What is Alonzo King’s ‘Deep River’ ?

Dance · Music
It’s a rare circumstance that we in Southern California have two viewing possibilities of an artistic-and-timely, multi-disciplinary work uniting a top-notch dance company with jazz artists, also of the highest caliber. Deep River by the San Francisco-based Alonzo King LINES Ballet features a score by jazz pianist, composer, and MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran, and in ...

Martha Graham’s ode to nature, ‘Canticle,’ re-imagined for 21st-C

Dance · Music
jacob larsen, so young an, martha graham ‘moon’ ed. note: This story by dance critic Debra Levine, commissioned and published by the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for the Arts, is reprinted with permission. When Martha Graham premiered a new, full-company work with a poetic title, “Canticle for Innocent Comedians,” it was the Spring of ...

‘Sittin’ In’ at golden-era jazz clubs 1

Architecture & Design · Music · Reviews
by 
bird & friendscourtesy of jeff gold These days, every self-respecting college and civic performing arts center has a subscription jazz series. It’s no surprise, then, that many people see jazz as concert music. But it wasn’t always so. 1930s and ‘40s jazz musicians mostly worked in ballrooms with dance bands, but they stretched out and ...

Jason Moran, in a Monkish mood @ CAP UCLA

Music
by 
“The horn is blowing according to what the drummer is playing, you know?” –Thelonious Monk to Hall Overton, 1959 Thelonious Monk’s 1959 Town Hall concert was an artistic landmark and a personal triumph for the iconoclastic pianist and composer. His pieces, conceived for the small ensemble format, had been orchestrated for the evening by the ...

Like butter … dancer Clarice Young 3

Dance · Reviews
A memorable performance tonight at the Broad Stage by Evidence: A Dance Company, the Brooklyn-based troupe overseen by uber talented choreographer Ronald K. Brown, whose dense dance vision overlays post-modern elements onto a rich African-based vocabulary, often working with jazz scores. Outstanding among the strong individuals to possess the stage was the radiant and beatific ...

Ronald K. Brown, Jason Moran collaboration soon at The Broad

Dance
Looking forward to upcoming performances by Evidence, A Dance Company, at the Broad Stage, which will showcase three works choreographed by Ronald K. Brown, company artistic director and winner of the 2015 Doris Duke Award for Dance. Brown has created works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Cleo Parker Robinson Ensemble, and The ...