Picks of the Week: Dec. 6 – 11

By Don Heckman

Los Angeles

Sophie Milman

- Dec. 6 & 7. (Tues. & Wed.)  Sophie Milman.  The young Russian/Canadian singer has thoroughly established herself as one of the important new arrivals on the jazz scene.  She’ll hopefully do a few selections from her latest CD, In the Moonlight.  Catalina Bar & Grill   (323) 466-2210.

- Dec. 7. (Wed.)  Keb’ Mo’  It’s blues on the loose whenever Keb’ Mo’ is on stage.  This time out he’ll no doubt sprinkle some holiday selections among his acoustic repertoire. Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

- Dec. 8. (Thurs.)  Larry Koonse Quartet.  He’s a second generation all-star guitarist, but Larry Koonse has also established a style, an attitude and a visibility all his own.  He’s frequently seen in some one else’s rhythm section, so don’t miss this chance to see and hear him in the spotlight.  Vibrato Grill Jazz…etc. (310) 474-9400.

- Dec. 8 – 10. (Thurs. – Sat.)  The Four Seasons.  Amid all the holiday music of the season, it’ll a distinct alternative pleasure to hear Norwegian violinist/conductor Henning Kraggerud perform the always-engaging Vivaldi work – and especially the Winter segment — with the Pacific Symphony.  Segerstrom Center for the Arts.    (714) 556-2787.

Thomas Wilkins

- Dec. 8, 9 & 11. (Thurs., Fri. & Sun.)  “The Hollywood Sound.”  Thomas Wilkins conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in an evening of memorable film music by the likes of Erich Korngold, Bernard Herrman, Elmer Bernstein, John Williams and more.  The performance is part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time program.  Disney Hall.    (323) 850-2000.

- Dec. 9 – 11. (Fri. – Sun.)  Kenny Werner Band.  A pianist, composer and Guggenheim Fellowship winner, Werner leads a world-class jazz ensemble, featuring trumpeter Randy Brecker, saxophonist David Sanchez, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Antonio Sanchez.  Catalina Bar & Grill.  (323) 466-2210..

- Dec. 9. (Fri.)  Holiday Pop!  The Glendale Pops Orchestra is conducted by Matt Catingub in a program of holiday classics.  Also featured: pianist David Benoit doing material from Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas  and Grammy winner Taylor Dayne adds her own Christmas favorites.  The Alex Theatre.    (818) 243-2611.

Peabo Bryson

- Dec. 10. (Sat.)  The Colors of Christmas. This always festive holiday program has been arriving every year for nearly a decade.  The current line up includes Grammy winners Peabo Bryson and Jennifer Holiday, Broadway star Lea Salonga and Tony award winner Ben Vereen.  Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.    (562) 916-8501.

- Dec. 10 & 11. (Sat. & Sun.)  “Reflection”  The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The Southland’s most gifted and adventurous chamber ensemble brings a colorful array of music to the holiday season in a program of  Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Thomas Ades and Respighi.  Jeffrey Kahane conducts and cellist Ralph Kirshbaum solos.  Sat. The Alex Theatre. (818) 243-2539.   Sun.  Royce Hall.  (310) 825-2101.

- Dec. 10 & 11. (Sat. & Sun.)  Scarlet Stone.  A mixed-media (music/dance/animation) look at ancient Persian mythology, Scarlet Stone also portrays to the current struggles within Iran.  Freud Playhouse, U.C.L.A.    (310) 825-2101.

- Dec. 11(Sun.)  Rejoice: A Classical Christmas. Los Angeles Master Chorale. The gorgeous voices and articulate musicality of the LAMC are heard in a program of compelling Christmas compositions by Poulenc, Distler, Ferko and Lauridsen.  Disney Hall.    (323) 850-2000.

Otmaro Ruiz

- Dec. 11. (Sun.)  Otmaro Ruiz.  Sunday night piano and bass duos at Vibrato are always sure to produce intriguing music. Expect that and more with the creative interaction between the adventurous composer/pianist Ruiz and the versatile bassist Pat Senatore.  Vibrato Grill Jazz…etc.  (310) 474-9400.

- Dec. 11. (Sun.) ASMAC 2011 Holiday Celebration.  The American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers celebrates the season with a Holiday Party, Silent Auction and More.  The John Clayton Holiday Quartet performs, with Clayton, bass, Tamir Hendelman, piano, Graham Dechter, guitar, Kevin Kanner, drums.  Brunch at 11:30 a.m.  Catalina Bar & Grill.  (323) 466-2210.

San Francisco

- Dec. 10. (Sat.)  Ahmad Jamal.  The pianist Miles Davis often cited as a master or rhythmic space and time, Jamal is still demonstrating the essentials of how to bring life to the beat and imagination to the music.   The Herbst Theatre.  An SFJAZZ concert.   (866) 920-5299.

Chicago

= Dec. 8 – 11. (Thurs. – Sun.)  Benny Golson Quartet. Veteran tenor saxophonist and composer of some of the most memorable works in the Great American Jazz songbook, Golson in live performance is always something to remember.  Jazz Showcase.    (312) 360-0234.

