Live Jazz: the 35th Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl (Day #2)

Review by Devon Wendell

Photos by Bonnie Perkinson

Hollywood, CA.  For the most part, it’s not just the music that has made The Annual Playboy Jazz Festival a Los Angeles summer tradition, but instead, it’s the music combined with the ever present party atmosphere.  And this year was no different. Amidst the clouds of pot smoke and spilled beer on the ground, The 35^th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival featured an eclectic blend of artists in the genres of jazz, funk, pop, blues and more.

Before getting to my highlights of Sunday’s program, I thought I’d include just a few exciting additions from Saturday’s show to follow up on Mike Katz’s coverage.

Grace Kelly

From pop to bop, the amazing 21 year old saxophone titan Grace Kelly played a stellar set which included be-bop and pop influences, playing bop style instrumentals and catchy pop infused jazz vocal tunes.  Kelly proved to be one of the most original and fascinating new faces in jazz. Her childlike vocals on “Nighttime Star,” fused with her vast knowledge of both bop and post-bop saxophone playing was astounding.  When she plays alto sax, you can hear Bird, Art Pepper and Jackie Mclean, but with a new, youthful, feminine and energetic swing to it.

Kelly was joined by the legendary Phil Woods (also a major influence on her alto sax playing) for “Man With The Hat,” which the two had recorded together in 2011.

Woods was in strong form and Kelly played like a waterfall, with endless ideas and a superb technique. This was easily one of the finest moments of the festival.

Gregory Porter

Gregory Porter’s performance at the festival demonstrated why he has received so many accolades from all over the world. This time out, Porter focused more on his gospel and R&B influences than jazz during his brief set, which made it all the more interesting.

This was the case on Porter’s rendition of Cannonball Adderley’s “Work Song,” in which Porter opened the song with a few verses of Leadbelly’s “Alberta.” Porter’s controlled and carefully crafted phrasing along with his magnetic stage presence brought the Bowl crowd to church.

Sunday’s program had a lot more fire and electricity than Saturday’s.

It’s hard to imagine combining jazz and rock piano with a dance ensemble but acclaimed pianist Elew (joined by Jazzantiqua Dance Ensemble) did just that and made it work.

Elew and Jazzantiqua Dance Ensemble

Elew stood up while playing, looking like a mad scientist while he stared intensely at the audience. The Jazzantiqua Dance Ensemble did graceful, ballet interpretations of Elew’s readings of The Cranberries’ “Zombie” and The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside.”

Elew fused the stride piano styles of James P. Johnson with Horace Silver. Though asking a lot of the festival audience, this was a fascinating experiment both visually and sonically.

Chris and Dan Brubeck

One of the purest jazz acts of the festival was The Brubeck Brothers, lead by Dave Brubeck’s sons, Chris Brubeck on bass and trombone, and Dan Brubeck on drums.

The two were joined by Mike Demicco on guitar and Chuck Lamb on piano, making up a tight, focused, and dynamic quartet. The brothers paid a warm, heartfelt Father’s Day tribute to their legendary father, Dave Brubeck who passed away on December 5, 2012.

Their set included many Brubeck classics such as; “Kathy’s Waltz,” “Blue Rondo A La Turk,” and “Take Five.” The group performed these songs with elegance, dynamics, and devotion. Pianist Lamb’s use of well spaced block chords were reminiscent of the late Brubeck’s piano style and Chris’s fusion style electric bass locked in tight with Dan’s soft and melodic drumming. Demicco’s guitar solos were tasteful and served the compositions perfectly.  Altogether, they produced a terrific performance – one that Dave Brubeck would surely have been proud of.

Taj Mahal

Very few artists know the history of American blues like Taj Mahal. At The festival, Mahal was joined by The Real Thing Tuba Band which consisted of four tuba players (Earl McIntyre, Howard Johnson, Bob Stewart, and John Daley) with Mahal playing acoustic guitar, dobro and harmonica. John Simon played keyboard, with Buddy Williams on drums and Larry Fulcher on guitar.

If anyone else tried this format, it would be a cluttered mess but Mahal had the brilliance and wit to pull it off.

The Mahal set consisted of country blues standards that he has been performing for decades – tunes such as his own, “Going Up To The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blues,” “EZ Rider,” as well as Fats Dominos’ “Hello Josephine,” Charlie Patton’s “You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond” and “Way Back Home.”  The tubas played the harmony parts that would normally be sung by background singers, while occasionally soloing tastefully.  Mahal and the band’s set brought some much needed blues to the festival, taking the audience on a journey back down South to the true roots of American music.

