[: neon :] NewEnglandOnlineNetwork

The genius & creativity of jazz man Jay Leonhart

The videos below are performances by a living legend with the stand-up bass and in the world of jazz, Mr. Jay Leonhart.

A friend of our very own Head Geek here at [: neon :], Jay's talent goes well beyond his having accompanied some of the great legends of jazz, including Mel Torme.

Jay is also a triple threat.

He not only plays the stand-up bass better than anyone has for the past 60 years, he's also a prolific songwriter - doing both the lyrics and the music - and has a terrific voice that's more than capable of singing the very unique, stylized songs he creates, as you'll see below (and as we featured here a few months back).

The first video is I Used to Love Bill Clinton while the second is It's Impossible to Sing and Play the Bass.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Jay Leonhart:

Frank Sinatra: ten years ago today we lost him, never to be equaled

Today, May 14th, is the 10th Anniversary of the passing of Frank Sinatra, though many sources list it as May 15th. The Sinatra family website, however, says that it was May 14th, so May 14th it is.

Anyway, in tribute to his memory and in appreciation of his legendary contributions to jazz and The Great American Songbook, we play this signature song - accompanied by a photo history of a few stages in his life.

Wthout question, the legend is truly missed.

Ms. Lena Horne: her talent, her elegance, her beauty, her forever dignity . . . yes to all of the above

One of our favorite singers from the world of jazz and The Great American Songbook is Ms. Lena Horne, whose beauty was only exceeded by her talent, her elegance and her perennial charm to absolutely captivate her audience with total aplomb.

Her birthday is coming up this June 30th, her 91st, and we understand that the NYC native is fully retired somewhere around the tri-state area, enduring some health issues her daughter apparently spoke of in an interview with Jet Magazine published April 23rd of '07.

From that article, we understand she decided back in 1999 to never perform or do an interview again, and although we may be a few weeks early, we nevertheless want to wish this lovely lady the happiest and healthiest of birthdays and tell her how much she has meant to so many of us, from so many generations.

Her legacy beyond her music will be the leadership she so elegantly displayed - while always maintaining an exquisite dignity that never lost its cool.

So to celebrate her life, and taken from my private collection, here is one of her two most famous so-called signature songs, whose title completely belies her mere presence . . . The Lady is a Tramp.

Ladies and gentlemen, send the love in wishing Ms. Lena Horne a somewhat early but nevertheless very Happy 91st Birthday:

Jamie Cullum: new blood, different style, so when's the duet with Amy Winehouse?

One positive aspect of the Internet is its seemingly endless supply of new stuff to watch and tonight we've come across a fascinating artist from Britain named Jamie Cullum.

Now, some of you may already be familiar with this twenty-something musician who, as the intro to this video indicates, has an international rep - one that's long enough to be signed to a major label, Universal Music - and have three albums already successfully released.

Nevertheless, he's new to us here @ [:neon:], so here's a video of Jamie Cullum appearing on what was apparently the very last show broadcast by the very famous and popular British chat host, Michael Parkinson, doing the American Popular Standard Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone, accompanied by a not-so-bad Big Band (sorry, my American jazz elitist attitude is showing 'cause nothing beats American musicians in Big Bands).

But after you watch him and observe his style, see if you too don't think about how very cool it would be to see Cullum and Amy Winehouse doing something together.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Jamie Cullum . . .

Eighties Flashback: Duane Eddy's Peter Gunn re-make LIVE

While we're on the classic television theme kick, which, btw, by nature and gauge of the responses to what we've already posted, will continue, here's a video of a terrific guitarist with a distinct sound, Mr. Duane Eddy playing his about twenty-two year old Grammy-winning hit, The Theme from Peter Gunn with his then band known as The Art of Noise.

First of all, it's a fun retro LIVE look from London's The Tube around 1986, replete with the signature high hair of the eighties female back-up singers, who actually sounded quite good a la Manhattan Transfer with their harmonies. (The tall, blonde, long-pony-tailed I Dream of Jeannie-look-alike singer on the left was a particularly fine, fine dancer, all-around mover and singer, not necessarily in that order unless you find her equally attractive).

Anyway, a bit more focused now, here is Duane Eddy doing a LIVE performance of the perennial favorite (would saying perennial classic be redundant?) The Theme from Peter Gunn:

Bobby Darin: "Beyond the Sea" LIVE!

REVIEW

Well, we've hit the mother lode gold again in our daily, relentless search for quality programming to put on [: neon :]. Today, it's in the form of what looks like a 1970's broadcast video of the late Bobby Darin LIVE, performing one of his greatest hits from 1959.

Anyway, what's so special about this video is how Bobby entertains, using a light, fun, always-at-ease style that always, as well, wonderfully connected with his audience. Much the same way as Sinatra and Sammy and Dean did with their audiences, watching them each in action was often equally as entertaining as their musical talents.

