THIS IS THE FOURTH OF OUR BEST OF 23 REVIEW OF INTERVIEWS: If you’ve been following Cultural Attaché for even a small amount of time, you know how much I love singer Cécile McLorin Salvant. We’re happy to say we finally have an interview with this three-time Grammy Award winner (who also happens to have a nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album for her most recent release, Ghost Song)!

Those three Grammy Awards came for three albums in a row: For One to Love, Dreams and Daggers and The Window. Might it be four-in-a-row? The New York Times called it “her most revealing and rewarding album yet.” I love the album and had the privilege of seeing Salvant in back-to-back performances at the Blue Note in New York City in September. Salvant is truly a once-in-a-generation artist.

She is currently on tour across the United States. Her next show is at Royce Hall on Thursday, January 26th as part of CAP UCLA’s season. She’ll be at the Mondavi Center in Davis on January 27th; Bing Concert Hall at Stanford on January 28th; the Stewart Theatre in Raleigh, NC on February 2nd and Knight Concert Hall in Miami on February 3rd (where her special guest is the Christian Sands Trio).

For her full itinerary, please go here.

Here is my interview with Salvant which was conducted via e-mail.

During the pandemic you were reading Marcel Proust, particularly In Search of Lost Time. In the fifth volume he writes, “The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is..” Do you agree with him and how does that perspective align itself with how you choose, hear and perform music?

I love that quote!!!! Beautiful. I absolutely agree with this.

The pandemic negated the opportunity for LA audiences to see and hear Ogresse. What does the future hold for that work and will you record it or turn it into a fully produced musical/show?

We’re making it into an animated feature length film. It’s already recorded but we’re animating it now with a team in Europe. [Salvant will be performing Ogresse on February 24th and 25th at the Walker Art Center in Milwaukee.]  

Five years ago you gave an interview to ArtsDesk.com where you said, “Visual art is the most important thing to me.” At that time you weren’t sure if that passion for visual arts influenced your music adding, “probably, but not in a way that I can tell.” Has your perspective on that changed since 2018? Do works like Ogresse and/or the art that Nonesuch released with Ghost Song provide examples of some blending of your passions?

Yes! My perspective often changes though! Lately I’ve been trying to approach making music with the same playfulness I feel when I draw.

I first became aware of you when Bryan Ferry closed for you at the Hollywood Bowl in August of 2017. It’s a night I won’t ever forget. I’ve since seen you at much smaller venues. What role does a given venue play in the concerts you give?

My favorite venues to play are clubs! I like to be really close to a small packed audience. I want it to feel like I’m spilling secrets. But it’s always exhilarating and a little bit scary to be in front of a vast crowd like at the Hollywood Bowl!

Sometimes Aaron Diehl is your pianist and other times it is Sullivan Fortner. What does each pianist bring to you and your music? Are there tangible differences for you that influence the way you make music and present it live with each of them?

There are a few others I’ve been playing with over the years. Everyone adds different elements and colors to the music, they bring their tastes, their approaches even their feel to it. It’s the same with every instrument in the band. I often unknowingly pick my repertoire based on who’s playing.

In the concerts I’ve attended there seems to be a semblance of spontaneity in the set lists. What role does fluidity play in each performance? How much does an audience play a role in what you choose to sing at a given concert?

That’s another that changes based on the band. If I’m playing duo with Sullivan there’s often no setlist and it really depends on the moment. The audience plays a bit of a role if they choose to! Some audiences feel quiet, or more reserved. They play less of a role. When they participate a bit more, are reactive, they play a much bigger role to where the set will go.

Music from Broadway musicals used to top the record charts. It’s been a long time since that happened. Yet your passion for musicals is undeniable. The first song on your first album, Cécile, comes from an obscure 1930 musical, Lew Leslie’s International Revue (Exactly Like You). You seem almost childlike in your appreciation for these songs. How and when did that passion for get ignited in you and what role will that material play as you move forward throughout your career?

I’m not sure it’s a childlike quality, it’s more that I love theater and acting. I love operas too, which to me aren’t much different from musicals. I love songs that flow from a character dealing with a specific context.

Like pianist Brad Mehldau and others, you had a background in classical music but switched to jazz (though I heard you sing Baroque music at the Blue Note in NY in September). How does your classical background inform your approach to jazz?

This is a tough question to answer because I try to get away from genres. Genres like jazz and classical are too broad in my opinion. Jazz is extremely fragmented, it encompasses so much different music. Even baroque and early music have such fragmented, different styles within them. There were differences in the music based on cities! Even tuning was based on location.

I think everything I’ve studied informs what I do in some way. In conservatory, I got to learn the aria Medea sings when she goes back and forth between wanting to kill her children for vengeance and wanting to protect them. I think learning that and other songs, learning a bit about baroque dance, studying tap dance for a month in high school, learning the basics of reading figured bass on a harpsichord, all this informs my desire to find a way to approach music in a more open way, with less boundaries.

Your mother has described you as an intellectual (The New Yorker 2017). You’ve talked a lot about your instincts. How and where do your instincts meet up with your intellect and vice-versa?

I don’t identify as an intellectual! I can be a nerd for the things that I love. And I study and research and learn about the history of those things. But following my instincts is very important to me. Sometimes too much research can get in the way of that.

In an interview with Ethan Iverson you bring up a point, this was in relation to Bessie Smith, where you said, “at first I guess it sounds very the same when you don’t know how to listen.” What is the audience responsibility in listening? How much does technology and the need for videos and photos get in the way of your ability to communicate with an audience and their ability to listen? Is the fine art of listening a dying art?

It’s changing the way we communicate. We have more access than ever to all kinds of music and yet our attention span is very low. But I think people are feeling a bit over-saturated so there might be a countercurrent to that soon. I also really admire the way this younger generation coming up can find whatever they connect with, regardless of era or popularity, online. Listening will have to change whether we like it or not! But it’s always been changing. It changed already when the first compositions were notated on paper, when people began having access to records, when music videos started to gain popularity, and so on.

Nonesuch Records alluded in an email last week to a new album coming out this spring. What can you tell me about this new recording?

It will be all in French! About a half woman half snake.

If you could talk to the teenager who had a mohawk, was listening to Dave Matthews Band and Soundgarden before moving to France, what would you say to her about the artist you’ve become and the artist you want to be as you move forward in your career?

I probably wouldn’t say anything about that if I could talk to the teenager I was!!

I’d probably just stare. But I’ll say to you that I feel really lucky for everything that I’ve been able to do, and I’m very excited to keep making my arts and crafts, which is how I like to think of what I do (otherwise you get too precious about it all).

Main Photo: Cécile McLorin Salvant at the Blue Note in New York (Photo by Craig L. Byrd)

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This is a two-disc recording in which the first half finds Sullivan performing solo piano. Each song was performed just once and there are no overdubs and there’s no editing. This part, Solo, was produced by Fred Hersch.

The second part, Game, finds Fortner making use of many of the tools artists use to perfect their recordings, but he uses them to help create music rather than correct was has been recorded. The cumulative effect of the album is to see jazz as a constantly fluid genre of music and Fortner with one foot standing on the shoulders of the legends before him and the other firmly striding forward to the future.

In early December I spoke with Fortner about Solo Game, his working with Hersch and Salvant and what he requires from his art and what his art requires from him. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Q: Miles Davis is quoted as saying, “You should never be comfortable, man. Being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians.” How do you think being comfortable fouls up audiences? I ask that because I think your album is not comfortable and challenges audiences to eliminate any preconceived ideas they might have.