Quincy Jones

To celebrate Quincy Jones’ 80^th birthday, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra performed a set of such Jones big band classics as “The Birth Of A Band,” “G’Wan Train,” “Nasty Madness” (which Jones had written for Count Basie) and Jones’ arrangement of  Bobby Timmons’ “Moanin’.”

The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra

The Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, conducted by John Clayton, was superb on these big band swing blues classics. After a proud Jones took a bow from his Bowl seat, The great jazz flutist Hubert Laws (who’s known and worked with Jones since 1969) joined the Orchestra on “Hello” and “Killer Joe.” Laws’ fluid and melodic style danced over the slick and funky rhythms with syncopation and ease.  This was not only a touching tribute to Jones but a wonderful insight into big band arrangements which were inspired by Count Basie, and Jay Mcshann’s earliest works.

Very few artists can combine traditional forms of jazz with pop and fusion like Bob James and David Sanborn. Together with James Genus on bass, and Steve Gadd on drums, James and Sanborn brought their smooth and soulful sound to the festival.

Bob James and David Sanborn

James’ fluid and inventive piano style blended perfectly with Sanborn’s confident, melodic playing and it’s always great hearing Steve Gadd on drums in any setting. The high point of the set was Sanborn’s composition “In The Weeds.” Here, Sanborn broke free from many of his smooth jazz clichés and played some hard-bop tenor sax in the vein of John Coltrane and Joe Henderson.

India.Arie

India.Arie brought her unique style of “acoustic soul” to the festival. Arie’s songs, such as “Because I Am Queen,” “I Am Light” and “I Am Not My Hair, were filled with self empowering lyrics and a sound that fused vintage soul with gospel, hip-hop, and even folk rock and reggae. Arie’s vocals were at moments sweet and delicate, then tough and preachy. Her graceful stage presence and physical beauty provided a perfect match for her songs of inner strength and spirituality.  Unlike so many female R&B artists of the day, Arie has a style of her own with soulfully crafted arrangements and poignant lyrics.

Sheila E rocked The Playboy Jazz Festival last year. Although her set this year felt a little more laid back and less focused than last year, no one puts on a show like Sheila E.

Sheila E and Pete Escovedo

Her set opened with The USC Trojan Drumline marching onto the stage, followed shortly by Sheila, who raced to her drum kit in a short black leather skirt. After several long drum and conga solos, she welcomed her father Pete Escovedo to the stage for a Father’s Day jam on Tito Puente’s classic “Oye Como Va.” Escovedo played timbales while his daughter pounded furiously on congas.

Sheila E

Pop Escovedo departed, and Sheila dug into some of her biggest hits of the ‘80s: “Love Bizarre,” “Holly Rock,” “Koo Koo” and a steamy version of “Erotic City”, written by her longtime collaborator Prince.

Though Sheila E’s set consisted of too many over indulgent jams with drum solo after drum solo, followed by the guitar hysterics of her bandmate, Nate Mercereau, it was Sheila’s sensual stage presence and magnetism that had the entire Bowl crowd on its feet.

She brought audience members up onstage to dance and engaged in many crowd pleasing sing alongs, as she danced suggestively from her drum kit, to her congas and her timbales.

And, as the final act, Sheila E’s success at getting everyone on their feet was the best way to end the 35^th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival.

And so another Playboy Jazz festival has come and gone. Though there were no conga lines going through the crowd this year, the lineup had something for everyone, a little jazz, rock, pop, blues, funk, Salsa, fusion, but most importantly, a lot of fun.

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To read more posts, reviews and columns by Devon Wendell click HERE.

Live Jazz: The 35th Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, Day #1

Review by Michael Katz

Photos by Bonnie Perkinson

Hollywood CA. One happy problem with an eight hour music fest that runs uninterrupted through the shifting temperatures of a near-summer’s day at the Hollywood Bowl is a lineup so strong you don’t want to leave your seat. That was the occasion on Saturday, Day 1 of the 35^th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival. It was a show that featured some bright new names in the jazz realm, a blur of world music and vocal skills, plus cameos and guest appearances from jazz legends and LA icons.

