Bassist Ben Williams showed Friday night at the Blue Whale that the 2+ years spent with Pat Metheny were a wise investment. Leading a team of seasoned pros in Marcus Strickland/ts-ss, Alex Wintz/g, Victor Gould/key-p and Jamire Williams/dr, Williams demonstrated…
Category: Concert Reviews
Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob@Vibrato 05.12.15
Vocalist Roberta Donnay turned the swank Bel Air nightclub into a Roaring 20s speakeasy as she brought back the music and moxie from the Golden Age of jazz with her Prohibition Mob of Danny Green/p, Justin Grinnell/b and Michael Barsimanto/dr.…
Jazz Bakery’s “Moveable Feast” Presents: Aaron Goldberg’s Trio w/ Joshua Redman@Moss Theatre 05.09.15
It was fitting that pianist Aaron Goldberg chose the Mother’s Day weekend to bring his trio to Los Angeles, as his team, along with ex-employer Josh Redman, provided a mother of a show Saturday night at the cozy and hip…
Esperanza Spalding & Emily’s D+Evolution@The Ely Rey 04.06.15
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…
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…