New York

- Dec. 6 – 10. (Tues. – Sat.)  The Frank Wess Quintet.  Approaching his ninetieth birthday in January, multi-instrumentalist Wess continues to be one of the definitive jazz flutist as well as a superb saxophonist.  Birdland.   (212) 581-3080.

The Manhattan Transfer

- Dec. 8 – 11. (Thurs. – Sun.)  The Manhattan Transfer.  For almost four decades the Transfer has been an incomparable model for jazz ensemble singing of every imaginable style, always done with impeccable musicality.   Amazingly, they’re still at their best.  Hear them at every opportunity. The Blue Note.   (212) 475-8592.

- Dec. 8 – 11. (Thurs. – Sun.)  Trumpeter Dave Douglas displays his full range of jazz versatility via performances with four different groups:  Thurs.: the Key Motion Quintet. Fri.: So Percussion.  Sat.: Orange Afternoons Quintet.  Sun.: Brass Ecstasy.  The Jazz Standard.  (212) 576-2232.

London

- April 6 – 10. (Tues. – Sat.)  Motown Christmas Review.   Natalie Williams and her Soul Family Band celebrate the holiday season with the music of Smoky Robinson, Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, Michael Jackson and a lot more.  Ronnie Scott’s.    020 7439 0747.

Tokyo

- April 10 – 12.  (Sat. – Mon.)  Kyle Eastwood.   Bassist Eastwood has garnered a great deal of visibility as the son of jazz fan Clint Eastwood.  But Kyle is a solid talent on his own well on his way to a sterling career as a talented bassist. Blue Note Tokyo.    03–5485-0088.

Quotation of the Week: Confucius

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“If one should desire to know whether a kingdom is well governed, if its morals are good or bad, the quality of its music will furnish the answer.”

- Confucius 

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To read more Quotations of the Week click HERE.

Ballet: The Joffrey Ballet’s “Nutcracker” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

By Jane Rosenberg

Whenever I approach a production of the “Nutcracker,” I bring along my seven-year-old self and wait expectantly for the holiday fantasy to begin.  Thursday night at the opening performance of the Joffrey Ballet’s “Nutcracker” was no exception.  I never tire of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s classic tale or of Tchaikovsky’s perfect ballet score, and when the house lights dim, I’m transported, whether to nineteenth century Nuremberg or, as in the case of the Joffrey production, to America circa 1850.

Did the Joffrey production, conceived by Robert Joffrey, with additional choreography by Gerald Arpino, meet my expectations both as child and adult?  The answer is yes and no.  The excitement of Christmas, set in a suitably cozy and inviting house, was conveyed in Act 1; and both Clara, danced on opening night by Anastacia Holden, and Fritz, danced by Ricardo Santos, brought a sense of childlike eagerness to their respective roles.

Anastacia Holden

Holden, petite and believable as an adolescent girl, harmonized beautifully with the real children around her; and Santos was exceptional in his portrayal of her taunting and mischievous brother, adding levity and spice to the scene.

With the arrival of Godfather Drosselmeyer and his nephew, the plot begins in earnest.  Drosselmeyer was intriguingly captured by Michael Smith, playing a younger version of the usually white-haired godfather. This Drosselmeyer was more stage magician than eccentric toymaker, more Johnny Depp than Christopher Plummer.  All was well, and my child and adult selves were content, until I saw Drosselmeyer’s nephew beside Clara.  Though danced competently by Dylan Gutierrez his tall stature was entirely out of scale with Clara’s petite frame.  It felt as if a college grad had crashed a children’s party, and this lack of a believable pairing jarred me throughout.

Which brings me to another odd decision, this time a question of production rather than casting.  When the battle of the mice and toy soldiers erupted, where was Clara?  She was offstage – an unfortunate choice. Clara, frightened by the arrival of the mice, is normally left onstage to face the conflagration and witness her beloved Nutcracker about to be vanquished by the Mouse King. The audience feels for her, reacts with her; and Clara, overcoming her fear, throws her shoe and becomes the instrument of the Nutcracker’s salvation.  Instead, here she was ferried on high by Drosselmeyer and “dropped in” to drop the shoe.  It is Clara’s bravery in the face of her fear that makes her truly heroic.  Her heroism is rewarded by a fabulous journey to the Land of Sweets, where her act of bravery is applauded by the inhabitants and the Sugar Plum Fairy.  In this version, when Gutierrez as the Nutcracker prince/nephew recounted Clara’s heroic deed in mime, we could only wonder why she deserved our admiration.

Nevertheless, there’s a lot for any adult or seven-year-old to love in this Nutcracker: the marvelous owl clock, ticking away like Tick-Tock from The Wizard of Oz books; Drosselmeyer’s mechanical dolls in their Commedia dell’Arte costumes; the shimmering Christmas tree that grows before our eyes, the battling mice riding ratback, and best of all, the sixty talented children who perform throughout the acts, along with the voices of the Los Angeles based National Children’s Chorus.

