Friday, September 25, 2026

Coppin’ a Playlist

Screenshot from video of Aretha on The Tonight Show in 1981 with a stage set with lots of orange sparkling curtains behind her. She's wearing a blue pantsuit and has a sort of bowl cut hairdo, a little similar to the style worn by Dorothy Hamill.
Aretha can make any hairstyle sparkle!

Coffeetime, September 25, 2026, Angelynn Grant

set 1
Art Taylor / Taylor’s Tenors / Dacor / New Jazz / 6.3.59
Sonny Clark / My Conception / Little Sonny / Blue Note / 12.8.57
Bob Zurke & his Delta Rhythm Band / Tom Cat of the Keys / Tea for Two / Victor / Chicago 1.18.40 / cover design by Leon and Marjorie Auerbach 
Anson Weeks & his Hotel Mark Hopkins Orchestra / Medley: You Do Something to Me; I Can’t Give You Anything but Love; With a Song in My Heart / radio broadcast / San Francisco 1932 / vocal = Fred Scott
Roy Milton & his Solid Senders / Groovy Blues / Specialty / Hollywood 12.22.45 / vocal = Camille Howard
Mary Stallings / Cal Tjader Plays, Mary Stallings Sings / I Didn’t Know About You / Fantasy / LA 5.19.61

bed
Bucky Pizzarelli / Flashes - Solo 7-String Guitar, Volume 3 / Arbors Jazz / 2004

set 2
Kenny Dorham / The Arrival of Kenny Dorham / When Sunny Gets Blue / Jaro International / 1.10.60
Ben Webster / Ben Webster and Associates / Time After Time / Verve / 4.9.59
Herb Geller / That Geller Feller / Here’s What I’m Here For / Bel Canto / LA 3.14.57
Charlie Ventura & his Orchestra / Dark Eyes / RCA Victor / 4.6.50
John [Jack] Jackson & his Orchestra / Let Bygones Be Bygones / HMV / London 2.24.33 / vocal = Al Bowlly / from Al Bowlly website: “Includes patter with Jack Jackson where AB is addressed as George.” 
T-Bone Walker / She’s Going to Ruin Me / Old Swing-Master / Chicago 12.19.45 
Earl Gaines / 24 Hours a Day / DeLuxe / Nashville 1969 / Johnny Jones g

set 3
John Coltrane / Giant Steps / Giant Steps / Atlantic / 5.5.59
Roy Haynes / Cracklin’ / Honeydew / New Jazz / 4.10.63
Sonny Stitt / With the New Yorkers / Engos, The Bloos / Roost / 8.30.57
Gene Krupa & his Orchestra / Coppin’ a Plea / Okeh / Hollywood 10.14.41 / vocal = Anita O’Day
The Four Buddies / My Summer’s Gone / Savoy / 1.13.51 
Cal Bostic / Introducing… Cal Bostic / Just a Boy and a Girl in Love / RCA Canada / Toronto 8.67

set 4
Jimmy Raney / In Three Attitudes / Strike Up the Band / ABC-Paramount / 1956
Lucky Thompson / Lucky Thompson Featuring Oscar Pettiford / Little Tenderfoot / ABC-Paramount / 12.11.56
King Cole Trio / My Lips Remember Your Kisses / Premier / Hollywood 11.2.43 / NKC p & voc, Oscar Moore g, Johnny Miller b
Wini Brown / (Ya Got My) Brand of Honey / National [unissued take 1] / 2.21.49
Kenneth Nelson & Rita Gardner / Original Off Broadway Cast of The Fantasticks / Soon It’s Gonna Rain / MGM / 6.13.60 / with narrator played by Jerry Orbach
Golden Gate Quartet / Let the Liar Alone / Bluebird / 8.10.38

last soulful song
Aretha Franklin / What a Fool Believes / TV Broadcast, The Tonight Show / LA 1981  

Friday, September 18, 2026

The Playlist Who Lives on the Hill

Screenshot from TV broadcast of Nat King Cole and the chorus of singers sitting on white, iron café chairs on a stage set, with Nat facing the singers, some of whom are sitting on the floor of the stage. Nat and the male singers are in pale blue suits and the female singers are in dresses with white chiffon skirts and pastel colored, sparkly sequinned bodices. Nat is holding a straw boater hat and smiling as the chorus sings.
Nat knows that the best way to cap off the summer is in your pastel finery at a French café.

