Sutton Foster + John Mayall

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

In today's Wall Street Journal, I interview Tony-nominated actress Sutton Foster on her country home near Greenwood Lake about an hour northwest of New York City. In the weekend edition, I interview British blues legend John Mayall on his favorite song—a boogie-woogie by Albert Ammons. Both interviews are up on the web for free, here and here. [Photo of Sutton Foster above by Peter Ross for The Wall Street Journal]

Sutton is currently staring on Broadway in Violet, a musical about a young woman with a ghastly facial scar who travels by bus from North Carolina to Oklahoma in the '60s to see an evangelist with hopes that his powers will make her beautiful and desirable. Sutton won Tonys for Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes. When I saw her in Violetseveral weeks ago, I was astonished at the long list of songs Sutton had to sing. There seemed to be about only five minutes of speaking lines in the entire show.

The thing about Sutton is she's down to earth, emotionally open and refreshingly honest. She described herself to me as a "country gal," and in many respects she is just that. I found Sutton to be a calm soul—polite, relaxed and passionate about the theater. Born in Georgia, Sutton's home is in Los Angeles now, but she works in New York, which means she lives in a corporate apartment in Midtown Manhattan near the theater. Her country home on Greenwood Lake gives her much-needed tranquility and a welcome reminder of her grandfather's house in rural North Carolina. While she says she finds New York a bit much, she confessed to having difficulty sleeping in the absolute quiet of the country. Accustomed to the sirens and nighttime clatter outside, she sleeps in the country with a sound machine set to white noise. That's New York for you.

John Mayall [above], of course, is one of the early architects of the British blues movement of the early 1960s. Britain didn't have radio the way we did here. Instead, the BBC offered just a few adult-themed stations and that was it, forcing British kids in the '50 to listen to phonograph records rather than disc jockeys. Many pre-teens gravitated to the records of American jazz and blues artists, because they were the most exciting and were an honest, energetic counterbalance to treacly British pop on the radio. John listened to Albert Ammons and fell in love with boogie-woogie. He was swept away by the pianist's sly, rambunctious attack, rhythmic drive and seamless style. As John said, there was tempo, swing and impossible execution all in one artist, which motivated him to become a blues artist. That's jazz for you.

JazzWax tracks: Here's Sutton Foster in a Violet promo...

Here's John Mayall on lead vocals, Hammond organ, guitar and harmonica with the Blues Breakers, featuring Eric Clapton...

Used with permission by Marc Myers