For better or for worse, for an artist, I think it’s important to constantly push. And I think as an audience member, at least for me, and the people that I talked to about it, they don’t like to see people perform and be too comfortable. They like to see some sort of struggle. I think one thing that the pandemic kind of brought a little bit more to light is the idea of watching people’s processes and watching how people create. The idea of watching people go through things and figure out formulas and struggle, make a mistake and then do it over.

It brings a certain type of humanity to the art or to whatever it is that they’re creating. One of the things I try to do is I try to create real performances. If it’s a little bit too perfect, then it doesn’t seem real to me. It’s not human. You know, the imperfections are the things that make music alive and beautiful.

How much do you think an audience is aware of that struggle?

I think we give the audience a little bit less credit than than than we probably should. But I also think that if there’s a type of banter or type of communication that happens within the bandstand, then people can get that. They’re like, Oh my God, what’s getting ready to happen next? Oh, the drummer’s going crazy. Something happened. You know what I mean? The drummer just gave the bass player a look. Oh, he didn’t like him too much, you know? Stuff like that.

What is the conversation you are having between Solo and Game, and how does that give us a better understanding of who Sullivan Fortner is?

I wanted both Solo and Game to reflect Sullivan Fortner. Not so much the pianist, but the artist, the musician and the thinker. Both sides of the album were exposing me. Acoustic being, okay, I’m playing by myself, completely acoustic piano. No edits, notes, no second takes, nothing. Then the other side being, okay, now I get to play whatever it is I want to play, but on instruments that I’ve never played before. Just experimenting with limitations.

Both of them had that idea of experimenting within a certain type of parameter limitation. Both of them kind of question the idea of when we play music, do we actually play music? It underlined that word play. So when you think of that word play, you think of arcade games. Both sides of the album there are various games that are constantly being played. Both sides reflect each other. 

How important is it for you for the tradition of jazz music to evolve as it always has and as it inevitably will?

I think that it’s extremely important. I think it’s also important for jazz musicians to use the tools of the studio. I had a conversation with a great musician and great friend of mine who basically said when we go in the studio as jazz musicians, nine times out of ten, we use Pro Tools to edit a part that we don’t like. We use ProTools or Auto-Tune to correct the note or to fix whatever. They don’t use the studio and use those programs to help as an extra instrument for the music. You know what I’m saying? So what I wanted to do in this album, especially with the Game part, I wanted to use pitch correction as a part of the music and not to fix whatever I did that was wrong.

As an compositional tool instead of a correctional tool. 

You said it exactly the way I want to see it. I also think that it’s important for the musicians to not be so precious with the studio. The idea of it wasn’t necessarily be perfect. It was to be honest and show a real representation of who I am and where I am at that particular time. A lot of times, especially younger jazz musicians, we’re all so gung-ho about creating the perfect album rather than creating an honest album. This album that I created by no means is perfect. I already know, but I know that I can honestly say I’m proud of it because it’s the most me that I’ve ever created.

How long has this other side that wanted to play in the studio, that wanted to to not be afraid of the studio, not be afraid of the technology, been buried inside you?

If I’m honest COVID actually birthed that side of me. The first instrument that I grew up playing was a Hammond organ before I started playing piano. My first love was the organ. So electronics and manipulating sounds within the capabilities of an electronic instrument was something had always been in me since I was seven years old. I’d never really owned a piano when I grew up. I only owned keyboards, but I would just stick to the piano parts and try to manipulate the piano parts. Maybe there would be some times where I could record on the keyboard. I would add instruments just with keyboard patch. But that was just for fun. But the idea of actually going in the studio and doing that was inspired by COVID and Cécile McLorin Salvant.

She keeps subtly reinventing herself. That’s the thing I love about her. They’re not radical shifts. It’s not like suddenly Bob Dylan is playing an electric guitar. There are these subtle shifts and every one of them makes sense. That has to be an inspiration.

It is. Being on the side of the stage that I sit on, whenever I see her and the more I get to know her, the more I realize that she’s becoming more and more herself every album. I think that’s the most inspiring thing to watch her evolve as an individual, as a woman, as a human being on this planet and as an artist. Watching her just really step into what makes her unique and special in her eyes. That’s the most inspiring thing, just her being excited about her being herself.

I’ve seen you with Cécile multiple times. It strikes me that the two of you do not have a traditional vocalist and accompanist relationship. When I see Cécile McLorin Salvant and you’re on the stage with her, it might as well be Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner, because you two are so intrinsically tied to one another musically. Does this feel like a unique collaboration that is different than what you have seen or witnessed or even experienced as a pianist and a vocalist working together?

Yeah, it most definitely has. And it was like that from the first time we played together. From the very first note, it felt like we were immediately at home. At least it felt like I was. You’re playing with somebody that has that certain type of independence where you don’t feel like they are relying on you to make something happen.

We definitely are individuals. But for the first time, I actually felt like I could play with somebody that I could grow with. You know what I mean? It wasn’t waiting on me to play catch up.

In 2016, you told the Oberlin Revue that “Music is like a drug. You’re chasing that first high….the high you got..the first time I played music and really enjoyed it. Since then, I’ve been trying to chase that feeling.” What was that feeling you were chasing with Solo Game? What was the high? 

You want the honest answer? I went in the studio nervous and Cécile said, just go in and relax. So I took an edible before I went in the studio. So that automatically relaxed [me] and that got rid of the nervousness. But I think the high that I was chasing was just that feeling that I got when I was a kid and I didn’t know anything. I was just happy to play. You know what I mean? I didn’t know. I didn’t know any complicated chords. I could only play in like four or five keys. There was not really a whole lot of harmonic sophistication. There wasn’t a whole lot of rhythmic sophistication. It was just me playing the songs to the choir. I didn’t know anything. I was just happy to play. That was the high that I was chased. 

Did it take a lot to be comfortable in the recording of this particular album? You were working with Fred Hirsch who, along with Jason Moran, complete the album with their own comments about you and this project.

Fred is not an easy person to please. He a very nice man; extremely nice. Been very kind to me. But he’s definitely particular about what it is that he likes. So whenever you’re in a room with somebody like that, you always you automatically feel this pressure of doing anything that you possibly can in order for it to sound good.

I think with Game, it’s a little bit more like I was left up to my own antics. It was fun making it. But I had to suffer when I was shopping the album around. I had a little bit of difficulty trying to find a home for it and people who actually wanted to support it, to back it up and help me put it out because it was so different and so unorthodox. 

I’m assuming you probably got a lot of offers to release the first half, Solo.

Here’s the funny part. When I shopped that around, I only shopped around Game, minus the edits and all the added sound effects. Once I found a label that was interested in that, then I gave them the acoustic album and said, Okay, I want both of these to come out at the same time as one album. They were like, we’ll put up the acoustic album, no problem. But this other one we got to wait. I said nope it is either both of them, or none of it. It took a lot of guts and I almost gave in. But, thanks again to Cécile and to Jason Moran, they were like, no, this is what you want to do. You need to do it that way.

It makes sense that Jason would be a supporter of doing that. If you look at how his career is started and what he’s doing now.

In the last two years basically every piano player, every major piano player, people who are soon to be major, in my opinion, have released solo albums. Jason Moran. Brad Mehldau. Ethan Iverson. Kevin Hays. Vijay Iyer. Fred Hersch. They’ve all released solo albums, especially during Covid, because there was nothing else to do. If I was going to do a solo album, I wanted it to stick out more than just be acoustic piano. I wanted it to be an all-encompassing solo situation. So part of it was sticking out. The other thing was I wanted to make a statement that I’m not just a piano player. I’m also someone that has an idea or a vision musically that goes beyond just the eighty eight key box.

Solo Game was recorded during the pandemic and it took a while, as you mentioned, to shop it around and find somebody who was going to release it. But that’s given you all kinds of time to develop new ideas and new ways of expressing yourself. Where are you headed with new material now?