George Lopez

The most notable new face was comedian and actor George Lopez, who took over the emcee duties from Bill Cosby. Lopez smartly kept his patter brief and enthusiastic. Cosby, himself, never tried to upstage the music, and although his Cos of Good Music bands are dearly missed, their spirit was reflected in some adventurous booking, particularly a powerhouse mid-day lineup that had the sold-out house dancing in the aisles.

Some snarling traffic (not to mention my Park and Ride bus that broke down halfway between Westwood and the Bowl) resulted in a crowd filtering in through the first several acts. I entered to a pleasant set by percussionist Pedrito Martinez, with Ariacne Trujillo on keyboards and vocals. Their Latin rhythms set up a relaxed atmosphere as the crowd gathered and settled into party mode. But things got down to business immediately thereafter, with the appearance of Grace Kelly and her quintet.

Grace Kelly

The vivacious Kelly, only 21 years of age, has a half-dozen albums already to her credit. She plays mostly alto sax and doubles as a vocalist, excelling at both. Her alto tones are clean and driving, her own compositions melodic and well served by her lovely voice. Her band included one of LA’s premier young pianists, Josh Nelson, and an outstanding young trumpeter from Boston, Jason Palmer, who gave us some of the handful of great trumpet licks of the afternoon.

Grace Kelly and Phil Woods

It takes plenty of self-assurance for a young musician to invite Phil Woods on as a guest and then stand up to him, lick for lick, but Kelly was up to the task. They dueted on her composition “Man In A Hat,” (from the CD of the same name) written as an homage to Woods. His presence seemed to inspire Ms. Kelly, and I don’t think a blindfold test could have separated the two of them. They later romped through a medley of “How High The Moon” and “Ornithology” with equally fine results. Bassist Evan Gregor and drummer Bill Goodwin rounded out this terrific band. Grace Kelly, originally from Boston, has settled here in the LA area, which is great news for local jazz fans – if they can catch her on a break from an ambitious touring schedule.

Gregory Porter

I had caught the end of an electrifying set by Gregory Porter last September at the Monterey Jazz Festival (where he will be the opening act this year), so it was no surprise to see him light up the Playboy stage, even in the shank of the warm afternoon. Porter has it all. His deep, evocative voice has the authority of a Joe Williams; he has an engaging stage presence that can command even a crowd settling down for wine and hors d’oeuvres. Porter was in a romantic mood, with a ballad, “No Love Dying,” from a soon-to-be-released album. His band features a sparkplug in altoist Yosuke Sato, who whipped the crowd up with ascending riffs that arced into the pungent afternoon air like tracers. Porter continued on, imploring the audience to “Hold On,” while segueing into Oscar Brown Jr.’s lyrics to Nat Adderley’s “Work Song.” The title song to his new CD, Liquid Spirit, featured some terrific piano work by Chip Crawford. Porter’s closer, (as in the Monterey set), was “1960 What,” an ode to the unrest in sixties Detroit, sung with a gospel fervor that recalled Les McCann’s vocals from the seventies. Porter shone throughout. The LA native, by way of Bakersfield, is clearly on the cusp of something special.

Robert Glasper

Robert Glasper has been a ubiquitous presence lately, bridging the gap between jazz and pop with his straight ahead jazz trio and his “Robert Glasper Experiment,” which usually includes a guest from the hip hop world. On Saturday he featured Casey Benjamin on sax and vocoder, as well as the terrific jazz bassist Derrick Hodge and Mark Colenburg on drums. I’ll freely admit that I prefer the “jazz trio” – I put that in quotes because whatever Glasper does has a spirit of adventure to it. Glasper has a quick wit and engaging patter – he’s clearly the jazz performer most likely to host his own TV show. The Experiment is, no surprise, amped up and electronic, and went over fine with the crowd. But Glasper still found the occasion to invite Bowl favorite Dianne Reeves onstage. True to the Experimental spirit, she sang Oscar Brown Jr.’s lyrics to “Afro Blue,” circling on and off the beat, letting the audience find their way into the song.