OK, now, what to look for in this video.

One, is the terrific arrangement of his 1959 hit, Beyond the Sea.

Two, at about 2 minutes 43 seconds into the video, he pumps up the rhythm and puts a whole lotta swing into the arrangement.

Three, at around 3:18, while shouting out colors and about to say fuchsia, what would be considered offensive and in bad taste today - - - but which many performers from the 40s through the 70s did while on-stage - - - Bobby imitated what that era considered a stereotypical gay man by speaking with a lisp and a hand-on-the-hip pose.

Darin was also known to have been a political activist and passionate supporter of Bobby Kennedy and rumored to have gone into a deep depression when Kennedy was assassinated on June 5, 1968.

But Bobby Darin's wide-ranging talent is nevertheless and certainly a part of America's wonderful, homegrown musical talent pool.

We hope you enjoy this 3:46 piece of Americana.

John Pizzarelli LIVE in South Korea

EDITOR'S NOTE: We just noticed that in the early stages of this beta, we neglected to post blog posts for some stories and instead chose a different form, actual blog pages. Technical mumbo jumbo aside, the problem with the latter is that blog pages do not allow for categories or tags and if you don't have categories or tags, you aren't making it easy for folks to find the post when they're doing a search.

So, we will re-introduce these stories, one at a time.

* * * * * * * * *

JOHN PIZZARELLI

Here is an incredible video of John Pizzarelli on guitar & vocals, brother Martin Pizzarelli on stand-up bass, Joe Cacuzzo on drums and the great, the fabulous Tony Monte on piano, playing Route 66 as their Finale in South Korea. Just watch to the end, it's less than 7:30 long, but you'll enjoy it all, especially how John's showmanship wins him the crowd's standing ovation. Having had him as a guest on my old radio show in NYC no fewer than three times a year, having been a guest in his audience for many a performance both in New York and New Jersey, he is unquestionably just an outstanding LIVE performer. For those who might not know him, he's also the voice and face of the "Meet me at Foxwood's" commercial that airs predominantly in the Northeast. - Your Host/Head Geek

Blues with a Little Swing: Joe Williams, Grover Washington, Jr., Thelonius Monk, Jr. and Bill Clinton

EDITOR'S NOTE: We just noticed that in the early stages of this beta, we neglected to post blog posts for some stories and instead chose a different form, actual blog pages. Technical mumbo jumbo aside, the problem with the latter is that blog pages do not allow for categories or tags and if you don't have categories or tags, you aren't making it easy for folks to find the post when they're doing a search.

So, we will re-introduce these stories, one at a time.

* * * * * * * * *

Just tripped across this 3:36 video while looking for another. Cannot believe how much fun this was, and perfectly illustrates how this man called Joe Williams, this kind of jazz, engages an audience. Of course, that wouldn't necessarily be a difficult thing to do in this case, since it was the 40th Anniversary of The Newport Jazz Festival.

And who should be seen in the audience, way back in June of 1993, but then First Lady Hillary Clinton, sitting next to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, seen at about 3:10 into the video, along with intermittent shots of her husband, First Term President, Bill Clinton. The shots were tight, so your Head Geek isn't too certain, but it looks like the cozy couple wasn't/weren't sitting together the entire performance. Not sure why.

Love them Blues.

Ella Fitzgerald & Scat: Perfection LIVE!

EDITOR'S NOTE: We just noticed that in the early stages of this beta, we neglected to post blog posts for some stories and instead chose a different form, actual blog pages. Technical mumbo jumbo aside, the problem with the latter is that blog pages do not allow for categories or tags and if you don't have categories or tags, you aren't making it easy for folks to find the post when they're doing a search.

So, we will re-introduce these stories, one at a time.

* * * * * * * * *

Don't think there's any vocalist, jazz or otherwise, who is as skilled, whose voice, whose diction, whose sense of a song, what it means and how it was intended to be sung, is as virtually flawless as Ella Fitzgerald's. Sinatra, for one, admired and respected her immensely, as did virtually every musician and peer vocalist, who only wished they could have had an opportunity to work with the Great Lady of Song.

And in this 6:35 video from 1969 and recorded in B&W, Ella demonstrates those skills and then some. Check out the 3:00 minute mark, where the band stops playing and Ella's scat becomes not only an instrument of melody, but a boombox of rhythms, of sorts, that underscore her place as the Queen of Scat.

And watch how she absolutely mesmerizes her audience with what she decides to scat, including other songs besides One Note Samba - - - the one she began the set with by Tom Jobim and Newton Mendoç - - - until the band rejoins her at the end, when she says, That's All Folks.

Outstanding, incredible. And when you consider her voice in 1969 was not as clear and supple as it was in the late 1950s and early '60s, it's unbelievable.

Classic Ella.