Sure, it’s been almost a decade since Stanley Jordan has released an album, but who cares? He can still pack the house at Catalina’s, and he doesn’t even need a backing band other than his ten digits and electronic ideas.…
Category: Concert Reviews
Will Brahm Quartet@Sam First Bar 01.17.24
In a town overflowing with guitarists, Will Brahm showed the full house at Sam First that he is one of the few six stringers to stand out by successfully having one foot in the tradition and one in the future…
****WHO IS THIS GUY?!?***RINGER OF THE WEEK***Tommy Wolf: Wolf At Your Door/Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
I’ll tell you right now that piano man/singer Tommy Wolf is so obscure that he’s not even mentioned in Will Friedland’s encyclopedic book Jazz Singers. Give homage to Fresh Sound records for digging this one up, as Tommy Wolf is…
Band of Brothers (La Barbera & Levin) @ The Baked Potato 01.06.24
“I’m thrilled, because for the first time in years, I’m actually the youngest member of the band!” So joked 75 year old drummer Joe La Barbera between songs during the 90 minute set at the Baked Potato, with brother Pat…
Roberta Gambarini @ Catalina’s 01.04.24
Even though she hasn’t released an album in years, vocalist Roberta Gambarini is still able to pack the house at Catalina’s because the appreciative audience didn’t want to hear anything necessarily new. No, they came to see the veteran vocalist…
Rock Candy Funk Party@The Baked Potato 12.15.23
“You people in the front row think you’ve got the good seats. You’re about to get pummeled” Tis has been the season to be jolly about guitars! December has brought a surfeit of six stringers roasting solos by the open…
Samara Joy’s Joyful Holiday featuring The McLendon Family@Granada Theatre 12.08.23
After seeing Grammy winner Samara Joy perform for the first time back in February, my first thought was “Someone raised this young lady right”. Yes, she is an incredible singer with an irresistible sense of swing and inspiring sense of…
Guitar Festival with Peter Bernstein, Yotam Silberstein & Larry Koonse@Sam First Bar 11.30.23
Maybe because it’s the Christmas season, but it seems like every December LA gets blessed with the gift of a plethora of guitar players coming to town for a few days in the various clubs. Anyone hearing me complaining?!? Sam…
Steve Hackett’s Genesis Revised@The Lobero 11.17.23
What first attracted me to jazz was that back in the 1970s it was possible to still see in concert musicians who actually created styles of music from ragtime to swing, bebop and hard bop. A half century later, the…
House Of Waters@The Grape Ventura 11.15.23
I first saw the House of Waters trio opening for Snarky Puppy a few months ago in LA, and the fact that the lead instrument was a hammer dulcimer grabbed my attention. Somehow, Max ZT has turned something usually associated…