Angelique Kidjo greets her 18,000 fans at the Playboy Jazz Festival

It’s hard to imagine a more exciting performer for a music festival than Angelique Kidjo, from Benin. I’ve seen her twice, now – the first time anchoring the Sunday afternoon stage show at Monterey a few years ago. Her unique blend of African rhythms, elucidated in several languages, French, Yoruba and Swahili among them, is intoxicating. The pulsating rhythms and percussions, familiar to U. S. audiences through such artists as Miriam Makeba and Ladysmith Black Mumbazo, were highlighted by a terrific guitarist, Dominic James, and percussionists Magatte Sow and Yayo Serka, along with Itaiguara Brandao on bass.

As if that was not enough, Hugh Masekela joined the group for several numbers. Kidjo exudes warmth – even if you can’t decipher her lyrics, the spirit of inclusiveness permeates everything she does.

Anglelique Kidjo and Hugh Masekela

Masekela’s flugelhorn remains deceptively simple, his tones clear and bold. His gravelly voice counteracted with Kidjo’s, and the two of them brought the crowd to their feet early and for the duration. Kidjo’s finale included promenading into the crowd and bringing back selected audience members onto the stage – I don’t know whether she does some magical on-the-spot scouting or just counts on divine inspiration, but it works wonderfully. Magatte Sow took center stage on his conga drum and provided the transformational spell, while the audience had a blast, onstage and off.

I’ve always thought that the Playboy Jazz Festival might benefit from a ten or fifteen minute break sometime during the show. It would give the audience a chance to wind down, break out the picnic baskets, talk to their friends without having to shout over the music. If there was ever a time to do it, it would have been after Angelique Kidjo’s set, which was impossible to follow. Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band would seem to be a perfect candidate, with the impressive sound of a 20 piece ensemble.

The Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band

They opened with two burners and a great solo on alto sax by Eric Marienthal, but the audience wasn’t ready to be engaged by what is basically a performance band. They finally found a little traction with Goodwin’s Grammy-winning arrangement of “Rhapsody in Blue.” Gershwin, after all this time, can still make people sit up and pay attention. After a brief appearance by “The Voice” vocalist Judith Hill, the band found some more familiar and appealing ground when they were joined by guitarist Lee Ritenour. Ritenour brought one of his most successful arrangements, his adaptation of Jobim’s “Stone Flower” into the Big Phat Band groove. His second number was a tight Goodwin arrangement of his tribute to the late Les Paul, simply titled L.P. That was the Big Phat Band and Ritenour at their best, weaving smart guitar licks into the larger sound. They kept the audience with them for the final tune, “Race To The Bridge,” with sax player Brian Scanlon and Andy Martin on trombone leading the way out.

Naturally 7 is a contemporary vocal band, sort of a capella meets hip hop, led by baritone Roger Thomas. This was their third Playboy appearance in four years, so they were warmly received throughout their set. The group combines elements of Doo-Wop, Hip Hop, and McFerriana. Their “vocal play” extends past the traditional vocal levels and instruments; it includes “DJ” and “Beat Box.” Whatever the simulation, it was pretty heavily amplified from the start, proving it is possible to have too much bass, even if you don’t have a bass. But it was a tight and lively show, emphasizing Doo – Wop in “Summer Breeze” and providing a playful narrative with “Englishman In New York.”

Naturally 7 with Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock joined them with one of his “keytars;” it seemed altogether fitting that he would jam with them on “Chameleon.” The opening bass line to that Herbie classic still galvanizes an audience, and Hancock continued with splashes of electronica throughout his appearance.  The group finished off with George Harrison’s Beatles classic, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” At that point you could look back pleasingly at the versatility of the entire Saturday lineup; in a matter of a few hours you could go from Gershwin to Jobim to Herbie Hancock to George Harrison and somehow fit it all under the jazz tent.

And there was still some Coltrane to come. Maybe not quite enough; Poncho Sanchez’s set was entitled Ole’ Coltrane, after the 1961 Coltrane album of the same name, though the set was more Ole’ than Coltrane. Not that there’s anything wrong with spending an hour with Poncho’s band, whatever the circumstances. Along with Sanchez’s formidable conga work, his group featured Musical Director Francisco Torres, doing double duty (he also soloed with the Big Phat Band.)

Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band

But I was especially impressed by Ron Blake, who delivered some feisty trumpet cadenzas in the opening Latin numbers. We didn’t hear a lot of lead work from the staple jazz instruments over the day’s program, which was heavy on vocals and large ensembles, so it was a pleasure to hear Blake and then James Carter, who provided the Fest’s primary blast on the tenor sax.  Carter provided scorching work on a Latinized arrangement of Trane’s “Giant Steps,” and more laid back and melodic playing on Duke Ellington’s “The Feeling of Jazz,” which Ellington recorded with Coltrane. Poncho’s version had a tinge of the Mingus Latin feel to it, with some excellent supporting work by Torres. That was it, though, for the Coltrane material. Carter rejoined the band for a final number, Poncho’s always entertaining version of Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man.”

