Arnold Jay Smith Jazz Vent

Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé did their show in a pea-soup fog; Bobby Darin submittted to shouts for his “Splish-Splash” medley –he was already into the “Mack The Knife” big band stuff– then asked the shouters to leave; Harry Belafonte leapt off the stage to play air tennis on the court after a recent racial confrontation (below) quipping, “I’ve always wanted to do that”; Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra –Oscar Peterson opened for him– Barbra Streisand, and my first confrontational experience with Judy Garland‘s gushingly adoring fans.  and those are just the entertainers who left impressions on me.

2013 has already been a bad year for jazz pianists, and it’s only August.  gone are Mulgrew Miller, George Duke, Cedar Walton, and now my friend MARIAN McPARTLAND.  although inactive Ms. McP, as i called her, was always available for a phone call, or at the very least a response through a third party.

A SEASON FOR ALL TASTES

The sheer quantity of jazz presented at any Newport Jazz Festival –this was their 59th–  not only boggles the mind but renders it impossible to cover it all, let alone write about it.  there are three stages at Fort Adams State Park Saturday and Sunday plus a Friday night gala at the Tennis Hall of Fame.   my intention is not to cover the entire Festival but to offer up personal observations scattershot though they may be.