By Don Heckman Medford, Oregon. The creative interaction between a jazz vocal artist and his/her accompanist is one of the most sensitive encounters in the entire musical world. All of which was on fascinating display Friday night in the performance of singer Sara Gazarek and pianist Josh Nelson at Medford’s Artistic Piano Gallery. The talented… Read More Live Music: Sara Gazarek and Josh Nelson at the Artistic Piano Gallery
By Don Heckman Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto and the band Forro in the Dark opened CAP UCLA’s new music season at Royce Hall Friday night with a two-hour romp through the rich harmonies, soaring melodies and irresistible rhythms of Brazilian music. If you’re wondering what CAP UCLA is, and what happened to UCLA LIVE, here’s… Read More Live Brazilian Music: Bebel Gilberto and Forro in the Dark at Royce Hall
By Don Heckman Among the many instruments listed in jazz polls as “miscellaneous,” the harp is surely one of the most rare participants. As unlikely an actual jazz voice as it may seem, however, the instrument has been played in strikingly innovative fashion by the likes of Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby, Corky Hale and Betty… Read More Live Jazz: The Carol Robbins Sextet Upstairs at Vitello’s
By Michael Katz Ruth Price brought The Jazz Bakery back to its once and future home in Culver City this weekend, and Westsiders gratefully filled the Kirk Douglas Theatre to capacity Saturday night for a stunning performance by Brazilian composer/singer/guitarist Dori Caymmi. Caymmi boasts a family lineage that predates the samba and bossa nova movement… Read More Live Brazilian Music: Dori Caymmi at a Jazz Bakery Movable Feast
By Don Heckman Bossa nova has never needed anything more than a guitar and voice to deliver its message. And the performance by Gal Costa and Oscar Castro-Neves Saturday night in a UCLA Live concert at Royce Hall affirmed just how musically convincing that minimal combination can be. Costa has been a star of Brazilian… Read More Live Music: Gal Costa and Oscar Castro-Neves at Royce Hall
The International Review of Music 