Don't you miss the days when you could just torch a ciggie and strike a pose? It came in so handy, like at a party when you were bored - because at least you'd have something to do other than leave, seeing as you were friends with the host and you just couldn't skedaddle after 20 minutes, 'cause that's tackiness. And you know how I hates tackiness.
But you know, cancer 'n' such. Sigh. Heavy sigh. Anyways, the smart-looking gal above is the divine Lils Mackintosh, a Dutch jazz singer who's worked with Oscar Peterson, B.B. King and scads of other notables. Why has everyone scrambled to work with her? Because she has a gorgeous, expressive voice with scary-sharp rhythm. That's why.
Her 1997 LP "Seasons" - a Merry Mackintosh Cheerful Exclusive! - is split into "four seasons;" a few songs for spring, a few more for summer, and so on. I know, I know, that sounds gimmicky and I was skeptical at first, but besides the opening "Overture" - which sounds like a Sweeney Sisters medley (in style, not execution) - the rest of the LP is dazzling. Oh, and ignore the late-90s hootchie-mama LP cover. Lils is someone you really want to hear, I promise.
Remember our friend Rita Reys from a while back? She's from the Netherlands, too, and though she sadly passed in 2013, she's well-known to jazz aficionados on both sides of the pond, and for good reason (obvi).
Less well known, at least in North America, are a bevy of fantastic Dutch jazz performers with delightful Dutch-sounding names, like pianist Bas Van Lier, saxophonists Hal Dulfer and Dim Kesber, and many more. Say their names really fast. It's fun!
They all appear on one of the kicky-est jazz albums I've heard in ages, "The Best of Maxanter Jazz" - a Maxi-Maxanter Cheerful Exclusive! - and guess who's along for the ride? Yes, Rita Reys, but also my new friend Lils, who does an outstanding, syncopated version of "Tenderly." I've never heard "Tenderly" performed this way before, and I'm convinced that only Lils could have pulled it off.
Early R&B is a glorious thing, dont'cha think? Especially when it's performed by Miss Tiny Topsy.
Yes, she was barely five-feet tall (so tiny!), yes, she weighed 250 pounds (not so tiny!), and, yes, she had a thunderous voice that could lay you flat (so topsy!) (?). She started by fronting jazz bands in the 1940s in Chicago, but by the time the 50s rolled around, she was in full R&B mode, with more than a touch of roof-raising rockabilly.
Like our friend Lula Reed, Tiny never got a lot of radio play, probably because the stations were too busy playing covers of Little Richard songs by Pat Boone (which, as we all know, were so much better than the originals). Lucky for us, Tiny and Lula have not been forgotten, and in this this raw, foot-stompin' CD, they both slay. Tiny sadly died at age thirty-four, but her legacy endures in virtually every R&B singer you've heard since.
Speaking of early or untimely deaths, let's talk about Natalie Wood, an actress Pauline Kael once unkindly, but accurately, compared to "the new Princess phone; so ingeniously constructed that it transcends its function." She graced our screens for decades before swimming with the fishes. But who can forget her all-out bonkers performance in the equally bonkers "Splendor in the Grass," a movie in which our li'l Natalie goes mad, I tell you, mad, because of (gasp!) sexual repression. Or to put it bluntly, because Warren's disco-stick was just that good.
Now I ask you, what's a movie composer to do with material this overripe? If you're David Amram, a composer and multi-instrumentalist, and also a noted performer who's worked with everyone from Dizzy Gillepsie to Aaron Copland, you wisely underplay. And he does so gorgeously.
But what if you're asked to compose the score for its polar opposite, or an ice-cold suspense drama like "The Manchurian Candidate?"
If you're Amram, you brilliantly merge jazz with symphonic music - with just a dab of Latin rhythms. The result is one of the best movie soundtracks from the period, I think. It's also a distinct achievement when you consider that Amram regularly hopped from his conducting podium to join the orchestra and play improvised jazz licks on the piano or the French horn, all of which make it into the final version. The score is stingingly alive, just like the movie, teetering on the edge of overkill and camp, but never once crossing over.
Both scores can be heard in this must-have CD. They're rarely issued, separately or together, so grab them while you can.
The Secret Song File is voting the straight Democratic ticket in the midterms. No Green Party, no Independents, no Libertarians, or really any party that might deduct a vote from the Democrats and give it to the RepubliKKKans by default. Harsh, you say? Why, the Secret Song File has never talked about politics before (not in public, at least). How rude! What gives?
Let's just say that she's been inspired to out herself politically like a certain buttery-voiced singer, who, though her range is a touch lower these days, sounds as parade-worthy as ever. And get this, it's her first LP with original tunes, while her cover of "Imagine" is dreamy perfection. So whether you're a person, or an owl or a pussycat, this LP's for you. Really. Even Barbara Bush would have liked it.
If you're Republican, don't forget to vote on Thursday!
Keep it civil in the comments; this is a "safe space" (no, it's not, but a bearded hipster millennial riding a Byrd while popping a CBD gummie made me write that) (kids these days, amirite?).
