Stylin’ songs straight-ahead: Catherine Russell @ Segerstrom 2
Songstress Catherine Russell It’s very common for today’s young jazz singers to want to sound like instruments, instrumentalists, and/or innovative vocalists. There are legions of developing singers who worship at the altars of Betty Carter, Sheila Jordan and Mark Murphy. But each of those trend-setters evolved into very personal stylists only after years of trial-and-error. ...
Ballet Hispanico’s all-female choreography-roster @ The Broad Stage
Linea Recta, chor. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa Ballet Hispánico. Don’t let the name fool you. It’s not a ballet company – although the dancers are beautifully trained in both ballet and contemporary dance – and it’s not folkloric either. According to the company’s artistic director and CEO Eduardo Vilaro: “We are the child of both in ...
Weather report: It’s raining female artists in Los Angeles
Feb
15
2019
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova in live performance with PussyRiot at The Broad Stage, photo by Ben Gibbs We’ve had some crazy tumultuous storms lately in Los Angeles, a weather pattern augured to continue as women are seizing the stages of the city’s performing arts centers. For a mighty wind of female fabulousness — and fury — has ...
She imagined, she designed and she built: Julia Morgan 2
Feb
12
2019
Cali’s renowned female architect and her mansion by the sea for Marion Davies All she did was to conceptualize, design and build Hearst Castle in San Simeon, as the West Coast corollary of Versailles. It wasn’t much. It took no time at all — 28 years. There on a high cliff overlooking the Pacific, in ...
Our pick for Black History month: Lena Horne tributes
Author James Gavin, who penned “Stormy Weather: The Life Of Lena Horne” will explore the life and career of a legendary superstar as part of Black History month February 13. The fun and informative event will take place at The Barn, with all the barn animals. Lena Horne was one of the great entertainers of ...
Beautiful unburdening: Rosanne Cash at the Soraya
Jan
24
2019
In promoting her new album, She Remembers Everything, country singer Rosanne Cash features photos of fellow female songbirds, among them Janis Joplin, accompanied by a plaintive lyric, “Who know who she used to be before it all went dark?” That’s a gripping start — as if she needed one, she doesn’t, following her triple Grammy-winning ...
To be young, gifted & Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul in ‘Amazing Grace’
“Amazing Grace,” with two-million vinyl discs exiting record stores, was the top-selling gospel record of all time and Aretha Franklin‘s top-selling album. Released in June 1972, the album coincided with the very same month I graduated from an all-white high school in suburban Pittsburgh. Right around that time, on Sunday afternoons, I used my new ...
‘Little Sparrow’ to Long Beach: ‘Piaf! The Show’
Jan
7
2019
Karen Carpenter would approve. She would be thrilled to learn that the noble performing arts center named in her honor will be presenting a concert by The Little Sparrow. Well, almost! The Sparrow once removed. “Piaf! The Show,” a delicious way to pass a Sunday afternoon, popped out at me when I studied the season ...
Marilyn could play comedy, or drama, according to her directors
Dec
10
2018
Henry Hathaway, on MM and high drama: I think her whole life might have changed in Darryl Zanuck would have let her … I wanted to do Of Human Bondage with Marilyn and Jimmy Dean way back then … because after I did that picture with her [Niagra] I found her marvelous to work with, ...
A singer’s love of language: Luciana Souza comes to Royce Hall
It’s been a recurring pleasure to chart the creative arc of Brazilian singer and songwriter Luciana Souza through her SoCal appearances over the years. We remember Jazz Bakery evenings where she held the room spellbound with a tempered vocal delivery on jazz-rooted arrangements and musical interaction. Souza’s clear soprano uses volume judiciously: she can send ...