Regrets to George Duke, whose final blasts into the night came after much of the crowd had left, thoroughly sated by such a pleasing mixture of jazz and funk, performed by ensembles large and small, and by players seasoned and refreshingly new. It was one of the best days at the Playboy Jazz Festival in recent memory and a great start for the two day event.

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To read more iRoM reviews and posts by Michael Katz, click HERE.

Read Michael Katz’s latest novel,

    Dearly Befuddled.

Record Rack: Robin Bessier, Eliane Elias (and a few words for Boones the Cat)

Two Songbirds and the American Songbook

 By Brian Arsenault

The so-called American Songbook doesn’t get old.  It gets better.  Because artists of the day keep reinterpreting and expanding it.  The branches of the tree grow gracefully and the songbirds perch higher.

Robin Bessier

other side of forever (Whispering River)

In  On the Road,  Sal Paradise (Jack Kerouac in thin disguise) walks outside in the early evening at a small Mexican village and says he feels “the softest air” he ever felt. I think I just heard it.

I succumbed to that soft air on the second song on Robin Bessier’s album other side of forever. And actually heard what soft feels like when she sang Bobby McFerrin’s “Jubilee.”

The song alone is justification for the album with its alternating trumpet and soprano sax, both by Jay Thomas, I think (nice trick). There’s also a little Manhattan Transfer sound on the chorus.  But mostly, there is Bessier’s warm, enticing voice.

A delight.

And daring.  She does both “God Bless the Child” and “Prelude to a Kiss.”  We’re talking Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington here, folks, so the standard is very high.  Add to that the technical difficulties of “Prelude to a Kiss” wherein a singer can just get lost. But not Bessier.

Later, she heats it up on “Too Nice” by producer Barney McClure, then cools down to a “Whisper” on the next track. She swings the great 1930s jazz composition “The Very Thought of You.”  Really swings it.

Bessier takes us out of the album with the title song, also written by McClure and you might play it again so you won‘t have to let it go.

How to characterize this remarkable tune?  Think of the most beautiful song you have ever heard in a Broadway show; the one that ties it all together, that touches the heart, that causes a pause, a moment of pure silence before the thunderous applause.  I wouldn’t want to take away from your first hearing of it by saying more.

After a promising career start, Robin Bessier had to deal with some life stuff that perhaps held back recognition of her great gifts and limited her time for music.  But now she’s back and she sings about it on “Right Here, Right Now.” That’s right.  Here and now and very, very good.

Eliane Elias

 I Thought About You — A Tribute to Chet Baker (Concord Music Group)

So you are a leading Bossa Nova singer.  Can you also do all those jazz classics associated with Chet Baker?

If you are Eliane Elias, you can. With voice and piano.  So how and why does someone get to be a terrific jazz singer and top shelf piano player?  I don’t know.  I just listen and count myself lucky.

Because on this album, Elias isn’t just paying homage to Baker, she’s covering the Gershwins, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers and Hoagy Carmichael.  Among others.

The first five or six songs are like an American classic Master Class.

The title song, “There Will Never Be Another You,” “This Can’t Be Love,” “Embraceable You,” “That Old Feeling” . . . I’m almost out of breath and I’m just typing.  (You can still say “typing” can’t you?  “I’m word processing” sounds so wrong to my ear.)

Is there a lovelier song than the Gershwin’s “Embraceable You”?  If you have any doubts, you won’t be after you hear Elias’ version.

“There Will Never Be Another You” is so damn good because you can hear the bossa nova that is her as well as the jazz.  You hear them both and know that they are so closely related, cousins from different but attached hemispheres.  And when Randy Brecker’s trumpet comes in . . . just great.

The album never lets up and finishes with two of the album’s strongest:

* A quick-step paced “Just In Time” — usually done by a laid-back Sinatra at his most laid back pace — which features Elias’ husband Marc Johnson’s bass, her piano and her voice. Just the two of them in a kinda delightful musical quickie.