I’m thinking about continuing along this path; especially in the studio. Going back to using the tools that are available in the studio as a part of the composition. The next project that I’m working on is a trio album. It won’t be a double album, but it will be two different trios. One trio would be with Marcus Gilmore and Peter Washington and another trio would be with Tyrone Allen and Kayvon Gordon, who are a group of guys that I’ve been playing with for the last year or two. They’re a lot of fun to play with.

That’s the next thing to try to figure out. It’ll be a mixture of originals and standards, a little bit more towards the traditional side, but with few surprises maybe. And after that, I think the next thing I want to do is a choral album which would feature just piano for the most part and vocals with my family singing. So I’m in the process of writing stuff like that. I’m trying to continue along in the vein of Game and building a catalog as opposed to creating separate worlds that each album stands in and lives in. 

I want to ask you about something Duke Ellington is quoted as saying. He said “Art is dangerous. It is one of the attractions; when it ceases to be dangerous, you don’t want it.” For you personally, what do you want most from your art today, and what do you think your art wants most from you? 

I guess the art wants from me fearlessness. Not being afraid to try and not being afraid to step out there. Being you and being confident in that. 

What do I want my art to give me? I want the art to just continue to give me what it’s already given me, which is a sense of purpose and being able to continue to help me articulate what it is I can’t say in words. To help me to discover more about myself and discover more about the world around me. Art teaches me music and art teaches me about life and learning how to get along well with others, to compromise, to live in harmony and peace and balance. That’s the stuff that art gives me and I want it to continue to. 

To see the full interview with Sullivan Fortner, please go here.

All photos of Sullivan Fortner: ©Sabrina Santiago/Courtesy Artwork Records

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CABARET

Two shows stood out for us this year. The first was Kim David Smith’s Mostly Marlene which we saw at Joe’s Pub in New York City. His gender-bending tribute to Marlene Dietrich was massively entertaining. This performance has apparently been recorded and will be released next year. Check it out. He’s got a great voice.

The other show was Eleri Ward‘s concert – also at Joe’s Pub. Her lo-fi renditions of Stephen Sondheim‘s songs seemed like just the tonic we needed during the pandemic when she first started posting videos filmed in her apartment. Ward ultimately received a recording contract and has her second album coming out next year on Ghostlight Records. She also opened for Josh Groban on his tour this year.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

This was a year in which Duke Ellington was acknowledged as being more than a jazz musician and composer. With that acknowledgment came long overdue recognition of Billy Strayhorn. The Los Angeles Philharmonic performed two different Ellington concerts in January called Symphonic Ellington and Sacred Ellington in January (with Gerald Clayton – whose Bells on Sand was one of the year’s best jazz albums – appearing as a soloist for the first and a member of the ensemble for the latter). In December the perennial holiday classic The Nutcracker was performed. But rather than playing just Tchaikovsky’s music, the LA Phil also performed the Strayhorn/Ellington arrangements of music from the second half of the ballet.

J’Nai Bridges singing Neruda Songs by composer Peter Lieberson was also a highlight at the LA Phil. So, too, was seeing Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas performing Prokofiev’s 5th Symphony and also his own Meditations on Rilke was a great way to have begun 2022.

Composer Osvaldo Golijov‘s Falling Out of Time had a COVID-delayed LA debut when this staggeringly powerful work was performed at the Wallis in Beverly Hills.

JAZZ

Easily topping our list this year are Cécile McLorin Salvant’s concerts at Blue Note in New York City. We saw two shows and had we had the time and the ability we would have seen them all. Salvant performed music by Handel, original songs, a song from Gypsy and more. It was a truly memorable show. Her most recent album, Ghost Song, is one of the year’s best.

A close second were the two shows we saw Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap perform. We first saw this remarkable pair at Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood. We caught a second show at the Oasis Music Festival in Palm Springs.

Terence Blanchard at the Ford Theatre and Wynton Marsalis performing All Rise at the Hollywood Bowl also easily make our list.

MUSICALS

You might quibble with us about one of these, but here goes:

Our favorite musical of the year was the Tony Award-winning musical A Strange Loop at the Lyceum Theatre in New York City. Bold, adventurous, thought-provoking and moving, this is everything a musical should be – at least to us. The show is still running but only until January 15th. We strongly recommend seeing it. For tickets and more information, please go here.

The revival of Little Shop of Horrors was absolutely delightful. Two hours of entertainment that makes you forget about everything else going on in the world. When we saw the show Lena Hall was playing “Audrey” and Rob McClure was “Seymour.” Hall is still in the show and her new Seymour is Tony Award-winner Matt Doyle. The show has an open-ended run. For tickets and more information, please go here.

Into the Woods, which began its life at New York City Center’s Encores series, was pure pleasure from the first note to the last. If you are or will be in New York, you can still catch it at the St. James Theatre until January 8th. A US tour begins in February. For tickets and more information, please go here.

David Byrne’s American Utopia doesn’t quite qualify as a musical per se, but it was another utterly enjoyable show. We also saw Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story at the Hollywood Bowl with live orchestral accompaniment by the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. That performance made Spielberg’s under-seen film even more powerful than when we first saw it in theaters.

OPERA

For the first time we finally saw a production at the Metropolitan Opera. Ariadne auf Naxos is not necessarily our favorite opera, but soprano Lise Davidsen’s powerfully strong voice could probably be heard in the lobby of the Met even with the doors closed. It was a staggering performance we will not soon forget.

Countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński gave an incredible recital at Broad Stage in Santa Monica. It was our first time seeing him and we can’t wait for the opportunity to see Orliński in an opera production. We also have to give him special mention for his patience. Someone’s cell phone alarm went off and either the owner was oblivious to the noise or didn’t care. Orliński stopped the show, sat downstage and said he’d wait it out.

Getting the opportunity to revisit the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Tristan Project late this year was a treat. We had experienced it when it first happened and its return was more than welcome (and perhaps a bit overdue). This collaboration with Bill Viola, Peter Sellars and the LA Phil remains breathtaking.

Kevin Puts and Greg Pierce turned Michael Cunningham’s novel The Hours into a mesmerizing and emotional new opera. Written for Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato and Kelli O’Hara, this is an opera we experienced through the Met Live in HD simulcast.

Intimate Apparel by composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Lynn Nottage was absolutely first-rate at Lincoln Center. Nottage did a wonderful job adapted her own play for this opera. Gordon wrote a stunning score. The end result is an opera that is equally as powerful as the play.

PLAYS

We’ve always loved Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman. But until the new Broadway revival, we never had such a visceral and emotional response to Willy Loman’s story. That’s largely attributable to the impeccable performances of the entire cast including Wendell Pierce, Sharon D. Clarke, McKinley Belcher III, Khris Davis and André De Shields. By now you know this is a Black Loman family. That gave Miller’s piece an added resonance that no doubt contributed to the tears streaming down our faces. The use of music was brilliant. The show is still running at the Hudson Theatre in New York through January 15th. For tickets and more information, please go here.

Perhaps nothing moved us as much as the last 15 minutes of the first half of Matthew López’s The Inheritance at the Geffen Playhouse. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. If the second part of this mammoth work doesn’t end up resonating as strongly as the first, it was still a powerful day in the theater (It’s nearly 7 hours long).

Watching Holland Taylor as the late Ann Richards (former Texas governor) at the Pasadena Playhouse was an opportunity to watch a master class in acting.

