Jazz In Film
Kansas City, 1927. The jazz is hot, the liquor’s illegal, and cornetist Pete Kelly just wants to play music with his band at the local speakeasy. Simple enough plan, right? Not when the mob comes calling.
Jack Webb directs and stars in Pete Kelly’s Blues (1955), a gritty tale of what happens when organized crime muscles in on the music scene. When a local gangster decides he wants a piece of Pete’s action, things get dangerous fast. After their drummer is killed, Pete caves to the pressure—agreeing not only to the gangster’s “partnership” but also accepting his alcoholic girlfriend as the band’s new singer.
It’s a devil’s bargain, and Pete knows it. As the situation spirals, he realizes he’s sold out everything that mattered. The only bright spot? A wealthy woman named Ivy who represents the one decent connection left in his increasingly compromised life.
What elevates this noir-tinged drama into something special is the authentic jazz running through its veins. The cast includes actual legends: Peggy Lee as Rose Hopkins, Ella Fitzgerald as Maggie Jackson, and guitarist Herb Ellis as Bedido. Backing them up are pianist Don Abney, bassist Joe Mondragon, and drummer Larry Bunker.
The band itself is stacked with talent—Teddy Buckner on cornet, Matty Matlock handling both clarinet and jazz arrangements, Eddie Miller on tenor sax, and a brass section that includes Dick Cathcart (who dubbed Webb’s cornet playing). The musical lineup features classic numbers including the title track, plus standouts like Peggy Lee’s emotionally charged performance and other jazz standards of the era.
Webb brought the same attention to detail here that made Dragnet a phenomenon—only this time, the crime is what happens when art meets corruption, and the blues tell the whole story.
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Requisites
It’s 1956 when pianist Kenny Drew steps into a New York studio with two absolute legend, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, to record his first album as a bandleader. The Kenny Drew Trio. This should’ve been his big break, the moment that launched him into the jazz stratosphere but America wasn’t ready to listen.
There’s a twist though. While Drew struggled to find acceptance at home, his brilliance didn’t go unnoticed everywhere. Fast forward to the early 1970s when the album finally gets released in Japan, and suddenly everything clicks. Japanese audiences and critics got it. The record became a best-seller, earning the acclaim it deserved all along.
Recorded across two September days in 1956, with production by the legendary Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, and cover photography by the brilliant Roy De Carava, this trio tackled everything from Duke Ellington’s “Caravan” to Thelonious Monk’s “Ruby, My Dear,” from the Disney classic “When You Wish Upon A Star” to Drew’s own composition “Blues For Nica.”
Sometimes the world has to catch up to genius. Kenny Drew’s story reminds us that great art doesn’t always find its audience right away—but when it does, it’s worth the wait.
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Jazz In Film
Ever have one of those trips where everything goes wrong? Well, buckle up, because George and Gwen Kellerman’s adventure in The Out-Of-Towners (1969) takes “bad travel day” to comedic extremes.
Here’s the setup: George is up for a big promotion, and the company’s flying him and his wife Gwen to New York City—all expenses paid—for an interview with the higher-ups. Sweet deal, right? They’ve got it all planned out: arrive the night before, catch dinner and a Broadway show, wake up refreshed and ready to impress. What could possibly go wrong?
Everything!
Their plane gets diverted to Boston. Okay, minor hiccup. But then comes a train ride from hell, a mugging, getting caught up in a police chase, and—just for good measure—George breaks a tooth. It’s like the universe conspired to turn their dream trip into an absolute disaster.
Director Arthur Hiller orchestrates this chaos beautifully, with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis playing the increasingly frazzled couple to perfection. And keeping the whole madcap adventure moving? A fantastic score by none other than Quincy Jones.
Sometimes the journey to success is… well, let’s just say it’s memorable.
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Review: Kathleen Bertrand | Katharsis
In many ways the task of the music critic is anything but easy. We tediously wade through the multitudes that dub themselves singers, seeking storytellers who transport us to new and exciting destinations. To truly hear music, we must divorce prejudices and likes, and in doing so, permit the customary to wane to make way for nuance and subtlety.
As our collective musical tastes evolve, we constantly anticipate the arrival of fresh and exciting sounds, and to that extent our wait has run its term. Kathleen Bertrand’s latest offering Katharsis lingers between meaningfulness and elation as thoughts about you wrap around her finger, relate grandma’s hands that are stronger than pride and ushers a younger generation of lyricists and composers into the pantheon of the great American songbook.
We are blessed to be in the presence of a vocalist who understands interpretation, not only of classic songs and original compositions but is also equally adept at hearing orchestration and arrangement. Without too much fanfare or divulging too many delights, suffice it to say you will hear the Kathleen Bertrand you have come to know and love in a new light.
As you listen to Katharsis, you will uncover its many moods that tempt you to dance, move and realize your own indulgences. Katharsis will not be limited to wonderful, extraordinary, marvelous or exceptional, nor will these words designate it so simply because they are written. These are merely cautionary pronouncements describing the pleasure I received as I drove down the highway on a warm summer night. You, like I, will be challenged to find your own words for this unexpectedly delightful exposé and return hungry for more. Why, you may ask… because it’s what he likes!
carl anthony | notorious jazz | may 24, 2011
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