* Hoagy Carmichael’s plaintive, ironic “I Get Along Without You Very Well.”  I don’t know that it’s ever been treated better, almost whispered in places.  Like the best bossa nova songs and singers, there’s a depth of emotion here unrivaled elsewhere.  A heart can break in two.

Throughout the album, I have to keep reminding myself that it’s Elias on piano as well as singing so great.  That could be gender bias on my part, hard to shake that off completely in a single lifetime.  Or it could be the feeling that you just shouldn’t be so damn good at both.

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 Go Softly Into That Dark Earth

Boones the Cat left today.  We’ll bury her under a tree in the yard and be a little the less for it.  She was my surest barometer of a good album.  If she came in to listen, I knew the work was fine.  If my reviews aren’t quite so sharp from now on it’s because I’ve lost her.  She was 17 so we have no complaint.  Not that a complaint would make a damn bit of difference.

Bye, Boones

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To read more posts, reviews and columns by Brian Arsenault click HERE.

A Twist Of Doc: “Pure” Misery

By Devon “Doc” Wendell

Many fellow musicians or fans of my music and journalism assume that I’m a “purest” based on my love of blues, jazz, classical, and old R&B, not to mention my very open disdain for the everyday, nauseating, chart topping, American Idolized hit. Yes it’s true, I think the crap that the music industry dummies dump on the masses is as bad for the brain as drinking gasoline, I have a love for all kinds of music. This wasn’t always the case however.

Duke Ellington

I tried the “purest” route as a teen when I first discovered the music of Muddy Waters, Son House, Robert Johnson on the blues end, and Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Thelonious Monk on the jazz side of things. I adopted a carefully crafted snobbery that made me feel and appear less of a geek in the eyes of my classmates than I truly was.  But I was far too uptight.

I was deadly serious about learning the guitar, practicing up to 16 hours a day most of the time, but something was missing — Fun! It was easy to fall into the doomed romanticism of Robert Johnson.  But when I got to a party (on the rare occasion I got invited to one) I was a depressing, sullen wall flower. People who danced and the music they danced to made me sick.  Plus I refused to listen to the ‘60s rock music that my parents preached about (except for Hendrix) because I felt it was just watered down versions of the much older and “pure” stuff. I was a real downer.

Two things happened to shake my tree and change my rigid perception of life and music.  The first was my introduction to LSD and marijuana, the other was the formation of my very first band in high school in Brooklyn. The two happened almost simultaneously.

James Brown

The drugs had me smiling for the first time since I was practically an infant and the bass player of my first band introduced me to the world of funk. While I brought my blues influence to the band, he brought that nasty funk. I was introduced to the recordings of James Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic, and Bootsy Collins. I had heard these grooves before at parties when DJ’s would spin hip-hop records by artists who heavily sampled the funk artists of the ‘70s.  But I never knew it came from a purer (there’s that word again) and older source.

Between my lazy and destructive attempts at mind expansion and these infectious rhythms that were accentuated by the one beat, everything suddenly made sense and I was wide open to all musical possibilities. I felt the musical and cultural link between all genres of music. Funk had opened the flood gates.

Bob Dylan

From then on, on any given night in my tiny Brooklyn bedroom, you could hear me listening to plethora of artists such as: Eric B and Rakin, Ultra Magnetic MC’s,  Sly And The Family Stone, Motown, Cal Tjader, Eddie Palmieri, Weather Report, Albert Collins, The Velvet Underground, Prince, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Charles Ives, Chopin, Eric Dolphy, Mingus, Stockhausen, and even The Renaissance composer John Dunstable.

The doom and gloom of the blues mystique had softened and I now found the fun in music while still being able to cling to my geekiness. My playing accelerated to a new plateau as well.  The drugs made it feel as if I had improved much more than I actually had.  But I had broken free of living a life of “Pure” misery, only listening to the oldest recorded forms of a musical genre. My curiosity of the musicology of everything I was now hearing was also sparked.

Now the drugs are gone but I still try to be as open as I can. I may often be highly critical of current and past pop culture trends in many of my articles, interviews, and op-ed pieces, After all, if I weren’t bitter, pissy, contradictory, and slightly insane, I wouldn’t be in the music business. But it’s all music to me that’s connected and when I open my guitar case, I say a prayer for the dead “purest” in me.  The “purist” who would have kept me playing one style for one person instead of many styles for at least two people.

