The trio of Geri Allen/p, Terri Lyne Carrington/dr and Esperanza Spalding/b first got together in the summer as a tribute to jazz icon Wayne Shorter. Their Hollywood Bowl concert was quite impressive, and here at the tail end of their…
Category: Concert Reviews
Mark Knopfler@The Wiltern 10.26.13
This review of Mark Knopfler has to begin with a disclaimer. He first became popular at a time that I had abandoned rock music in order to cross the Jordan for the Milk and Honey of jazz. Eschewing any type…
Jeff Beck & Brian Wilson@The Greek Theatre 10.20.13
Yes, you’re reading that right. Legendary guitarist Jeff Beck and Beach Boy singer/songwriter Brian Wilson found common ground with Baby Boomers and beyond during a 2 ½ love and song fest. Incongruous? So were ice cream and waffles at one…
Lorraine Feather CD Release Party@Vitellos 10.10.13
Before a packed crowd at the upstairs and upscale Vitellos, vocalist/songwriter Lorraine Feather delivered a concerto/advertisement for her latest album release Attachments. Teamed up with LA all stars Charlie Bisharat/violin, Russell Ferrante/p, Michael Shapiro/dr, Michael Valerio/b and Grant Geissman/g, Ms…
Roger McGuinn & Marty Stuart@Smothers Theatre 10.10.13
Before “McGuinn & McGuire kept getting higher” in the 60s, there was no such thing as the now ubiquitous genre of what was then termed “country rock.” The interesting thing is that a good number of those progenitors (which included…
Roberta Gambarini w/ Kenny Burrell @ Catalina’s 09.12.13
I don’t know what you’re looking for in a jazz singer, but if you’re left cold by introspective chanteuses, and your blood vessels flow with the swing and style of Ella Fitzgerald, you need look no further than Roberta Gambarini. The…
Wayne Shorter 80th Birthday Celebration@The Hollywood Bowl 08.28.13
So, what keeps 4 score’d Wayne Shorter looking and sounding so young? ATTITUDE, BABY! Two bands gave tribute to his forward thinking style of music, and yet for his own set, he showed that even the younger “kids” still sounded…
Steely Dan@Nokia Theatre 08.24.13
Back in the 70s, when they were a fledging band with a couple hits under their collective belts, Steely Dan founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen joked that they started a rock group because they “weren’t good enough to be jazz…
The Cookers@Catalina’s 08.18.13
It’s difficult to find any jazz groups that stick around together for longer than a single tour, so when the group of jazz vets called The Cookers came into town, fans of advanced hard bop felt like they were getting…
Gretchen Parlato & Taylor Eigsti@The Blue Whale 08.17.13
The real test whether a vocalist has the “veritas” for performance has to be in the context of duets with a pianist. All come to that challenge sooner or later, and at this point in her career, Gretchen Parlato showed…