We have all been victims, or beneficiaries, of cranio-melodia-repeatis syndrome. The tune I haven’t been able to get out of my head for several days is “Jeepers Creepers,†the 1938 Harry Warren-Johnny Mercer hit premiered by Louis Armstrong in the film Going Places.
The movie had been out for about a minute-and-a-half when Ethel Waters went into the studio for the first big cover recording. Through the 1940s and ‘50s singers including the Mills Brothers, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Mel Tormé, Paula Kelly, Toni Tennille, the Al Belletto Sextet and probably a dozen others followed suit. In recent years, videos of the song by Wesla Whitfield and Nikki Yanofsky have been memorable for different reasons.
There have been at least dozens of instrumental versions, among them this 1954 interpretation by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in their first big Columbia album. Gratuitous information: the Brubecks chose to play it in B-flat rather than the original A-flat.
“Jeepers Creepers†or—more accurately—its chords and structure, stuck in the minds of jazz composers. Jimmy Guiffre used them as the basis for the Woody Herman classic “Four Brothers,†Charlie Parker for “My Little Suede Shoes†and Dizzy Gillespie for “Tour de Force.†In the summer of 1987 Gillespie gathered several of his trumpet protégés for a performance of his brainchild at Wolf Trap Farm Park in Virginia. We borrowed the Great Performances video from Wynton Marsalis’s website. Dizzy introduces the trumpeters. The rhythm section is Walter Davis, Jr., piano; Eddie Gomez, bass; and Ignacio Berroa, drums.
the “Buzzy Bley Band.†At 17, he took over for Oscar Peterson at the Alberta Lounge, invited Charlie Parker to play at the Montreal Jazz Workshop, which he co-founded, made a film with Stan Kenton and then headed to NYC to attend Julliard.
that of Aretha Franklin, but she pursued a wider stylistic range. Ms. Cole created a major hit when she overdubbed a duet with the voice of her late father in “Unforgettable,†which had been one of his biggest record successes. In the course of her career, which was interrupted more than once by drug problems, she had a number of hit singles, including “I’ve Got Love on My Mind,” “Our Love” and “Someone That I Used to Love.” To many listeners, though, she was at her best in classics of the standard repertoire, including her interpretation of the 1942 Ink Spots best-seller, “Someone’s Rockin’ My Dreamboat.â€
A longtime favorite in Canada, Susie Arioli’s fame could spread abroad on the strength of her singing in this collection. Indeed, strength is a fair description of her work, not in terms of force or volume but of lyric interpretation, phrasing and time feeling that sends her gliding through a song. Whether at sprightly tempos, as in her composition “Loverboy,†in ballads or a classic blues like “Evenin’,†she is in cool control, her alto voice impeccably in tune. An ensemble of Canadian stars assembled by veteran producer John Snyder and headed by multi-instrumentalist Don Thompson puts her in compatible company. There are notable solos from Thompson, saxophonist Phil Dwyer and trumpeter Kevin Turcotte. Bassist Neil Swainson, drummer Terry Clarke and guitarist Reg Schwager are the forthright rhythm section. Of her originals, Ms. Arioli’s drinker’s lament “Can’t Say No,†tinged with remorse, could cross into C&W territory. 
Mozart is the archetype of the child musical genius. Over the centuries, many successors have been proclaimed.
In the long run, few have qualified. The current child-genius nominee is Joey Alexander, a pianist from the Indian Ocean Island of Bali. Whether it is accurate—indeed whether it is fair to a 12-year-old—to declare him a genius, is now beside the point. The publicity machinery is in full, inexorable, motion. Last night, CBS Television’s 60 Minutes featured young Mr. Alexander. Coverage by that venerable news program is the 21st century counterpart of being on the cover of TIME Magazine. The campaign is underway.
Frankfurt, West Germany, March, 1956: The stars of the “Jazz at the Philharmonic” tour pose for a photo backstage at the Frankfurt Zoo Theater. In front are Herb Ellis and Ella Fitzgerald; in back, from left to right, are Oscar Peterson, Roy Eldridge, Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquette, Gene Krupa and Flip Phillips.