aunt, Doris Scruggs, passed away in Pelham, Georgia. She was 93. This wonderful southern woman was a grand personality, a person who was always deeply interested in culture, music and the arts. She was a great teacher. And yes, she was so marvelously full of life. One reason I got so interested in piano and keyboard folks is the fact that people like my aunt Doris used to play the piano in her house so delightfully. She was so passionate about her music and like my mother (her oldest sister) she put so many intricate and so vivid interpretations into her music. And it is a fantastic memory to me how many times I had so many great conversations with her. Many things have been written by people like William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Norman Mailer and others about how important life with all its memorable times can be. Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Mailer are masters of the artistry of great words. Yes, one's blood, one's ancestry is so vital and as we grow older ourselves we realize the poignancy and the essential and so definitive dynamics that are in the lives of people who mean so much to us. I am so happy that my aunt Doris helped to instill in me the good, passionate feelings about art, culture and yes, creativity. My aunt Doris brought so much wonderful and meaningful good feeling into my life and for that I am so grateful.