By Don Heckman Oct. 1 – 4. (Thurs. – Sun.) IMMORTAL BEETHOVEN. Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a remarkable, four night tour de force program devoted to all nine of the Beethoven symphonies: #1 and #2 on Thursday; #3 and #4 on Friday; #5, #6, #7 and #8 on Saturday; and a… Read More Highlights of a Long Weekend: Oct. 1 – 4 in Los Angeles
By Don Heckman It’s that time of year again. Thanksgiving Day has arrived. And here’s my annual, continual and growing list of the many reasons I have to be thankful. Let’s start with my most important reasons to be thankful: For my beautiful, loving, caring wife: Faith For my two incomparable children: Allegra and Alex… Read More Here, There & Everywhere: The Music (And More) That I’m Thankful For
By Don Heckman Describing Herb Alpert as a philanthropist doesn’t accurately identify the full generosity of his activities over recent decades. Many of his awards have been institutional, to UCLA, USC, CalArts and beyond. And in each of those cases, his generosity has had a significant impact upon the effectiveness of their music education programs.… Read More Here, There & Everywhere: The Herb Alpert Award in the Arts
By Don Heckman Jazz clubs come and go in most major cities. Los Angeles is no exception. The Jazz Bakery lost its home in Culver City in 2009. Charlie O’s in Van Nuys was shuttered in 2011. Both were vital homes for L.A.’s finest jazz artists and valuable destinations for jazz fans. This month, Upstairs… Read More Here, There & Everywhere: April Williams Resigns from Vitello’s
By Don Heckman It’s that time of year again. Thanksgiving Day has arrived. And here’s my annual, continual and growing list of the many musical reasons I have to be thankful. * * * * * . – Every note Charlie Parker ever played. – Ditto for Louis Armstrong. And Miles Davis. – Bebop, Dizzy… Read More Here, There & Everywhere: The Music I’m Thankful For
By Don Heckman A few days ago, my good friend David Paulsen sent me The Real Big Lebowski Wants Your Vote, a video he’d produced about the upcoming Presidential election. The video features the wonderful actor David Huddleston, who portrays the title role in the Coen Brothers’ brilliantly funny motion picture, The Big Lebowski. Although… Read More Here, There & Everywhere: The Real Big Lebowski Wants Your Vote
Photo by Bonnie Perkinson.
By Don Heckman When iRoM’s London-based, European correspondent Ella Leya told me she’d written a song for her ambitious teen-age son, Micah, I was intrigued. I knew Ella was a gifted singer/songwriter – her songs have been featured on such films and TV shows as Ocean’s Twelve, PU-239, My Sassy Girl, Dirty Sexy Money, and… Read More Here, There & Everywhere: Micah Altshuler Sings About A La La Dream…
By Don Heckman The Playboy Jazz Festival, as well as the lead-in to the Festival, tended to dominate our view screens here at iRoM for the last week or so. And that’s cool. It is, after all, one of the major musical events of the year. But other music has been taking place, as well. … Read More Here, There & Everywhere: Dolores Scozzesi at Vitello’s
By Don Heckman Herb Alpert has had more successes – creative and financial – than most artists can dream of experiencing. And to his credit he’s handled them with remarkable finesse and generosity. Music programs at UCLA and CalArts have benefited from his multi-million dollar grants to each institution. Today, another impressive display of the… Read More Here, There & Everywhere: The 2012 Alpert Award in the Arts
The International Review of Music 