by Don Heckman Everyone knows Terry Gibbs, knows of him, or has heard him play his swinging vibraphone. He has played with and outlived most of the jazz greats of the past 50 or more years. The swinging music that comes from those mallets is a groove that defies category Gibbs’ continuing preservation of the… Read More New CD Release: Terry Gibbs 92 Years Young, Jammin’ at the Gibbs House
By Devon Wendell On Saturday, June 13th; Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and young players from The Monk Institute Of Jazz Performance Ensemble will be performing at the 37th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival taking place Saturday and Sunday at The Hollywood Bowl. I recently had the amazing opportunity to interview Wayne Shorter on his upcoming performance… Read More Q&A: Wayne Shorter and Daniel Rotem At The Playboy Jazz Festival
BY DON HECKMAN One of the great pleasures of attending a Chick Corea performance is the anticipatory awareness that his omnivorous musical interests will always bring something new and compelling to every show. On Saturday night at the gorgeous new Valley Performing Arts Center at CSUN, he did it again, this time in the company… Read More Live Music: Chick Corea, Gary Burton and the Harlem String Quartet at the Valley Performing Arts Center
By Don Heckman Wednesday was another one of those mid-week jazz nights in L.A. A lot of choices about what to hear, with the usual freeway determinants – traffic and/or distance – playing a role in where to go. But I also was in the mood to hear something a little unusual. And Ron Kalina’s… Read More Live Jazz: The Ron Kalina Quartet at Vibrato Grill Jazz…etc.
By Don Heckman Los Angeles – Oct. 18 – 20. (Tues. – Thurs.) John Scofield. Always looking for new musical adventures, guitarist Scofield has moved through every imaginable jazz variation, including – among others –blues, gospel, pop, funk and beyond. But he’s always been a solid bebop master, as well. Lately, he’s been going back… Read More Picks of the Week: Oct. 18 – 22
By Don Heckman Fine art painter and television producer aren’t exactly career terms that are often heard in the same sentence. Not even in the wildly multi-hyphenate world of Los Angeles. Add to that the description “life long jazz fan” and the combination becomes even more unlikely. But not completely. Because all those labels –… Read More Q & A: Norton Wright, Fine Art Painter, Television Producer and Lover of Jazz
By Don Heckman Los Angeles – Sept. 1. (Tues.) Herb Alpert and Lani Hall. Trumpeter Alpert and vocalist Hall discuss their remarkable careers (individually and as a couple) and offer a few of the new slants on standards that make up the program in their impressive new live CD, “Anything Goes.” Grammy Museum. – Sept.… Read More Picks of the Week: September 1 – 6
By Don Heckman Los Angeles – June 2. (Tues.) Drummer Willie Jones III’s band, with special guest pianist Eric Reed. A summit encounter between a pair of the Southland’s finest home-grown jazz artists. Catalina Bar & Grill. (323) 466-2210. – June 2. (Tues.) John Pisano’s Guitar Night. Pisano trades licks with the fast-fingered, but ever-lyrical… Read More Picks of the Week: June 1 – 7
The International Review of Music 