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To read more posts, reviews and columns by Devon Wendell click HERE.

Brian Arsenault Takes On: Strong

Beware the Illusion, Folks

 By Brian Arsenault

I was a longtime fan of comic books from childhood to adulthood — at least chronologically — but not on the big screen.  Comic book superheroes used to inhabit a world defined by mostly squares inside rectangles of wondrous illustration and color and barely literate dialogue.  In short, their own world that became the reader’s for brief periods of time.

In movies, the superheroes move into our world — at least the make believe movie one. When it’s up on the big screen, who cares what a guy in a suit of armor can do to mere mortals?  And even more ridiculous in the flesh is a moralistic jerk wearing a big S, tights and a cape around New York.  Well, maybe in the West Village.

What I really love is hearing people arguing about how good an actor one of these guys is. Strong performance is the usual critic’s phrase.

To wrongly quote the Smothers Brothers: If you get an outfit you can be a hero too.

 And Then There Are Guns

Now I know guns are useful. For hunting. For fun — blasting away at tin cans in a gravel pit can be very entertaining, I’m told.  Even, I suppose, for self defense.  As long as you don’t blow away your girlfriend through the bathroom door or shoot your son getting home late.

My problem is equating the strength of liberty with the power of your firearm.  Liberty ought to consist of respect for one another’s freedoms, not the threat of putting a 20-shot clip into someone.

Yeah, yeah, the right to bear arms and all that.  Feel free to keep your musket at the door for when the Brits next come down the road.

Real Strength Surprises

So I’ve been thinking a lot about strength lately. What is it?  Who has it?  What is it really?

I watch those guys on those insane exercise infomercials and know that most of the world thinks they are just beastly Atlas-like. But you know what, none of them would last 15 minutes  in the cold, deep, dark North Atlantic even in late May.

Lik Hussey Sound, where – in World War II — the North Atlantic Fleet waited to dodge U-Boats to Europe.  So deep that big destroyers sat there comfortably.  But no comfort for humans.  You’d die of hypothermia before you could drown.

Yet I sat and watched these little tiny ducks riding the swells. Little guys so small you could crush them in your hand (if you’re a really mean s o b). Yet they don’t give a damn for wind and wave. They follow their parents looking for succulent bits near the shore.

Some won’t make it. They’ll be taken by birds of prey or sea creatures.  But the Atlantic itself will seldom defeat them.  They float.  They have the strength.

Stephen King’s Joyland

Another strong little “duck” is the dying 10-year old at the center of Joyland, Stephen King’s newest. A paperback with a great pulp crime novel cover. The kid’s strength is the strength of courage in the face of the inevitable.

I swear we should be putting up statues to King here in Maine. Never mind that he’s the best selling author in the world.  It’s that he’s moved so far beyond the horror genre — think The Green Mile and Hearts in Atlantis — to write about all that’s us: courage, falsity, decency, meanness, love unrequited, hatred simmering then exploding.  In other words, the human condition, the subject of all great novelists.

Sometimes I think King’s still throwing in the supernatural stuff part way through just to let us know it’s him.

The narrator in Joyland, despondent over the loss of his college love — talk about universality — listens to The Doors in the dark.  Now that’s scary.

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To read more posts, reviews and columns by Brian Arsenault click HERE.

Live Music: Jesse Herrera at Vitello’s

By Don Heckman

I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it again.  One of the really intriguing aspects of reviewing music is the occasional (and usually rare) opportunity to hear a talented new artist.  Which is exactly what happened Monday night at Vitello’s with the performance by 26 year old singer/songwriter/guitarist Jesse Herrera.

Jesse Herrera

Albuquerque-born, trained in mechanical engineering, Herrera nonetheless has managed to create an utterly unique performance style.  Using his voice in every imaginable fashion, playing acoustic guitar with the improvisational spontaneity of a jazz artist and the fire of flamenco, he is both an unusual and a compelling performer.

Herrera opened his Vitello’s set with a startling, a cappella version of “Autumn Leaves.”  More unusual material followed, much of it original: “Bringing You Back to My Reality,” “Swing and Sway,” “Alice in Wonderland” (as a samba), songs about love and vulnerability, Jobim’s “Insensitive,” and a climactic “My Favorite Things.” (with a flamenco touch).

