The question keeps being raised, “If jazz is really so unpopular, is there anyone out there who can save it?” Well, just like Queen Deborah rescued Israel at its time of weakness, the young lioness Esperanza Spalding showed the filled…
Category: Concert Reviews
Gregg Allman Band@Canyon Club 04.28.15
The acorn didn’t fall from the tree as, instead of the Allman Brothers Band, you got the Allman family bands at the Canyon Club on Tuesday night. Opening up was son Devon Allman on his first solo tour since leaving…
Al Di Meola’s Elegant Gypsy @ The Canyon Club 04.26.15
“I never thought I’d be back with this sound, but here I am. Fusion Lives!” After 20 years of cleaning out his musical carburetor by focusing on acoustic and world music, guitarist Al Di Meola returned to the electronic mix…
Jazz Bakery “Moveable Feast” Presents: Fred Hersch Solo @ The Edye 04.24.15
“It’s intimate in here; I like it like that.” So commented pianist Fred Hersch as he scanned the cozy confines of The Edye Second Space before giving the audience 90 minutes worth of delectable piano sounds. Opening up with a…
Gillian Margot-Geoffrey Keezer-Peter Sprague@The Blue Whale 04-16-15
While it seems you could throw a rock in any direction from an LA street corner and be guaranteed to hit an aspiring singer, finding one that has a unique and memorable style of delivery is like about as frequent…
Dori Caymmi@The Edye 04.11.15
“I don’t listen to much of today’s music; it’s all made to be thrown away.” That was Dori Caymmi’s contrast of today’s pop sounds in comparison to the 1 ½ hours of timeless Brazilian music that he and his band…
Jazz Bakery’s “Moveable Feast” Presents: John Abercrombie Quartet@Musician’s Institute 04.04.15
Legendary jazz guitarist John Abercrombie opened his 1 ½ hour set at the Musician’s Institute by jokingly referred to his style of playing as “based on making mistakes and correcting them during the song.” To the listening ears of the…
Chris Potter’s Underground@The Blue Whale 03-27-15
It used to be that 99% of all jazz sax players drank from the waters of Charlie Parker, but as Chris Potter displayed with his Underground quartet at the packed Blue Whale Friday night, another Parker, namely Maceo, can also…
Chick Corea & Herbie Hancock@Granada Theatre 03.22.15
“What you think we’re gonna do…we ain’t gonna do it!” So joked Herbie Hancock as he and fellow jazz icon Chick Corea conversed with the packed Santa Barbara crowd at the acoustically adroit Granada. The Chameleon wasn’t kidding, though, as he…
Sasha’s Bloc w/ Jane Monheit@Catalina’s 03.21.15
Be it with religion, music or politics, there’s nothing like the enthusiasm of a convert, and since Russian-born bassist Alex Gershman discovered the joys of jazz, he’s been on a mission to spread the good news through his musical review…