Celebrity jazz fans

[JSngry]

Oh yeah, about Chevy Chase - anybody see one of the earlier episodes of SNL where, at the end I think, the cast members were each singing a chorus of blues, and Chevy scatted "Billie's Bounce'?

Seems like I saw him do the same thing once in tandem with his ex, Blythe Danner (who LOOKS like she'd make a GREAT jazz fan if you know what I mean... ).

[Free For All]

I remember hearing that Gary Larsen (Far Side) is a guitarist and Jim Hall fan- he did a cover for one of Hall's recordings. I thought I heard that he told Hall he'd do it for either one million dollars or one guitar lesson.

Also, remember that ad in DB or JT that showed Scofield hanging out and playing w/Alan Arkin?

Edited August 26, 2003 by Free For All

[maren]

Bill Cosby

In 1967 the little radio station in my little hometown in central Wisconsin played his 'Little Old Man (Uptight-Everything's Alright)' WAY more than Stevie Wonder/Supremes versions -- come to think of it, music-on-hinterlands-radio-stations may be yet another arena where Bill Cosby spearheaded integration...

[Johnny E]

Ossie Davis

Bill Clinton - he digs Peter Brotzman

Allen Ginsberg

[brownie]

French 3-star chef Pierre Gagnaire (one of the current top five chefs in the world) is very much into jazz.

[Free For All]

French 3-star chef Pierre Gagnaire (one of the current top five chefs in the world) is very much into jazz.

How many stars are possible? I mean, if 10 stars are possible, how great can he be? And is he number five of five? I mean if he's like number two or three, then maybe, but number FIVE? Has he been on Iron Chef?

[brownie]

Gagnaire is among the two dozen chefs in Europe that have a three-star rating in the Guide Michelin, the most severe - and

usually accurate - guide to restaurants. And Gagnaire is among the most inventive chefs around. His restaurant is not very far from

where I work. Wish I could go there for lunch. But a meal at his place is very, very expensive.

An interview with Gagnaire was published in the French review 'Jazz Magazine'. If you read French read on

and Bon Appetit!:

http://www.jazzmagazine.com/Interviews/Dau...e/pgagnaire.htm

[Free For All]

OK brownie, I'm a believer. And thanks for the Freddie Webster info.

[Aggie87]

I remember hearing that Gary Larsen (Far Side) is a guitarist and Jim Hall fan- he did a cover for one of Hall's recordings. I thought I heard that he told Hall he'd do it for either one million dollars or one guitar lesson.

Also, remember that ad in DB or JT that showed Scofield hanging out and playing w/Alan Arkin?

Gary Larson is a neighbor of Bill Frisell's also. They are apparently buddies, and Bill ended up doing the music for the short-lived "Tales from the Far Side" tv show. Some of the music is on his album "Quartet".

Here is the cover that Larson did for Jim Hall's "Something Special" album:

[brownie]

Thought the Brits among us would have added writer Kingsley Amis and historian-philosopher Eric Hobshawm?

Didn't Hobshawm write a book about jazz?

We all need more jazz philosophy!

Speaking of philosophers, Jean-Paul Sartre liked jazz. So did Walter Benjamin. But Theodor Adorno hated it.

[Philip]

Thought the Brits among us would have added ... historian-philosopher Eric Hobshawm?

Didn't Hobshawm write a book about jazz?...

The Jazz Scene, originally published under the pseudonym of Francis Newton (the trumpeter Frankie Newton had communist leanings).

[BERIGAN]

you know, I read in some mag last year the Shakira was a jazz fan!!!

Had gone to see somebody at some small club in California ....no , I don't remember who, where I read it, or what club...but I really do have a photographic memory, honest!

In case you don't know who she is....

Edited August 27, 2003 by BERIGAN

[jazzypaul]

Christina Aguilera sings Etta Jones tunes in concert...that's gotta count for something...

[catesta]

Berigan, hell yeah!!!

In my dreams she has always been a jazz fan, we've been to shows together and everything.

Edited August 27, 2003 by catesta

[JSngry]

Christina Aguilera sings Etta Jones tunes in concert...that's gotta count for something...

Oh, I'm sure it does. God has a long memory.

[Simon Weil]

Thought the Brits among us would have added writer Kingsley Amis and historian-philosopher Eric Hobshawm?

Didn't Hobshawm write a book about jazz?

We all need more jazz philosophy!

Speaking of philosophers, Jean-Paul Sartre liked jazz. So did Walter Benjamin. But Theodor Adorno hated it.

You're right! Hobsbawn did write a book about Jazz. Philip gave the name. To go with Sartre, there's a bit in _American Journey_ where Camus goes to a Jazz club and enjoys it.

Ahh, Jazz and philosophy. The closest we've got is Albert Murray who seems to have rewritten Adorno's view of Jazz as though it were a good thing (in my opinion). I've got a copy of the correspondence between Adorno and Benjamin and I seem to remember Benjamin going along with Adorno's view of Jazz, so you're going to have to convince me he actually liked it. Still, I think we could do with some really good Jazz philosophers. Course, once you do that, the old Anglo-American distrust of intellectuals is going to wake up.

On the other hand, I once saw Ian Dury at an Old and New Dreams concert.

Simon Weil

[sidewinder]

Dury was a big fan of Coltrane and Kirk (check out that 'Rhythm Stick single). I have a copy of 'Four Lives in the Bebop Business' by AB Spellman with a jacket design by him done in his art school days B)

[sidewinder]

Thought the Brits among us would have added writer Kingsley Amis

In one of Amis's biographies he talks about visiting Birdland around 1958 with Miles and Coltrane on the stand and hating it

[Dmitry]

Thought the Brits among us would have added writer Kingsley Amis

In one of Amis's biographies he talks about visiting Birdland around 1958 with Miles and Coltrane on the stand and hating it

He was a moldy fig. Just like Larkin.

[brownie]

I've got a copy of the correspondence between Adorno and Benjamin and I seem to remember Benjamin going along with Adorno's view of Jazz, so you're going to have to convince me he actually liked it.

Simon, I was under the impression that Walter Benjamin's views on jazz were more tolerant than Adorno's. Will have to have

a read of their correspondance.

I'll take being wrong with philosophy

[Simon Weil]

sidewinder, that's interesting about Dury. He certainly seemed at home wandering about before the gig, in his element. He was kind of a charismatic presence, a star, there.

brownie, we could do with more people being philosophical around here!

Simon Weil

[alankin]

Another Larsen CD cover. The jazz club is called "The Stuffed Cat."

[Aggie87]

bump....

I had ESPN on this morning while getting ready for work. Pete Gammons was interviewing Barry Zito, and somehow got on the subject of what was on his Ipod.

Zito replied that among other artists, he had Joe Pass and Wes Montgomery.

Then while checking Zito's bio on Wikipedia, I found this interesting comment:

His father composed and arranged music for Nat King Cole for 15 years, and did a lot of arrangements for the Buffalo Symphony, and his mother is a classically trained musician who also sang with Nat King Cole's band.

[J Larsen]

Supposedly Zito is a pretty decent guitar player. I think he has gigged a little bit.

[sidewinder]

Good to see this thread re-appear again, Erik. No-one has mentioned 'Sex and the City' star Kim Cattrall yet. She selected Coltrane's 'My Favourite Things' as one of her desert island disks for the BBC some time back.

Edited March 19, 2007 by sidewinder