Lance Lopez Handmade Music (MIG Music) by Devon Wendell Texas based blues six stringer Lance Lopez has already earned legendary status among his peers and mentors: B.B. King, Billy F. Gibbons, and Johnny Winter, to name a few. Before becoming front-man of his own band, Lopez also played with blues and soul giants Johnny Taylor, Lucky Peterson, and The Buddy Miles… Read More CD Review: Lance Lopez “Handmade Music”
By Devon Wendell This has indeed been a sad week in the world of music with the loss of two giants in the world of r&b, blues, jazz, gospel, and rock ‘n’ roll. The first, Johnny Otis, r & b pioneer, bandleader, talent scout, drummer, and composer, whose imagination would help transform hit-sculpted r&b into… Read More An Appreciation: Etta James and Johnny Otis
By Devon Wendell Listening to this new four-CD box set of The Jimi Hendrix Experience live at The Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco between 10/10/68-10/12/68, it’s very apparent that Hendrix was growing faster than his audience. By October of ’68, Hendrix had just released his third LP, Electric Ladyland, and his live shows had become… Read More CD Review: “Winterland — The Jimi Hendrix Experience”
By Devon Wendell It becomes more apparent each year that the annual Playboy Jazz Festival has less to do with pure jazz programming and more to do with people of all ages and races coming together for a good time. This was certainly the case this year during the Festival’s second day show on Sunday,… Read More Live Jazz: The Playboy Jazz Festival (Sunday) at the Hollywood Bowl
By Don Heckman The Playboy Jazz Festival returns to the Hollywood Bowl this weekend for the 33rd time with another celebration of America’s great musical art. And the Festival’s long, remarkable string of successes, over the course of more than three decades, is best described by Playboy’s founder, Hugh Hefner. “I’ve had a lot of… Read More Here, There & Everywhere: Guitars Galore at The Playboy Jazz Festival
By Don Heckman Los Angeles – June 6. (Mon.) Candi Sosa: Bolero Meets Jazz. Cuban born singer Sosa finds surprisingly compatible musical linkages between jazz and the lyrical Latin ballad style. Vitello’s. (818) 769-0905. – June 7. (Tues.) Jennifer Leitham Trio. Bassist/singer Leitham celebrates the release of her DVD, The Real Me Live!, the chronicle… Read More Picks of the Week: June 6 – 12
Marty Grebb High Steppin’ (Luna Chica) By Devon Wendell As is the case with many of the most talented artists, Marty Grebb is a household name among mostly the top and more well known musicians — most of whom he’s played with as a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer over the past four decades —… Read More Blues CD Review: Marty Grebb’s “High Steppin'”
Buddy Guy’s Truth About Life and the Blues By Devon Wendell Recently I had the opportunity to have a candid conversation with the great blues artist Buddy Guy on the state of the blues today, the music business, guitars, influences and life in general. At 74 years young, Buddy continues to be one of the… Read More Q & A: Buddy Guy Headlines the Playboy Jazz Festival
By Devon Wendell Mississippi is a birthplace of the blues, rock ‘n’ roll and some of the most influential gospel, country, and folk music. The Recording Academy, quite correctly if not belatedly, finally decided to pay homage to the great music from this state last Thursday with its Mississippi Music Celebration — a program at… Read More Live Blues: A Mississippi Music Celebration with Homemade Jamz, Shannon McNally and Jimbo Mathus at the Grammy Museum
By Don Heckman It’s no mystery that producing the Playboy Jazz Festival – a two day event for 18,000 listeners (each day) with eight straight hours of music – is a different task from what it was thirty or forty years ago. After all, at that time it was possible to program schedules including the… Read More Here, There & Everywhere: The 33rd Annual Playboy Jazz Festival Artist Line-Up
The International Review of Music 