Their rapturous voices are heard in the exquisite music of Act One, Scene Three as twinkling paper snow billows down onto the dancing snowflakes.  Tchaikovsky’s music, interpreted in this production by the excellent LA Opera Orchestra, all but defines Christmas and the marvels of a winter wonderland.  The corps looked sharp as dancing snowflakes led by their Snow Queen, Kara Zimmerman, who also took a sinuous and seductive turn as Arabian Coffee in Act Two. Ricardo Santos, dancing as the Snow Prince, again gives a joyous performance, leaping with exquisite abandon and musicality into his jumps and turns despite the hazards of fifty pounds of paper snow on the stage floor.

The sets by Oliver Smith for Acts One and Two are pleasant enough, but once we arrive in the Land of Sweets, I found myself asking, where are the candy canes, gumdrops, gingerbread, and all manner of sugar that should form the scenery for the divertissements to follow?  After twenty odd years, the wan pink set looked more like a backdrop for a 1950’s variety show than a modern child’s fantasy of candy land.  And yet, the background melts away as we watch spicy Hot Chocolate (Valerie Robin), sultry Coffee (Kara Zimmerman and Fabrice Calmels), playful Tea (Abigail Simon and Ricardo Santos), Russian Nougats (all four marvelously danced by Erica Edwards, Derrick Agnoletti, John Giragosian, and Alberto Velazquez), and charming Marzipan Shepherdesses (a delightful pas de trois for Katherine Bruno, Yumelia Garcia, and Caitlin Meighan).

When Mother Ginger, conceived as a giant puppet by Kermit Love, waddled onstage bearing her little clowns, there was an audible cooing among the audience.  And when scores of children toddled out from under her skirts, so total was the pleasure that when Mother Ginger took her leave, a tiny voice in the audience on Thursday night shouted “ No! Don’t go bye-bye!”

The rapturous Waltz of the Flowers was notable for a lovely pas de trois, but all the dance sequences felt oddly punctuated by Herr Drosselmeyer who, in this version, inserts himself into the proceedings as a kind of impresario – a role normally bestowed on the Sugar Plum Fairy. Victoria Jaini, as Thursday night’s Sugar Plum, was elegant and technically precise, but lacking in poetic nuance.  Partnered by Gutierrez, they proved a better match than his Act One pairing with Holden’s Clara.

Instead of Clara’s departure for home in the usual sleigh, Drosselmeyer and Clara fly home in a hot-air balloon.  A fanciful and inventive touch, I couldn’t help but think of the Wizard and Dorothy.  How about a new production of the Nutcracker set in 1900’s Kansas?  In the meantime, Los Angeles, with its real and imagined seven-year-olds, has the good fortune to have the Joffrey Nutcracker here until Sunday.

Illustrations ©1985 by Jane Rosenberg.  Photos courtesy of the Joffrey Ballet.  Anastacia Holden photo by Herbert Migdoll.

 

Jane Rosenberg is the author and illustrator of DANCE ME A STORY: Twelve Tales of the Classic Ballets and SING ME A STORY: The Metropolitan Opera’s Book of Opera Stories for Children. 

Live Jazz: Omar Sosa at Auditorio Conde Duque in the XXVIII Festival Jazz Madrid

By Fernando Gonzalez

Madrid.  A concert by Cuban pianist Omar Sosa suggests, at different times, an ever-changing combination of musical event, performance art, and religious ceremony.

His solo show at the lovely new Auditorio Conde Duque in Madrid, on Tuesday, as part of the XXVIII Festival Jazz Madrid, certainly had plenty of those elements.  But what made it memorable was Sosa’s willingness to follow his creative whims, take chances without a net, and offer the full house what felt like a living room performance, warts and all.

“I had a list of pieces I was going to play,” he said at a break, well into the evening, showing as proof a sheaf of white pages hidden in the acoustic piano. “But at the end, I ended up playing whatever I felt like,” he said sheepishly. “I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.”

Sitting before an acoustic and an electric piano and aided by a battery of electronic devices that he manipulated on the fly with pedals, Sosa drew the tone, if not strictly the material, from his album Calma. It was hard to recognize particular pieces, which were improvised to begin with – here, one sounded like “Aguas,” a bit there seemed from “Dance of Reflection.”  At best, they were more like points of departure than attempts at strict readings. But Calma did set the mood. (“We’re all going too fast. We need to take a breath, calm down, and catch up with ourselves,” said Sosa at one point.)

This was music of open spaces, reflective, of moods rather than unfolding stories. His vocabulary at times evoked the Impressionists and the Romantics via Ryuichi Sakamoto – with richer technical flourishes. Only in a couple of instances did Sosa break the mood, once to play an energetic montuno (his only direct reference to Afro Cuban music), the other to set a groove and launch a pre-taped voice loop.

Overall, it was like being privy to an exceptional musician’s thinking-out loud session. This is clearly not something recommended for everyone.  But Omar Sosa has the technique and imagination, and the good nature, to pull it off with grace. On Tuesday, for the most part, it worked.

Photo by Shinya Watabe.

To read more reviews and posts by Fernando Gonzalez click HERE.