That’s our complete list of the Best of 2022! What will inspire and move us in 2023? Come back to find out and to meet the artists, creators, performers and more who make it happen.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Photo: Cécile McLorin Salvant at Blue Note New York (Photo by Craig L. Byrd)

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#1: The Return of Live Performances

There isn’t any one show that could top the fact that we were able to finally return to the glorious experience of live performance in theaters, concert halls, outdoor venues and more. As great as streaming programming, it could never replace the centuries old practice of communal celebration of life through plays, musicals, concerts and dance.

Yes there were new rules to get accustomed to. Some required masks, others didn’t. Proof of vaccination became required (and that’s a good thing in my book). The first time I returned to a theatre and found my seats was the best possible therapy for my soul. If you read Cultural Attaché I’m sure you feel the same way.

#2: Fire Shut Up In My Bones – Metropolitan Opera

While I wasn’t able to see Terence Blanchard‘s powerful and moving opera in person, I did take advantage of the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series to see a live transmission from New York. Blanchard and librettist Kasi Lemmons have taken the memoir by Charles M. Blow and created an opera that is going to be performed around the world.

So rich is the storytelling, so brilliantly was the production directed by James Robinson and Camille A. Brown (who also choreographed), so spectacular was the singing, Fire Shut Up In My Bones was easily the single most impressive performance of the year.

Hopefully the Met will add additional showings of Fire Shut Up In My Bones via their Live in HD series or make it available for streaming online.

The opera will be performed at Lyric Opera of Chicago beginning on March 24th of this year. For more details and to get tickets, please go here.

#3: Caroline, or Change – Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54

I’ve been a fan of this Jeanine Tesori/Tony Kushner musical since I saw the first production (twice) in New York at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in 2004. I loved the show so much I saw it a third time when it came to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles later the same year.

Color me pre-disposed to like this revival. What surprised me most was that even though this Michael Longhurst production was more lavishly produced than the original, it never lost one bit of its heart. Hugely contributing to the emotional wallop of this show was Sharon D. Clarke’s towering performance as Caroline. She’s definitely going to receive a Tony Award nomination and deserves to win for her remarkable work.

Caissie Levy, Kevin S. McAllister, Harper Miles and N’Kenge all made incredible impressions. Plus it’s always great to see Chip Zien on stage – I’ve been a fan of his since Into the Woods.

If you are in New York or going this week, you still have time to catch this amazing production before it’s last performance on January 9th. For tickets go here.

#4: Santa Fe Opera 2021 Season – Santa Fe Opera

I had never attended a production at Santa Fe Opera prior to this summer. I don’t intend to miss any seasons going forward. This is a truly magical place to see opera. This summer found a smaller line-up than in non-COVID years, but the four consecutive nights in early August were a great introduction to this wonderful tradition.

On tap this year were The Marriage of Figaro, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Benjamin Britten), the world premiere of The Lord of Cries (John Corigliano and Mark Adamo) and Eugene Onegin. My personal favorite was Britten’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s play.

Each night, however, had plenty of joys to be found: whether it was my second time seeing Anthony Roth Costanzo in a opera (the first being Ahknahten), revisiting the joys to be found in Tchaikovsky’s brooding opera, enjoying the staging of Mozart’s classic opera or experiencing the tailgating experience that is de rigueur before each performance.

I’m excited about this summer’s season as my favorite opera, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, is being performed at Santa Fe Opera for the first time.

#5: West Side Story

I was completely skeptical about what Steven Spielberg would do with one of my favorite musicals. That he had Tony Kushner working with him gave me some optimism. Try as I could to wrangle details from colleagues who were working on the film, I was completely unable to glean any information about what kind of updating and changes were being made.

When I saw the movie on opening weekend I was thrilled to discover that my concerns had all been for naught. Simply put, I think this is a vastly superior film than its Oscar-winning predecessor. I’ve always found this Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents musical emotional (let’s face it, it’s Romeo and Juliet), but seeing it so close on the heels of Sondheim’s passing probably intensified my emotional response.

Sondheim said how excited he was for audiences to see what had been done to West Side Story. I know he wasn’t a fan of the original film – feeling it was too close in presentation to the stage version – so I had my fingers crossed he was right. And he was. If you haven’t seen the film yet, do so. It’s the kind of film that must be seen on a big screen with terrific sound.

#6: Head Over Heels – Pasadena Playhouse

If you had asked me what the odds were that a jukebox musical using the songs of The Go-Go’s would be a show I would see at all, let alone twice, I would have given you huge odds against that happening. And I would have lost my shirt! What Sam Pinkleton and Jenny Koons did with this production was create the best party of the year.

Alaska 5000, Lea DeLaria, Yurel Echezarreta, Freddie, Tiffany Mann, George Salazar, Emily Skeggs and Shanice Williams put their hearts and souls into this story of family, acceptance and love. The all-female band rocked the house.

Both times I saw the show I opted for the on-stage/standing room seats and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. At the first performance Lea DeLaria made a comment during the show about my pants. For the second performance I had a better idea where to position myself to have an even better time than I did at the first performance.

This was a party I never wanted to end.

#7: desert in – Boston Lyric Opera

This streaming opera/mini-series is definitely not your parent’s opera. It is guided by its own rules as it tells the story of a unique group of strangers (or are they) who congregate at a seedy motel.

The music was composed by Michael Abels, Vijay Iyer, Nathalie Joachim, Nico Muhly, Emma O’Halloran, Ellen Reid, Wang Lu and Shelley Washington. The libretto was written by christopher oscar peña.

Appearing in desert in are mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (for whom the project was written), soprano Talise Trevigne, Tony-nominated performer Justin Vivian Bond (Kiki & Herb Alive on Broadway), actors Carlis Shane Clark, Alexander Flores, Anthony Michael Lopez, Jon Orsini, Ricco Ross and Raviv Ullman with vocal performances by tenor Neal Ferreira, Tony Award-winner Jesus Garcia (La Bohème), baritone Edward Nelson, tenor Alan Pingarrón, soprano Brianna J. Robinson, mezzo-soprano Emma Sorenson and bass-baritone Davóne Tines.

The project was directed by James Darrah who also oversaw the Close Quarters season of films from Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; directed a production of Les Enfants Terribles for Long Beach Opera (that took place in a parking lot) and, underachiever that he is, also directed The Lord of Cries at Santa Fe Opera.

You can still stream desert in. Go here for details.

#8: Cécile McLorin Salvant – The Ford

Without a new album to promote jazz vocalist Salvant took to the stage at The Ford in Los Angeles for a concert with Sullivan Fortner that was nothing short of pure joy. She and Fortner have such a musical bond that she can make up the setlist on the spot and he’s ready to dive right in to dazzle the audience. As they did on this late September evening.

The only problem with seeing Salvant perform is you can never get enough. Truly. Rare is the performer who can so thoroughly enrapture an audience with their skill the way Salvant can.

That should come as no surprise for an artist who has won three consecutive Grammy Awards for her three most recent albums. Her newest album, Ghost Songs, is being released by Nonesuch Records in March. No doubt the next Grammy Awards season will find Salvant’s latest album on their list of nominees.

#9: Billy Porter: Unprotected

Porter’s memoir was released in the fall and it is one of the most inspirational and entertaining memoirs I’ve ever read. He’s a Tony Award (Kinky Boots), Emmy Award (Pose) and Grammy Award (also Kinky Boots) winning performer. He’s also been setting the fashion world on fire with his inventive and creative looks on runways from the Academy Awards to the Met Gala in New York. Let’s just say he knows how to make an entrance.

In Unprotected Porter details the many obstacles put in his way through challenges at home to being subjected to harsh criticism from his church to casting directors who thought he was too much. Though it all he remains steadfast in his individualism and his talent. It’s a lesson we can all use. As he says in his memoir, “My art is my calling, my purpose, dare I say my ministry.” I, for one, found a lot to learn from his ministry.