Coffeetime, September 18, 2026, Angelynn Grant

set 1
Ray Charles / Ray Charles in Person / The Spirit-Feel / Atlantic / live, Herndon Stadium, Atlanta 5.28.59
Benny Golson / Groovin’ with Golson / The Stroller / New Jazz / 8.28.59
International Sweethearts of Rhythm / Galvanizing / radio broadcast, AFRS Jubilee / Hollywood early 1945 / with intro by master of ceremonies Ernie “Bubbles” Whitman
Gene Kardos & his Orchestra / My Extraordinary Gal / Victor / 4.7.32 / vocal = Dick Robertson
Lionel Robinson / I Can’t Go On Without You / Gotham / 6.49
Julie London / Bethlehem’s Girl Friends / You’re Blasé / Bethlehem / 1955 / celeste!

bed
Bucky Pizzarelli / Flashes - Solo 7-String Guitar, Volume 3 / Arbors Jazz / 2004

set 2
Blue Mitchell / Heads Up! / The Folks Who Live on the Hill / Blue Note / 11.17.67
Sonny Criss / This is Criss! / Skylark / Prestige / 10.21.66
John Coltrane / Ballads / I Wish I Knew / Impulse! / 11.13.62
Willie Lewis & his Entertainers / I’m Shooting High / Pathé Marconi / Paris 5.5.36 / vocal = Adelaide Hall
Johnnie “Geechie” Temple / Fix It Up and Go / Decca / 9.23.40
Les Brown & his Band of Renown / I Wish I Knew / radio transcription / live Palladium, Hollywood 8.16.45 / vocal = Doris Day
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown / Mary Is Fine / Peacock / Houston 1.49

set 3
Stanley Turrentine / ZT’s Blues / I Wish I Knew / Blue Note / 9.13.61
Al Casey / Buck Jumpin’ / Casey’s Blues / Prestige Swingville / 3.7.60
Sonny Stitt / Kaleidoscope / Sonny Sounds / Prestige / 2.25.52
Jo Stafford & her V-Disc Play Boys / Blue Moon / V-Disc 569B / 4.19.45
The Five Keys / Too Late / Aladdin / 3.22.51 
Noël Coward / Noel Coward in New York / Sail Away / Columbia / 1956

set 4
Paul Smith / By the Fireside / Out of Nowhere / Savoy / 4.18.50
Chico Hamilton / The Chico Hamilton Quintet in Hi-Fi / Sleepy Slept Here / Pacific Jazz / Hollywood 2.56
Larry Adler / Ritual Fire Dance / Columbia / London 2.35 / with orchestra conducted by Carroll Gibbons
King Cole Trio / Embraceable You / V-Disc 365B / Hollywood 12.15.43 / NKC p & voc, Oscar Moore g, Johnny Miller b
Nat King Cole / That Sunday, That Summer / BBC TV broadcast, An Evening With Nat King Cole / London 7.63 / with the Cliff Adams Singers and the Ted Heath Orchestra 
Highway QC’s / Child of God / Vee-Jay / Chicago 1956

last soulful song
The Pretenders / I Call It Love / Carnival / 1970

Friday, September 11, 2026

I Can't Dance (I've Got Ants in My Playlist)

Screenshot of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire dancing from the movie. She has a feather shawl on her gown and he is in a tux with white tie and a white boutonniere. Fred is looking heaven-wards while singing.
Must have been heavenly to dance with Fred, cheeks or not.

Coffeetime, September 11, 2026, Angelynn Grant

set 1
Hank Mobley / Hank Mobley / Double Whammy / Blue Note / 11.25.56
Stanley Turrentine / ZT’s Blues / The Way You Look Tonight / Blue Note / 9.13.61
International Sweethearts of Rhythm / Diggin’ Dirt / radio broadcast, AFRS Jubilee / Hollywood early 1945 / with emcee Ernie “Bubbles” Whitman
Noël Coward / A Room with a View / HMV / Hayes, Middlesex, England 4.25.28
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown / Guitar in My Hand / Aladdin / LA 8.21.47 / with Maxwell Davis Orchestra
Ella Fitzgerald / soundtrack to Let No Man Write My Epitaph / September Song / Verve / LA 4.19.60

bed
Bucky Pizzarelli / Flashes - Solo 7-String Guitar, Volume 3 / Arbors Jazz / 2004

set 2
Bobby Timmons / This Here is Bobby Timmons / Lush Life / Riverside / 1.60
Gene Ammons / Groove Blues / It Might As Well Be Spring / Prestige / 1.3.58
George Van Eps / Mellow Guitar / They Can’t Take That Away from Me / Columbia / LA 8.1.56
Willie Lewis & his Entertainers / I Can’t Dance (I Got Ants in My Pants) / Pathé / Paris 4.23.35 / vocal = Joe Hayman (ts, bari)
Fred Astaire / Cheek to Cheek / Brunswick / 6.26.35 / with Leo Reisman & his Orchestra
Louis Prima & Orchestra / Dance with a Dolly (With Hole in her Stocking) / radio broadcast, The Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands / Long Island 1.15.45
Billy Williams / Billy Williams Quartet / The Gaucho Serenade / MGM / 1956

