Long before HBO turned Sunday night into TV-monoculture ground zero, there was Ed Sullivan. Born in Harlem and raised in Port Chester, New York, the sportswriter, syndicated columnist and radio-program personality was tapped by CBS to host a weekly variety show for the television network. The master of ceremonies had …
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Right from the start, Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It, the first-ever documentary on the late pop-R&B singer, songwriter, and organ maestro, makes it clear that few communicated as much unabashed, unapologetic joy onstage as Preston. In its opening scene, from George Harrison’s 1971 Concert for Bangladesh, Preston …
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Genre-hopping musician Jon Batiste started off his busy year with an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, before popping up as a collaborator on Beyoncé‘s Cowboy Carter —and now he’s pulling double duty on the new movie Saturday Night, composing its score and playing the late musician Billy Preston. The …
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