Gay men and women are not the only audience for Porter’s ministry. The life lessons he endured and his response to them is precisely the nourishment our souls need today. You can also clearly hear Porter’s voice in the book. So engaging and entertaining is his book I read it in one sitting. I found it impossible to put down. I think you will, too.

#10: Ledisi Sings Nina Simone – Hollywood Bowl

Anyone who is brave enough to tackle material made famous by the incomparable Simone either has a lot of guts or a lot of talent. Ledisi proved she had both in this memorable concert at the Hollywood Bowl in July (which she performed elsewhere as well.)

Ledisi wisely chose not to emulate her idol. Instead she made each song her own while still retaining a sense of what Simone’s original recordings offered. She released a seven-track record, Ledisi Sings Nina Simone, but added more songs to her concert. It was particularly interesting to her performance of Ne Me Quitte Pas and then hear it performed by Cynthia Erivo less than a week later at the same venue. Who sang it better? Let each who saw both shows answer that question.

Runners up: Vijay Iyer’s latest album Uneasy; Veronica Swift for her album This Bitter Earth; The Band’s Visit touring production at The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood; Jason Moran solo piano performance as part of LeRoy Downs’ Just Jazz series; Springsteen on Broadway; MasterVoices’ Myths and Hymns and Cynthia Erivo singing Don’t Rain on My Parade at the Hollywood Bowl.

Here’s hoping there’s even more to see and hear in 2022. What’s on your list? Leave your choices in the comments section below.

Happy New Year!

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At the ripe old age of 25, vocalist Veronica Swift was praised by Giovanni Russonello in the New York Times for “her startling command and improbably mature delivery.” That was the year that her album Confessions was released. Her next album, This Bitter Earth, was completed in late 2019, but with the onslaught of the pandemic she decided it wasn’t the best time to release new work.

Earlier this year the album was finally released. Swift is now touring to support it with performances this week at the Newman Center in Denver on Friday, two sets at the Samueli Theater at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa on Saturday and a fourth performance at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis, California.

I discovered Swift when I first read about her shows at Segerstrom. That lead me to listen to three of her albums and I think she’s one of the finest young singers out there. One thing I admire is that she doesn’t fall into any one category. Her choice of material comes from the Great American Songbook, Broadway and bands you may never have heard of. What she does with all this material is to make each and every song completely her own.

Last week I spoke by phone with Swift about the record, her influences and the kind of songs that make her want to just sing. What follows are excerpts from that conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

In 2019, you told San Francisco Jazz that for your previous album “each song on the album could be an entry from a diary.” When This Bitter Earth was recorded what does this audio diary reveal about who you were in that time and place? 

This Bitter Earth, instead of it just being a continuation, it’s really a social commentary record. Not a political record, but it’s just a reaction to all the things that we’re experiencing in this ever-changing world. Things were coming up in the news that were just so upsetting. Rather than just taking an escapism approach, I wanted do a record that was just an artistic reaction and observation to all that. 

Given the album’s delay due to COVID, how has your relationship to these songs and the way you perform them evolved?

All of these songs are completely different now, if not not in the way we play it, but the way I approach singing them. I had no idea what we were in for. But some of the material that the record had on it, it’s kind of some weird spiritual unveiling that happened. That’s why we held off to release it because it didn’t feel right to release any music and try to forward my career at a time when everyone was suffering so much. But after that, we kind of had a little glimpse into the future hope. That’s when I released the record, and it really reflects the songs well. It’s uncanny.

We’re not out of the woods on so many of the issues that inspired This Bitter Earth. Is it tough for you to remain optimistic?

I always call myself like a pessimistic optimist, but I think that’s being a product of my generation. My generation – just look at the pop music. I mean, it’s just all very dark. It’s just been going down a dark tunnel. The music is getting so evil and like giving up; all the songs are just about detaching from any kind of reality. And I want my music to inspire something else. I don’t want to have part of that.

How important is getting younger listeners to listen to what you and other artists do as you move on to greater success with your career? 

It’s always important to listen to what’s out there. I get a lot of young singers and musicians that are always asking me, ‘What should I listen to?’ I just think there’s no answer to that. You just listen to who you like and then you figure out who they listen to, then figure out who is kind of doing that in your present contemporary time. Our job, if you’re a musician or deejay, you’re in that industry, is to listen to every possible thing out there, whether it had already been recorded years and years ago, or if it’s current.

My buddies, Cyrille (Aimeé) Cécile (McLorin Salvant), we all talk about how it’s amazing how different we all are, and we have completely different stories and tales to tell and a purpose. Between us there’s like so much history in there, but also like completely current. We definitely belong in this time period doing what we do. 

The album ends with Sing, a song written and recorded by The Dresden Dolls 15 years ago. It’s a great recording and the song feels like it could have been written six months ago.

And it could have been written forty years years ago. I mean, that’s the beautiful thing about great music. The best music to me is timeless and ageless, especially with musicians that are inspired by music of different times. And that’s what I loved about that band. They were, you know, kind of like a mix between like hardcore punk mixed with like some 1930s old like Berlin cabaret and theater and this and that and jazz. There’s everything. But if you can make that a sound that is completely uniquely yours and write music also with this – this is like everything to me. A song that can transcend time. Like many of the great standards can. Many, not all. Many.

You spent four years performing as Frank ‘n’ Furter in The Rocky Horror Show in college. You’ve also stated a desire to play John Adams in a production of the musical 1776. How much does theater influence your performance style?

I can only hope to perform my fullest self for the audience. I don’t want to hold anything back. And for me, performance art and theater doesn’t have to mean you sacrifice a musical and artistic integrity of your musicianship or the lyric content. For me both enhance each other. It’s my dream to have props on stage and have the musicians be the characters – whatever the show we’re doing. Musical theater is always a huge part of my background. Whether you’re a musician or a writer everything comes down to story and narrative. And that’s why I like to call myself a storyteller more than a singer or a musician.

All photos by Matt Baker (Courtesy UnlimitedMyles)

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Last August the Los Angeles Philharmonic launched a series of filmed performances from the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Those who lived in the greater Los Angeles area were the only ones who could see In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Now everyone can as the series begins its run on PBS stations around the country.

Each concert is themed and contains multiple performances from the past few years. The artists who appear include Kristin Chenoweth, Misty Copeland, Herbie Hancock, Natalia Lafourcade, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Katy Perry, Pink Martini, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Carlos Santana, Kamasi Washington and John Williams. Music by Beethoven, Copland, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky are amongst the works performed.

As you can see, a multitude of genres are represented in the six one-hour episodes.

Most shows are scheduled for 9:00 PM in each time zone except as noted below. Best to check your local listings to confirm when your local PBS station is broadcasting In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

I’ve seen all six shows and strongly recommend them.

Here’s the full line-up for In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl (please note that schedules are subject to change):

Hecho en Mexico – January 22nd

Dudamel leads the LA Phil with special guests acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela (if you’ve never seen them, wait until you get a look at them in this show), singer/songwriter Natalia Lafourcade. Cumbia sonidera group Los Angeles Azures performs with YOLA (Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles) and multi-genre band La Santa Cecilia performs. Dudamel also leads the orchestra in a performance of Arturo Marquez’s El Nereidas de Dimas.

Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl – January 29th

You can’t ask for a better line-up of jazz artists for this concert: singer Dianne Reeves, singer/songwriter Ivan Lins, bassist Christian McBride, pianist Chucho Valdés, singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, saxophonist/composer Kamasi Washington plus the group Mega Nova which features keyboardist/composer Herbie Hancock, singer/guitarist Carlos Santana and saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

Musicals and the Movies – January 29th – 10:00 PM

It appears you have to have won a Tony Award to make it in this show. Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown) performs with Kevin Stites and the LA Phil. Audra McDonald(you know she has six Tony Awards, right?) performs with Bramwell Tovey and the LA Phil. Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate) performs with Dudamel and the LA Phil. Sutton Foster (Anything Goes, Violet) also performs.

