Matt (Harold Henry) Mattox, memorialized 1
MATT (Harold Henry) MATTOX b. Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, August 18, 1921 d. Perpignan, France, February 18, 2013 “I’ve never classified myself as a jazz teacher, I prefer to talk about ‘free-style dancing,’ which means I have a choice of movement for any piece of music,” said Mattox in a 1993 interview. To prepare for his ...
Groovin’ with Grusin & his huge jazz orchestra 1
Nov
7
2012
The 67-piece Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, the only ensemble of its kind in the country, will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a special concert featuring Academy and Grammy Award winning composer, arranger and pianist, Dave Grusin this Friday evening. Grusin has composed for such films as Fabulous Baker Boys, Havana, On Golden Pond, Tootsie, Milagro Beanfield ...
Wayne Shorter blows his own horn at L.A. Jazz Society tribute
At a swank do at the Universal Hilton Hotel Sunday evening, the Los Angeles Jazz Society, for the past 29 years the labor of love of Flip Manne (she’s the surviving widow of drummer Shelly Manne), honored saxophonist Wayne Shorter as its 2012 Jazz Tribute Honoree. Movie maven Leonard Maltin, also a jazz lover, smoothly ...
Wayne Shorter, sax man, jazz giant, honored by L.A. Jazz Society
Oct
15
2012
Wayne Shorter, multiple Grammy Award winner, saxophonist and composer, is the 2012 Jazz Tribute honoree of the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s 29th annual Jazz Tribute Awards Dinner & Concert set for Sunday, October 21, 2012. Leonard Maltin will host the festivities and Herbie Hancock serves as honorary chair. LAJS 2012 Jazz Tribute awardees include Lifetime ...
Jazz & junkies in Shirley Clarke’s “The Connection” @ New Beverly Cinema
This recco comes from arts·meme friend Ross Lipman, who was the chief restorationist for the film … Just wanted to let you know that Milestone Films is nationally releasing UCLA’s restoration of THE CONNECTION, and it will be running for a full week at the New Beverly, opening this Friday. Shirley Clarke‘s 1961 portrayal of ...
Review: Keith Jarrett travels over the rainbow @ Disney Hall 2
Jazz legend Keith Jarrett opened his solo concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall Tuesday night by plucking on his Steinway’s strings — avant-garde style. Fast forward to his evening closer, a love letter to Los Angeles: Somewhere Over the Rainbow, by composer Harold Arlen. A parade of music, not quite jazz, instead, unidentified art songs, ...
Ahmad Jamal, child pianist, photographed by “Teenie” Harris
He’s propped up on a trumpet case! It’s the young Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell ‘Fritz’ Jones), a Pittsburgh native whose photo by renegade photog, Charles “Teenie” Harris, is featured in an exhibit at the city’s Carnegie Museum of Art. Jamal’s is only one of 80,000 photographs Harris snapped of daily African-American life in the ...
Marie Bryant put a bun in Betty Grable’s oven 5
The silken jazz dancer, Marie Bryant (1919-1978), seen here jiving with the great Harold Nicholas, was, for a time, rehearsal assistant to Jack Cole. That’s interesting. Cole’s performance group was all white. It wouldn’t be otherwise. But he clearly relied on Bryant for special tasks. Asked what she did for Jack Cole, Bryant replied, “I ...
African-American photojournalists capture L.A.’s rich post-War arts world 1
These arts images are drawn from “Identity and Affirmation: Postwar African-American Photography,” an exhibition of 125 images produced by Los Angeles African-American photographers during the postwar years from 1945 to 1980. The marvelous show, now on at Cal State Northridge, also includes social and political photographs. It’s part of the Getty’s “Pacific Standard Time” survey ...
Back to school for Herb & Lani
Benefactors Herb and Lani Alpert joined education and community leaders on a nippy Friday morning in Santa Monica to celebrate completion of the steel framing for the Performing Arts and Leadership Center that forms the centerpiece of the innovative Herb Alpert Educational Village. [slideshow id=42] Herb and Lani Hall Alpert New Roads School students ...