Friday's Favorite OTR

Pete Kelly's Blues: "June Gould" 9/12/51

Pete gets roped into trying to find a missing girl who used to sing at a local speakeasy. The only lead he has is that the girl was once involved with a local gangster, so finding her might not be the safest thing in the world to do.

This one has a very high impact ending.

Click HERE to listen or download.

Now I've got that song stuck in my head!!!!

But at least it's a great song. Give it a listen and hear for yourself.

-

In the summer of 1951, Jack Webb produced and starred in a radio show called Pete Kelly's Blues. Webb played Kelly--the head of a small Prohibition-era jazz band that worked in a Kansas City speakeasy. Filled with snappy, hard-boiled dialogue (something Webb excelled at on radio) and superb jazz music, it's one of the highlights of old-time radio.

-

In 1955, Webb got a chance to direct and star in a movie version. And it is a fun movie--involving Pete Kelly's efforts deal with a gangster who "encourages" the band to sign him up as an agent. Before long, Kelly's drummer gets caught in a blast of tommy gun fire and things get really dangerous for everyone else.

-

As with the radio show, the movie is overflowing with snappy dialogue and addictive jazz music. Both Ella Fitzgerald (as a singer in a small booze-joint) and Peggy Lee (as the alcoholic girlfriend of the gangster) belt out some great songs.

-

The movie just recently came out on DVD and it's worth watching. Just expect to have to deal with at least one of the songs getting stuck in your head for days afterwards.