Gustavo and Friends – February 5th

Dudamel’s friends here include ballet dancer Misty Copeland, cellist Pablo Ferrández, soprano Amanda Majeski, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Issachah Savage, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

On the program are excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and the finale to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Fireworks! – February 5th – 10:00 PM

Every Hollywood Bowl season ends with the Fireworks Finale. So it’s appropriate that Katy Perry joins this episode to sing her hit song, Fireworks. Additional performers in this episode include Pink Martini, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, gypsy singer Diego El Cigala, conductor Thomas Wilkins and Dudamel leading the LA Phil in selections from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.

Lest you think the LA Phil forgot about its most popular series of concerts each summer, composer/conductor John Williams leads the orchestra in a performance of music from Star Wars. Get out your lightsabers.

Música Sin Fronteras (“Music Without Borders”) – February 12th

Dudamel leads the LA Phil and special guests Columbian singer/songwriter Carlos Vives, the band Café Tacvba from Mexico and the legendary Vin Scully. Also on the bill is Paolo Bortolameolli leading the LA Phil in a performance with Florida’s Siudy Garrido Flamenco Dance Theatre.

Photo: Herbie Hancock at the Hollywood Bowl (Photo courtesy Dustin Downing and PBS)

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Though this clip isn’t from that concert, it showcases how thoughtful, graceful and beautiful his work as an accompanist is.

In a 2019 article about Fortner in Downbeat Magazine, Salvant said of his playing, “It felt like he was almost saying the words with me and making them ring or sparkle. It felt wonderful.” 

He’s just as good when he’s on his own. As he is in this performance of Billy Strayhorn’s Passion Flower.

Fortner’s most recent solo album was 2018’s Moments Preserved. Earlier this year he released Tea for Two which finds him performing with vibraphonist Kyle Athade.

I could throw all kinds of details about Fortner, his background, positive reviews and awards he’s received, but it ultimately comes down to the music. Take a look and listen to three very different performances.

If that doesn’t intrigue you and convince you, I don’t know what will. I know what I’m doing at 5:00 PM in Los Angeles. If you love jazz, particularly jazz piano, I know what you should be doing, too.

Tickest for Sullivan Fortner are $10. They can be purchased here.

Photo: Sullivan Fortner (Courtesy his website)

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Thankfully it appears we will have an even larger number of ways to enjoy culture at home in the weeks and months ahead. This weekend’s best bets include a virtual version of the annual Monterey Jazz Festival, a live-streamed musical from England, a dystopian virtual reality live musical, a concert with two stars of opera and stage and so much more.

Here are your Best Bets at Home: September 25th – September 27th:

From The Ford with Lula Washington Dance Theatre – Now

Cultural Attaché made a big deal about the cancellation of this summer’s Hollywood Bowl season. Lost in the shuffle was the cancellation of the season at The Ford Theatre as well. Much like their colleagues on the other side of the Cahuenga Pass in Los Angeles, they have been presenting some programming on line.

While much of it isn’t programming that we would naturally cover – which does not reflect on its quality at all – this week’s program is a perfect fit.

Los Angeles-based Lula Washington Dance Theatre performed at The Ford in 2018. That performance became available Thursday on The Ford’s Facebook and YouTube pages. The performance (and, in fact, all of the performances they began streaming in August) are available for viewing.

Earlier this year I interviewed Lula Washington as they celebrated their 40th anniversary. You can read that interview here and get more information about this wonderful company.

Monterey Jazz Festival – September 25th – September 27th

Every day this weekend the Monterey Jazz Festival is streaming two-hours of performances by jazz legends. There will be a mix of archived and new performances. The streaming begins each day at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT on the festival’s YouTube channel.

The line-up is as follows (and when I last checked there was still a notice that more performances might be added):

Friday, September 25th: Dianne Reeves, Roy Hargrove & RH Factor, Christian Sands (the 2020 and 2021 Monterey Jazz Festival Artist-in-Residence), Terri Lyne Carrington – Mosaic Project, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Directed by Gerald Clayton, Christian McBride & Inside Straight, Jamie Cullum and Herbie Hancock.

Saturday, September 26th: Regina Carter, Next Generation Women in Jazz Combo Directed by Katie Thiroux, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Directed by Gerald Clayton, Davina and the Vagabonds, Clint Eastwood in conversation with Tim Jackson, Eastwood at Monterey with Diana Krall & Kenny Barron Trio, Berklee Institute of Jazz & Gender Justice Quintet, Our Native Daughters featuring Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell and a Tribute to Dave Brubeck with Cannery Row Suite featuring Kurt Elling & Roberta Gambarini.

Sunday, September 27th: Sonny Rollins Tribute featuring Jimmy Heath, Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, and Joshua Redman, Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, Anat Cohen Tentet, Angela Davis in conversation with Terri Lyne Carrington, Gerald Clayton Quartet, Cooking Demonstration with Lila Downs from her home in Oaxaca, 2012 Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour with musical director Christian McBride and Dee Dee Bridgewater on vocals, 2018 Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour with musical director Christian Sands and Cécile McLorin Salvant on vocals and a Tribute to Quincy Jones, “The A&M Years”, featuring Hubert Laws and Valerie Simpson.

There is no charge to watch these programs. Donations are encouraged and will go to the artists performing, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

Just Like Us – Latino Theater Company – September 25th – October 4th

Los Angeles-based Latino Theater Company continues presenting both archived films of previous productions and readings of new works with a sneak peek of Karen Zacarías’s Just Like Us.

The play depicts the lives for four teenage Latinas. Two girls are undocumented and two are not. As the realities of their separate immigration situations begin to reflect what each girl may or may not be able to accomplish, their friendships get tested.

Zacarías based her play on Helen Thorpe’s best-selling book of the same name. Zacarías (Native Gardens) uses a documentary-style approach to this play.

The cast includes Richard Azurdia, Natalie Camunas, Michelle Castillo, Alicia Coca, Peter Mendoza, Elyse Mirto, Lys Perez, Geoffrey Rivas, Lucy Rodriguez, Kenia Romero and Alexis Santiago. Just Like Us is directed by Fidel Gomez.

While you are at the LATC website (where you can access Just Like Us), you might also notice that Nancy Ma’s Home will be available for viewing. Ma performed her one-person show at LATC last year. The play illuminates Ma’s struggle to accept her own identity when she finds herself torn between her immigrant family’s Chinese Toisan background and her new-found American home.

Miranda: A Steampunk VR Experience – Now – September 26th

In 2013 the first production of Kamala Sankaram’s steampunk opera took place. Seven years later, a new version that takes the work and brings it into the virtual reality world, co-created by Tri-Cities Opera and co-presented by Opera Omaha, is available for free (with advance registration).

Miranda tells the story of three suspects who are on trial for the murder of a wealthy woman. Each of the three defendants will have to testify in order to exonerate themselves. You, the audience, will serve as judge and jury. The entire story takes place in a dystopian feature that appears to be a radical version of our present-day world with steampunk influences.

The performance happens live in real time. Each performer is kept separated in their own motion capture cubicles. Utilizing motion capture gear (think Andy Serkis in the Planet of the Apes remakes) their movement and performances are captured a brought into the 3D virtual environment.

There are three performances each day. The website lays out the various ways you can experience Miranda (you don’t have to have VR gear to do so.)

