JazzWax

Eydie Gormé was queen of the question songs. Despite relaxed confidence and a happy marriage, she was brilliant at delivering songs in the 1960s with lyrics that made her seem uncertain about romantic choices and love. Five that come to mind are If He Walked Into My Life, What Did I Have?, How Could I Be So Wrong?, What Is a Woman? and What's Good About Goodbye?

For my money, no female singer left it all on the stage the way Gormé did. Except maybe Judy Garland in the late 1950s, but in Garland's case, many of her belting performances seemed to be coming from a troubled, aggitated place. Gormé's showstoppers were more relatable, maybe because her delivery wasn't so wound up or overacted. Here are my favorite Gormé's hit question songs in the '60s:

Here's If He Walked Into My Life (1966)...

Here's What Did I Have That I Don't Have? (1966)...

Here's How Could I Be So Wrong? (1967)

Here's What Is a Woman? (1966)...

And here's What's Good About Goodbye? (1967)...

Imagine a talk show where vibraphonist Terry Gibbs is the bandleader and the orchestra consists of trumpeters Conti Candoli, his brother Pete Candoli and Chuck Findley; trombonists Carl Fontana and Charlie Loper; saxophonists Med Flory, Gus Bivona, Plas Johnson, Jerome Richardson and Bill Green; pianist Alan Broadbent; guitarist Tommy Tedesco; bassist Chuck Berghoffer, and drummer Frankie Capp. And let's add a 27-year-old Bill Maher as announcer and sidekick. Such a show existed and ran from 1984 to 1986. It was Steve Allen's Music Room.

Only six episodes aired on the Disney Channel. The show was informal and cozy, despite the fact that Allen's humor was a bit gag-ridden, the guests were a tad stale and Maher's edgy vibe was jarringly out of place. At this point, Allen had drifted into Joe Franklin territory. Nevertheless, Terry's band and the arrangements were drop-dead great.

A special thanks to Joe Lang, who sent along links to all six shows. The fifth, fourth and first shows are the best of the bunch, in that order, but all are time capules. Cable TV was in its stripped-down infancy, MTV was the rage, British artists had invaded again with synth-pop, and jazz and pop legends were on cruises, European and Japanese tours, or in Las Vegas:

Here's Show #1, with Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé ...

Here's Show #2, with Melba Moore, Joe Williams and Paul Williams...

Here's Show #3, with Burt Bacharach, Anthony Newley and Carole Bayer Sager...

Here's Show #4, with Rosemary Clooney (who is in terrific voice), Red Holloway, James Raphael and Lou Rawls...

Here's Show #5 (the best of the six), with Dizzy Gillespie, Gene Lees, Sarah Vaughan, Henry Mancini and daughter Monica Mancini. Dig Vaughan's vocals, the band having a ball on Mancini's themes for Peter Gunn and The Pink Panther, and catch Mancini, Gillespie, Vaughan and Lees all sitting shoulder to shoulder around the piano. Wow...

And here's Show #6, with Ann Jillian, Patti Page and  Doc Severinsen...

In 2000, when Sir Charles Thompson was 82, he recorded what is perhaps his best leadership album on piano. And that's saying something. Thompson had an illustrious, Eubie Blake-like career in terms of longevity, living until 98. Thompson started out at age 12 playing piano in Bennie Moten's band. Later in the decade, Thompson's playing was so elegant and distinguished that tenor saxophonist Lester Young christened him Sir Charles.

In 1940, Thompson began his recording career with Lionel Hampton and moved on to Coleman Hawkins and Lucky Millinder mid-decade. For the balance of the decade, Thompson played bop and jump blues with virtually everyone who mattered, including Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Leo Parker and Illinois Jacquet. He also wrote and recorded Robbins' Nest, a mid-tempo swinger named for New York disc jockey Fred Robbins.

In the 1950s, Thompson swished between jazz and R&B. There were sessions with Buck Clayton and Joe Newman as well as with Earl Bostic and Wynonie Harris. By 1960, Thompson was recording albums on the organ, an instrument he had played intermittently since 1947. He also recorded extensively with Hawkins and Clayton throughout the decade, remaining active for the balance of the 20th century.

Thompson recorded a number of important albums as a leader. These included a series for Vanguard in the 1950s, jumping organ albums in 1960 and '61, a solo album called Playing My Way in '61 and several recordings for the French Black & Blue label in 1974.

All are good, but Robbins' Nest (Delmark) in August 2000 is exceptional. Recorded live at Chicago's Jazz Showcase, Thompson played in the trio format with Eddie de Haas (b) and Charles Braugham (d) on Robbins' Nest, 'S Wonderful, Tunis In (Tune Us In), You Don't Know What Love Is, Body and Soul, A Boogie-Woogie and Goodbye. Then on Stuffy, Easy Living, The King, Blue and Sentimental and I Never Knew, Art Hoyle (tp), Eric Schneider (ts,as,cl) were added.

Listening to this album, you come to realize that Thompson was a master of just about every jazz piano style. On this album, he plays swing, boogie-woogie and the blues with a robust and dramatic panache. The sound of a big band was never far from his inner ear. He also could play light or dig in with meaty block chords. Once you fall in love with Robbins' Nest, you can work your way backward through Thompson's extensive and engaging seven-decade discography as a leader and as a sideman on many of jazz's most exciting recordings.

Sir Charles Thompson died in 2016 at age 98.

JazzWax tracks: You'll find Sir Charles Thompson's Robbins' Nest (Delmark) here.

JazzWax clips: Here's Robbins' Nest...

Robbins' Nest

Here's Body and Soul...

Body snd Soul

Here's A Boogie-Woogie, a tribute to Count Basie...

A Boogie-Woogie

Bonus: Here's Hey There from The Definitive Black & Blue (1974)...

Hey There

Bonus: And here's Thompson playing organ and piano on I Get a Kick Out of You from Sir Charles Thompson and the Swing Organ (1960)...

I Get a Kick out of You

A special thanks to Les Johnston