by Faith Frenz Singers need words and music. But arrangements are the secret to a good song and what distinguishes the singer. A good example is Sinatra and Nelson Riddle. Catalina –the Doyen of jazz for LA — has always welcomed and supported the jazz community to help showcase their aspirations and satisfy the Los… Read More CD Release: Sylvia Brooks “The Arrangement” at Catalina Jazz Club, June 7
By Don Heckman June 20 (Mon)… Seth MacFarlane with the Joel McNeely Band. MacFarlne’s singing is a convincing echo of the Sinatra, Martin, Rat Pack big band era. In his spare time, the versatile MacFarlane also has a convincing career as the producer of such major animation series as Family Guy, American Father and much… Read More MUSICAL PICKS OF THE WEEK (JUNE 20 – 26) IN LOS ANGELES
Freud Playhouse, UCLA By Jane Rosenberg In the nine years since its founding by installation artist, Jessica Grindstaff, and composer and puppet maker, Erik Sanko, New York based Phantom Limb Company has created six productions, collaborated with The Kronos Quartet, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Republique Theatre in Copenhagen, and received numerous grants and awards. It’s… Read More Phantom Limb Company Performs Memory Rings at Freud
By Don Heckman The Gardenia, Tom Rolla’s cozy Hollywood cabaret club can always be counted on to provide a captivating evening of music. And Nancy Dussault’s performance Friday night did all that and a lot more. The versatile, Tony Award-nominated Dussault’s far-ranging musical theatre career reaches from The Sound of Music and Do Re Mi… Read More Notes From the Left Coast: Nancy Dussault at The Gardenia
By Norton Wright Los Angeles, CA. Trying to review a performance of pianist Alan Broadbent is like trying to describe lightning in a bottle. Broadbent’s playing is electrifying, so charged with power, substance, and beauty that descriptions like “swinging,” “groovy,” “funky,” etc. are wholly inadequate. On Saturday night at the elegant and so well-suited Zipper… Read More Live Jazz: Alan Broadbent At Zipper Concert Hall, Los Angeles.
By Don Heckman Friday and Saturday Oct. 23 & 24 Thelma Houston. “My Motown” Grammy-winning r&b singer Houston recalls the glories of the Motown era. Catalina Bar o& Grill. Friday Oct. 23 Doug Webb and the Webb Allstars. Saxophonist Webb is a master of every kind of woodwind instrument. Here he is, in action. The… Read More Picks of the Long Weekend in Los Angeles: October 23 – 25
By Jane Rosenberg Ushio Amagatsu, the founder of the singular dance company, Sankai Juku, is not simply a choreographer; he is, as his creation Umusuna illustrates, a visual artist, a poet, and a philosopher. On a set of starkly modern, sculptural beauty, located at the intersection of Earthworks and Minimalism, Amagatsu grapples with questions of… Read More The Butoh Dance Company, Sankai Juku, Performs “Umusuna” in a CAP UCLA Program at Royce Hall October 16-17
By Devon Wendell I simply cannot write about jazz or music in general without doing a piece on Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. After all, these pieces are written out of love, and Bird and Dizzy were my initial introduction to the world of jazz and possibly still my favorites of all time.… Read More Doc Wendell’s Prescription for Ultimate Bebop: Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie’s “Diz ‘N Bird At Carnegie Hall” (Blue Note)
By Allegra Heckman and Ityen Aznarez Talent, Oregon. Last week, at the Paschal Winery and Vineyard in Talent, Oregon, the quintet Pearl Django played an intimate 2 sets to a full house of appreciative patrons. The show was part of the Fall concert series produced by the Siskiyou Music Project, an institute that provides opportunities… Read More Live Music: Pearl Django in a Siskiyou Music Project concert at Paschal Winery
By Jane Rosenberg Prokofiev’s scores for Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella are simultaneously exuberant and sensuous, dark and ironic. To hear Cinderella played by the Mariinsky Orchestra accompanying the Mariinsky Ballet under the baton of Gavriel Heine is to hear all the lushness and dissonance this music has to offer. At every turn the brilliance… Read More The Mariinsky Ballet’s “Cinderella” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
The International Review of Music 