set 3
Sonny Criss / This is Criss! / When Sunny Gets Blue / Prestige / 10.21.66
Oscar Pettiford & his Scandinavian Trio / I Succumb to Temptation / Debut / Copenhagen 8.22.59
Howard McGhee Sextet / Howard McGhee & Milt Jackson / Bass C Jam / Savoy [originally Vitacoustic Records] / Chicago 12.47
Helen Humes / This Love of Mine / Discovery / Hollywood 5.9.50 / with Marshall Royal Combo
Dixieaires / Things Got Tough / Gotham / 1948
Bobby Troup & his Trio / That’s All / Liberty / Celebrity Room, Hollywood 1955


set 4
Herb Geller / That Geller Feller / Marable Eyes / Bel Canto / LA 3.14.57
Curtis Counce / You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce / Too Close for Comfort / Contemporary / LA 5.13.57
Walter Huston / September Song / Decca / 1944 / with Victor Young & his Orchestra
King Cole Trio / I’m Lost / Excelsior / LA 3.1.43 / NKC p & voc, Oscar Moore g, Wesley Prince b
Danny Kaye / At the Palace / Anatole of Paris / Decca / Hollywood 12.20.47
Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet / Jonah / Bluebird / Charlotte, NC 8.4.37

last soulful song
Linda Jones / What Have I Done (to Make You Mad) / Loma / 1967



Friday, September 04, 2026

Just Like a Playlist Out of the Sky

Close up of Dakota Staton smiling while she sings. She has a large beehive/afro hairstyle.
Dakota and her happy beehive.

Coffeetime, September 4, 2026, Angelynn Grant

set 1
Freddie Hubbard / Hub Cap / Plexus / Blue Note / 4.9.61
Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers / Hard Drive / Sweet Sakeena / Bethlehem / 10.11.57
Joe Venuti’s Rhythm Boys / To To Blues / Parlophone / 9.10.31 / Jimmy Dorsey cl & bari, Joe Venuti vln, Lennie Hayton p & celeste!, Eddie Lang g, Paul Graselli d 
Jack Hylton & his Orchestra / I Kiss Your Hand, Madame / HMV / London 1.14.31 / vocal = Sam Browne
Camille Howard / I’m Blue / Specialty / Hollywood 3.1.50
Dakota Staton / Dynamic! / When Sunny Gets Blue / Capitol / 1958

bed
Bucky Pizzarelli / Flashes - Solo 7-String Guitar, Volume 3 / Arbors Jazz / 2004

set 2
Red Garland / All Kinds of Weather / Summertime / Prestige / 11.27.58
Lee Morgan / Candy / All the Way / Blue Note / 11.18.57
Oscar Peterson / Plays the Cole Porter Song Book / Easy to Love / Verve / Chicago summer 1959
Cliff [Ukelele Ike] Edwards / Just Like a Melody Out of the Sky / Columbia / 6.5.28
Mildred Bailey & her Orchestra / The Moon Got in My Eyes / Vocalion / 6.29.37
5 Red Caps / I Learned a Lesson I’ll Never Forget / Beacon / 1944
Gene Phillips & his Rhythm Aces / Superstitious Woman / Modern / LA 1948

set 3
Leo Parker / Let Me Tell You ’Bout It / Blue Leo / Blue Note / 9.9.61
Donald Byrd / Royal Flush / Requiem / Blue Note / 9.21.61
Benjamin “Bull Moose” Jackson & his Buffalo Bearcats / Hold Him Joe / King / 8.45
Savannah Churchill / Is It Too Late / Manor / 7.47 / with the Four Tunes [aka The Sentimentalists]
The Four Buddies / Sweet Slumber / Savoy / 1.13.51 
Joe Mooney / The Happiness of Joe Mooney / When Sunny Gets Blue / Columbia / LA 1965

set 4
Chet Baker / Chet Baker Ensemble / Pro Defunctus / Pacific Jazz / Hollywood 12.22.53
Lee Konitz / Indian Summer / Prestige / 3.13.51
Julius Watkins / Julius Watkins Sextet, Volume 2 / Garden Delights / Blue Note / 3.20.55
King Cole Trio / It Only Happens Once / MacGregor Transcription / Hollywood 11.21.44 / NKC p & voc, Oscar Moore g, Johnny Miller b
Jesse Belvin / Confusin’ Blues / Specialty / Hollywood 5.7.52
Tom Jones / Live in Las Vegas / Help Yourself / Parrot / Las Vegas 1969
Savannah Churchill / The Devil Sat Down and Cried /Arco (Manor) / 6.50 / with possibly the Striders

last soulful song
Patterson Twins / I Need Your Love / Malaco / Muscle Shoals 1976