It was all delivered with passionate intensity.  Herrera’s acoustic guitar technique was masterful.  Often relying on complex rhythmic ostinatos, simmering beneath vocals that sometimes drifted into offbeat scatting, whistling, high note head tones and – on occasion – simulating the sound of a trumpet.

By the time Herrera finished his far-ranging, mesmerizing collection of sounds, songs and rhythms, he had thoroughly established his credibility as a young talent with a potentially promising future.

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Photo by Faith Frenz. To see more photos by Faith Frenz click HERE.

Video courtesy of Jesse Herrera.

Picks of the Week: June 12 – 16

By Don Heckman

Los Angeles

- June 12. (Wed.)  Julian Coryell.  He’s received an impressive guitar-playing legacy from his father, Larry Coryell.  But Julian has thoroughly developed a creative style of his own.  Vitello’s.    (818) 769-0905.

Cindy Lauper

- June 13. (Thurs.)  Cindy Lauper.  30^th Anniversary: She’s So Unusual Tour.  The inimitable Cindy Lauper celebrates the anniversary of her debut album.  She’ll be joined by the all-girl alternative rock band, Hunter Valentine.  Greek Theatre.    (323) 665-5857.

June 13. (Thurs.)  Upright Cabaret’s LEATHER & LACE: Music of Don Henley, Stevie Nicks & Neil Young!  An entertaining evening of some unusual songs.  Starring Yvette Cason, Jake Simpson and more.  Catalina Bar & Grill.  (223) 466-2210.

- June 13. (Thurs.)  Annie Trousseau offers some impressive musical reminders of the legendary Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich.  Vibrato Grill Jazz…etc. (310) 474-9400.

- June 14 – 16. (Fri. – Sun.)  Barry Manilow.  It may be Southern California, but Manilow revives his critically acclaimed “Barry Manilow on Broadway” concert, with all its hit songs, to Southland listeners.  The Greek Theatre.    (323) 665-5857.

- June 15 & 16. (Sat. & Sun.)  Playboy Jazz Festival.  The 35^th installment in Playboy’s annual tribute to jazz arrives with its usual stellar line-up of talent.  Among the highlights on Sat.: Gregory Porter, Angelique Kidjo, Gordon Goodwin with Lee Ritenour, Naturally 7 with guest Herbie Hancock and George Duke.  On Sunday: the Brubeck Brothers, Taj Mahal, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, Bob James and David Sanborn, India.Arie, Sheila E. and Trombone Shorty.  Hollywood Bowl.     (323) 850-2000.

San Francisco

- June 13. (Thurs.)  Enrico Rava Tribe.  Featuring Gianluca Petrella.   Veteran Italian jazz trumpeter Rava leads his band Tribe, a European collection of some of Europe’s finest young players, including trombonist Petrella.  Yoshi’s San Francisco.    (415) 655-5600.

Washington D.C.

Patrice Rushen

- June 13 – 16 (Thurs. – Sun.)  Buster William’s “Something More Quartet.”  And a pretty impressive quartet it is, with keyboardist Patrice Rushen, saxophonist Steve Wilson and drummer Cindy Blackman-Santana.  Blues Alley.    (202) 337-4141.

New York City

- June 12 & 13. (Wed. & Thurs.)  Kenny Werner Coalition.  Pianist Werner, always in search of new ideas, plays with the versatile, adventurous aid of guitarist Lionel Loueke, saxophonists Miguel Zenon and Benjamin Koppel, and drummer Ferenc Nemeth.  The Blue Note.   (212) 475-8592.

Ravi COltrane

- June 12 – 15. (Wed. – Sat.)  Ravi Coltrane Quartet.  Saxophonist Coltrane is another second generation jazz artist.  And, like his father, the iconic John Coltrane, he is an imaginative, cutting edge performer.  He’s backed by  Adam Rogers, guitar, Dezron Douglas, bass, Johnathan Blake, drums.  Birdland.    (212) 581-3080

London

- June 15 & 16. (Sat. & Sun.)  The Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The veteran New Orleans brass band keeps the incomparably high spirited New Orleans jazz tradition alive. Ronnie Scott’s.  +44 20 7439 0747.

Paris

Eddie Palmieri

- June 14. (Fri.)  Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra.  Pianist Palmieri, sometimes described as the Thelonious Monk of Latin jazz, is an irresistibly appealing jazz artist.  Paris New Morning.    +33 1 45 23 51 41