I honestly don’t know how good this will be, but it is certainly a unique way to bring the performing arts to audiences during the pandemic. The sheer bravado of doing a project this way makes it worthy of inclusion.  

Dances at a Gathering – The Royal Ballet – September 25th – October 24th

Jerome Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering was first performed in 1969 by the New York City Ballet. The hour-long work is set to the music of composer Frédéric Chopin.

The Royal Ballet brought the ballet back onto their stages during the 2019-2020 season. It marked the return of this particular Robbins work after an absence of eleven years.

Dances at a Gathering features five couples. The company for this performance includes Luca Acri, Federico Bonelli, William Bracewell, Alexander Campbell, Francesca Hayward, Fumi Kaneko, Laura Morera, Yasmine Naghdi, Marianela Nuñez and Valentino Zucchetti.

Robbins was a five-time Tony Award winner and a two-time Academy Award winner. He’s best known for West Side Story.

The Royal Ballet is charging £3 to view the ballet. That’s just under $4.

Romantics Anonymous – The Wallis – September 26th – 4:00 PM EDT/1:00 PM PDT

For the past few years Emma Rice and Kneehigh have brought their innovative productions of The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk and Brief Encounter to the stage at The Wallis in Beverly Hills.

This year Rice was scheduled to return to the United States with a tour of The Wise Children, Bristol Old Vic and Plush Theatricals Production of the musical Romantics Anonymous, but that was not to be.

Romantics Anonymous is based on the 2010 film Les Émotifs Anonymes. It tells the story of two people who make chocolate and are navigating their way through the world in very different ways. Angélique, who pours her heart and soul into her chocolates, is part of a support group helping her get a better grip on her life. Jean-René listens to self-help tapes while trying to keep his floundering chocolate factory afloat. They are both very emotional people and, of course, fall in love.

The musical was written by Michael Kooman (music) and Christopher Dimond (lyrics). Rice wrote the book.

Lyn Gardner, writing for The Guardian, said of the show, “Romantics Anonymous is a multifaceted gem, chock-full of love, generosity and joy…”

Ever resourceful, Rice and the entire team have taken a unique approach to making their show available. The entire cast and crew have been in quarantine and will be performing the show live at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre on Saturday. The Wallis is one of six companies to host the United States performance.

Romantics Anonymous stars Marc Antolin, Carly Bawden, Me’sha Bryan, Philip Cox, Omari Douglas, Harry Hepple, Sandra Marvin, Laura Jane Matthewson and Gareth Snook.

The cost to watch the show is £21 which is just under $27 (as of the exchange rate on 9/24 when this was written). Romantics Anonymous will only be streamed live on this one date. There will be, however, an audio described version and a closed caption version available on Monday, September 28th at 11:00 AM and 11:30 AM respectively.

A Time to Sing: An Evening with Renée Fleming and Vanessa Williams – The Kennedy Center – September 26th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Opera singer Renée Fleming and Tony Award-nominated actress Vanessa Williams team up for this new concert filmed at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The women will share the stage and perform songs written by Harold Arlen, Benjamin Britten, Antonín Dvořák, Joni Mitchell, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Stephen Sondheim, Sting and more. There will also be the world premiere of Diva by Andrew Lippa.

Tickets to watch the concert are $15 and will allow access to view A Time to Sing through the rest of 2020.

Open Fist Theatre Company’s 30th Anniversary Virtual Gala – September 26th – 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT

For any theatre company to last thirty years is quite an accomplishment. Los Angeles-based Open Fist Theatre is celebrating that accomplishment with a virtual gala and online auction on Saturday night.

Joining the company during this one-hour event will be Shoshana Bean (Broadway’s Waitress), Jason Paige (For the Record shows) and Ty Taylor (lead singer of Vintage Trouble.)

Since their inception in 1990, Open Fist Theatre Company has produced multiple award-winning productions including Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage, The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved In The Former Soviet Union and DeLEARious.

There is no cost to watch the gala. Donations are, of course, encouraged. There are also VIP tickets for a virtual cocktail hour that runs in the 60 minutes prior to the gala’s start. Those tickets are $100.

Those are my choices for your Best Bets at Home: September 25th – September 27th. As usual, I have some reminders for you.

Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new series Sound/Stage launches today on their website. This week’s program is called Love in the Time of Covid and features performances by the orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel conducting. Guests include mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and actress María Valverde. Works by Peter Liberson, George Walker and Gustav Mahler will be performed.

This weekend’s Table Top Shakespeare: At Home will have performances of King John on Friday, Titus Andronicus on Saturday and Much Ado About Nothing on Sunday.

Here are this weekend’s listings from this week’s Jazz Stream:

The Nicole Glover Quartet performs live from Smalls on September 25th.

Fridays at Five from SFJAZZ streams at 2014 concert: John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme 50th Anniversary Celebration on September 25th.

The Kenny Barron Trio live at the Village Vanguard streams on September 25th and September 26th.

Ramsey Lewis performs live on September 26th.

The Marcus Strickland Trio live at Blue Note streams on September 26th.

Charles Lloyd, Zakir Hussain and Julian Lage perform live from Healdsburg Jazz Festival on September 26th.

This weekend’s operas from the Metropolitan Opera’s Puccini Week are Tosca on Friday, Turandot on Saturday and La Bohème  on Sunday.

That is a lot of options for this weekend’s Best Bets at Home: September 25th – September 27th. Continue to check back at Cultural Attaché for our weekly suggestions to satisfy your desires to see the performing arts.

Main photo: The company of Romantics Anonymous (Photo by Steve Tanner/Courtesy The Wallis)

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So here is Jazz Stream: September 15th – September 20th:

Sasha Dobson Sextet – Smalls – September 15th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT

In 2006 Nate Chinen introduced New York Times readers to singer Sasha Dobson like this:

“Spend enough time around the Lower East Side and you just might encounter a charming young singer with a taste for lilting acoustic folk-pop. She has an eminently listenable voice: sensuous but diffident, and devoid of showy pretense.”

Fourteen years later Dobson has released several albums, EPs and singles. Her most recent EP, Simple Things, was released this spring.

Joining her for this live performance from New York’s Smalls are Vito Dieterle – tenor sax; Dred Scott – piano; Neal Miner – bass; Mauro Refosco – percussion and Kenny Wollesen – drums.

Jeremy Pelt Quintet – Smalls – September 16th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT

Jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt has performed/recorded with Ravi Coltrane, Roy Hargrove, Wayne Shorter, Mingus Big Band, Cedar Walton, Gerald Wilson and many more. He’s released twenty albums so far including his latest release, The Art of Intimacy, Volume 1. It’s a beautiful album of mostly ballads, but definitely feels like the right record to listen to in troubling times.

Kevin Whitehead, in his NPR review, said of the album:

“The music’s understated, as if the trio were playing off the cuff after hours. You can hear the nuances, all the subtle shifts in the trumpet’s vocal quality. It’s clear and veiled in whispered tones whether he’s playing open horn or with a metal Harmon mute placed in the bell.”

Pelt will be performing from Smalls with Chien Chien Lu – vibraphone; Victor Gould – piano; Allan Mednard – drums and Vicente Archer – bass.

Emmet Cohen Trio – Smalls – September 17th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT

Composer and pianist Emmet Cohen was reviewed by Gary Fukushima for DownBeat as having conjured up the ghosts of Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines and Art Tatum on his album Dirty in Detroit. That’s some pretty weighty spirits for such a young pianist.

But that’s what appeals about Cohen and his playing. He has one foot in the past and the other firmly in the present.

Of course, none of this comes as a surprise if you are familiar with his Master Legacy Series. These are recordings and conversations with jazz legends.

For this live performance from Smalls, Cohen will be joined by Russell Hall on bass and Joe Saylor on drums.

