The people’s Peabo, at Pepperdine
Oct
3
2022
He’s right up there — one of the big seventies crooners– along with Al Green, Barry White, Teddy Pendergrass, and Luther Vandross. These heartthrob-inducing balladeers sent soulful glissandos down our spines in densely produced R&B recordings of the 1970s. So I am delighted that Peabo Bryson (“Feel The Fire, “I’m So Into You”) will appear ...
‘People-wearing-color’ honor composer Allee Willis @ ‘Night of Wonders’ 1
It was all kinds of people, of all kinds of colors, wearing all kinds of colors — notably hot pink, fiery orange, neon chartreuse, and Princely purple — mixed into the same outfit. This passel of arty party people wended their way to Valentine in the Los Angeles arts district on September 21, for a ...
Back to Jefferson High School for Central Avenue jazz, with MUSE/ique
They got their high school diplomas and hit the ground running. By living adjacent to the rich cultural offerings of Central Avenue in South Los Angeles in its heyday, the kids of Jefferson High School discovered the arts in the classroom and in the neighborhood. They made careers, big ones. A recent thrilling Sunday-afternoon showcase ...
Re-awakening the wonderland of Allee Willis
Allee Willis. Heard of her? She was a woman of color in so many ways. Born to a Jewish family in Detroit, she grew up loving Black music. Not too many years later, Willis made an awfully lot of people happy as the composer, or co-composer, of marvelous, burbling, and dance-able pop tunes of irrepressible ...
artsmeme newsletter will see you in september!
brigitte bardot, 19, hits the beach at cannes artsmeme newsletter will see you in September! As we approach out 15th anniversary (that’s next May 2023) we’re saving all our energy to report on the coolest and funnest arts happenings when the season opens — in September. Just like our pal Mlle Bardot, above, we do ...
Dudamel to lead stars of Paris Opera Ballet at Hollywood Bowl
gustavo dudamel, courtesy los angeles philharmonic Our man at the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, who was recently named Music Director of the Paris Opera, has invited a few of his new-found friends, stars of the Paris Opera Ballet (“etoiles”) to perform classic and contemporary ballet repertoire on the Hollywood Bowl stage ...
Pianist Jamael Dean, jazz virtuoso, to tap spiritual vein @ Piano Spheres
Jul
5
2022
‘Sick.’ “Dig.’ ‘Respect.’ ‘Space Music.’ ‘Wow.’ ‘Just Wow.’ ‘Lovely.’ ‘Jamael is a beast.’ ‘That drummer is on fire.’ These and other laudatory comments are posted on youtubecom in response to a 2020 video, “Kronos” streaming above. The man behind this music, the keyboard cat in the long braids, is Jamael Dean, a jazz prodigy whose ...
‘Rivers of Sound’: From the Euphrates to The Soraya
ed. note: This story by jazz writer, Kirk Silsbee, was commissioned by The Soraya and first appeared on the theater’s blogsite. Composer Amir ElSaffar, the innovative jazz trumpeter and director of the Rivers of Sound Orchestra, is calling his latest new work “a sonic embrace.” ElSaffar penned the expression to describe Emergence, a sound experience ...
Lustful doings: Barcelona Flamenco Ballet @ The Alex
Suspense, intrigue, sex, scandal, love. That sounds like a pretty typical Saturday night in Glendale, California. But the town’s lustful doings will notch up to a new level Saturday April 16, when the historic Alex Theatre presents Luxurîa (“Lust”), a flamenco dance-theater sensation from Spain’s internationally renowned Barcelona Flamenco Ballet. Barcelona Flamenco Ballet artistic directors, ...
‘Long live Sondheim,’ pianist Anthony de Mare soon to pronounce at Royce
Mar
25
2022
It sounds so intriguing doesn’t it? In 2007, Anthony de Mare, a champion of contemporary music and devotee of the musical theater genius of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) embarked on a project that has proven enduring. His big idea was to commission leading composers in jazz, film, theater and classical music, and the pop world, ...