Wayne Shorter Celebration Part 5 – SFJazz – September 18th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

If you’ve been reading our previews of Fridays at Five from SFJazz, you know they have streamed a series of concerts celebrating jazz legend Wayne Shorter. The four previous concerts were all 2019 performances that took place when Shorter took ill and couldn’t perform. Each one featured Shorter’s regular band (pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci and drummer Brian Blade) with a number of very special guests.

For part five of this celebration we get the man himself: Shorter on saxophone with most of his band. Terri Lyne Carrington played drums for this concert from April 30, 2017.

An all-too-brief review of Shorter’s career would have to include his 11 Grammy Awards, he pivotal role as a member of Miles Davis’ Second Great Quintet, his participation with Weather Report, his own recordings and compositions and Ben Ratliff in the New York Times called Shorter, “…probably jazz’s greatest living small-group composer and a contender for greatest living improviser…”

For those new to this column, SFJazz makes their concerts available for streaming only at 5:00 PM PDT and only on Fridays. To access the concert you have to sign up for either a one-month subscription (for all of $5 which gives you a month of access) or for a one-year subscriptions (for $60 for a year).

Bill Frisell Trio – Blue Note – September 18th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT $15

Guitarist Bill Frisell just released Valentine on Blue Note Records. To whom is this particular valentine? His long-standing trio partners Thomas Morgan on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. Though they had performed together for years, there wasn’t a real document of their work together. The album contains originals and covers and celebrates their musical partnership.

Frisell definitely falls into the jazz genre, but that doesn’t stop him from tackling songs by artists not associated with jazz. He’s recorded music written and/or performed by Madonna, Bob Dylan, Aaron Copland and many more.

This concert from Blue Note in New York costs $15. Advance registration is required.

Bill Charlap and Wynton Marsalis – Village Vanguard – September 18th – September 19th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT

You rarely find piano and trumpet paired for a concert. But if anyone can pull it off, it will be pianist Bill Charlap and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. They will perform two sets from New York’s Village Vanguard this weekend.

I’m not sure either man needs an introduction. We’ve written about Charlap before and have interviewed him about his career. You can read that interview here.

Marsalis is known, of course, not just for his musicianship and composition, but for his fierce advocacy for education. He was also the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his 1995 composition Blood on the Fields.

This should be an amazing concert. Tickets to watch either performance are $10 and should be purchased in advance.

Ehud Asherie Trio – Smalls – September 19th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT

The first time pianist/organist Ehud Asherie performed at Smalls he was a teenager. He’s come quite away since those halcyon days. Just ask Dan Bilawsky who reviewed Asherie’s Wild Man Blues from 2019 for JazzTimes:

“The “’ashionably old-fashioned’ label fits Ehud Asherie like a bespoke suit. A knowledgeable purveyor of everything from early Crescent City swing to Harlem stride and bop to the music of a bygone Brazil, this 39-year-old pianist might initially come off as a pure throwback. But with an overlay of wit and whimsy placed atop that vast golden-age repertoire, his status as an au courant artist is ensured. Teaming up here with the classy combination of bassist Peter Washington and drummer Rodney Green, Asherie delivers eight numbers that speak to his massive technical reserves, understanding of the continuum, gifts as an interpreter, and rightful place at the jazz piano summit.

His performance on Saturday from Smalls will include bassist Washington and Joe Farnsworth on drums.

Keyon Harrold – Blue Note – September 19th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT $15

You must be a great musician if you are called on to create the sound of Miles Davis for a film. That’s precisely what Keyon Harrold did for Don Cheadle’s film Miles Ahead. But there’s much more to Harrold than being able to perform like Davis.

Ben Ratliff of the New York Times first encountered Harrold 17 years ago. He recognized immediately how talented Harrold was during Roy Hargrove’s The Trumpet Shall Sound Festival in 2003:

“Mr. Harrold, playing in unfamiliar surroundings, aimed high and played broadly. Through a kind of post-bop classicism, he showed the desire to dominate, and played in a way that only a musician in his youth can play, and it was exciting.”

To date Harrold has appeared on almost 100 albums in in all genres of music. He’s recorded with Beyoncé, Common, Robert Glasper, Gregory Porter, D’Angelo, Maxwell and many more. Earlier this year he released the single Passages with Matt Little, Lagos and Jason McGuiness. His most recent album was 2017’s The Mugician.

No information was available of who the other musicians joining him might be. If we are able to get those details, we will update this post.

There is a fee of $15 to watch this performance. Advance purchase is recommended.

Before we wrap up Jazz Stream: September 15th – September 20th, I want to recommend an album for you.

Last Friday, Blue Note Records released the debut album by super group Artemis. The self-titled album features pianist Renee Rosnes, clarinetist Anat Cohen, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, bassist Noriko Ueda, drummer Allison Miller & vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant.

It’s a really terrific album. I strongly urge you to check it out.

That’s our Jazz Stream: September 15th – September 20th. I hope you enjoy the music and the musicians you do know and also discover new artists you might not have heard before.

Photo of Keyon Harrold courtesy of his website.

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Before we go into details, for those of you who do not live in the area, fret not. These concerts will become available in other cities around the country in 2021.

Each concert will be hosted by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and will feature performances from concerts that took place in previous seasons at the Bowl. The series includes all the genres of music you would find during a regular season.

Here’s the full line-up (please note that schedules are subject to change):

Hecho en Mexico – August 19th at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/August 21st at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

Dudamel leads the LA Phil with special guests acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, singer/songwriter Natalia Lafourcade. Cumbia sonidera group Los Angeles Azures performs with YOLA (Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles) and multi-genre band La Santa Cecilia performs. Dudamel also leads the orchestra in a performance of Arturo Marquez’s El Nereidas de Dimas.

Gustavo and Friends – August 26th at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/August 28th at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

Dudamel’s friends here include ballet dancer Misty Copeland, cellist Pablo Ferrández, soprano Amanda Majeski, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Issachach Savage, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. On the program are excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and the finale to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl – September 2nd at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/September 4th at the 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

You can’t ask for a better line-up of jazz artists for this concert: singer Dianne Reeves, singer/songwriter Ivan Lins, bassist Christian McBride, pianist Chuco Valdes, singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, saxophonist/composer Kamasi Washington plus the group Mega Nova which features keyboardist/composer Herbie Hancock, singer/guitarist Carlos Santana and saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

Musicals and the Movies – September 9th at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/September 11th at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

It appears you have to have won a Tony Award to make it in this show. Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown) performs with Kevin Stites and the LA Phil. Audra McDonald (you know she has six Tony Awards, right?) performs with Bramwell Tovey and the LA Phil. Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate) performs with Dudamel and the LA Phil.

Música Sin Fronteras (“Music Without Borders”) – September 16th at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/September 18th at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

Dudamel leads the LA Phil and special guests Columbian singer/songwriter Carlos Vives, the band Café Tacvba from Mexico and the legendary Vin Scully. Also on the bill is Paolo Bortolameolli leading the LA Phil in a performance with Florida’s Siudy Garrido Flamenco Dance Theatre.

*Fireworks! – September 23rd at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/September 25th at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

Every Hollywood Bowl season ends with the Fireworks Finale. So it’s appropriate that the last concert in this series is the Fireworks! episode. Performers here include Pink Martini, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, gypsy singer Diego El Cigala, conductor Thomas Wilkins and Dudamel leading the LA Phil in selections from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.

Lest you think the LA Phil forgot about its most popular series of concerts each summer, composer/conductor John Williams leads the orchestra in a performance of music from Star Wars. Get out your lightsabers.

Photo of the Hollywood Bowl by Adam Latham/Courtesy of KCET

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