As it was last year, Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington serve as the curators for the festival. Each show offers traditional jazz combined with artists who blur the lines of how one defines jazz.

One quick reminder if you are planning to attend, one of the parking lots adjacent to the Hollywood Bowl has been converted to exclusively ride-share drop-offs and pick-ups. So parking is a bit more challenging than you might be accustomed to. This might be a good time to explore public transportation to get to and from The Bowl.

Here’s my sampler for Saturday’s line-up:

Mulatu Astatke – “Azmari” from his 2013 album Sketches of Ethiopia

Cimafunk – Playa Noche

Andra Day – Probably

Charles Lloyd – The Ghost of Lady Day

Christian McBride – from the Torino Jazz Festival earlier this year

Here is my pre-game playlist for Sunday:

Baby Rose – KCRW Live from HQ

The Brian Blade Fellowship – Live from San Antonio

The Soul Rebels – Last year’s Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival

Cory Henry – Switch

Kamasi Washington – Asha The First

The summer truly kicks off for me with the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival. I’ll be there…hope you will, too.

The post Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival Sampler appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

My top pick is:

JAZZ: THE SKY WILL STILL BE THERE TOMORROW – Charles Lloyd – Blue Note Records

What’s better than a new Charles Lloyd record? A double album from Charles Lloyd. Adding to the gifts here is that he is joined by drummer Brian Blade, bassist Larry Grenadier and pianist Jason Moran. How wonderful that this legendary artist is gifting us this album on his 86^th birthday.

Of course, none of this would mean a thing if the music wasn’t good. It isn’t good. It’s great. In fact, this is one of Lloyd’s best albums ever. It features six new originals composed by Lloyd.

Lloyd and company have recording 15 tracks running 90 minutes that range from the moving and thoughtful The Lonely One to the joyous Monk’s Dance and the title track which makes it abundantly clear that Lloyd still has much to say both musically and compositionally. Artists half his age would love to put out an album this good.

Here are my other picks for New In Music This Week: March 15^th:

CLASSICAL: BEETHOVEN FOR THREE: SYMPHONY NO. 4 and Op. 97 “ARCHDUKE” – Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Yo Ma – Sony Classical

Chamber music fans have certainly been excited by the Beethoven For Three project from pianist Ax, violinist Kavakos and Cellist Ma. This is the third in that series which finds the trio performing Beethoven’s symphonies as arranged for just these three instruments/musicians.

The first recording featured the composer’s 2^nd and 5^th symphonies. The second was anchored by the 6^thsymphony. Here Beethoven’s 4^th is given more attention that it usually receives as it is considered the bastard child between the groundbreaking 3^rd symphony and the enduringly popular 5^th. 

The end result makes a persuasive argument that there is a lot more meet on this symphony’s bones that one imagined. By stripping away all the other instruments, the compositional structure shines through in ways that are surprising and surprisingly faithful to the original composition. The performances are, as one would expect from this trio, superb.

The Archduke is Beethoven’s Piano Trio No 7 in B-Flat Major.

CLASSICAL: THE OVERLOOK HOTEL – Paul Moravec/Boston Modern Orchestra Project/Gil Rose – BMOP/sound

It is embarrassing to admit that I’ve not heard composer Moravec’s music prior to listening to this album. I can assure you within minutes of hearing his Suite from The Shining (opera) that I lined up much more to explore. Plus, I can’t wait to experience the opera. (A full recording of the opera comes out April 12^th).

This wonderful album from BMOP includes more than just a suite of music from his opera based on Stephen King’s novel. There’s also Brandenburg Gate, a chamber orchestra composition; Scorpio Dances which is ballet music and Serenade written in tribute to the architecture and art that surrounds the New York State Capitol Building.

When I chose what other recordings to listen to of Moravec’s work I immediately gravitated to The Blizzard Voices and Northern Lights Electric which are both recordings by BMOP and Gil Rose.

CLASSICAL: TCHAIKOVSKY ORCHESTRAL WORKS Vol. 2 – BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Alpesh Cahuhan – Chandos

If you like the work of Russian composer Tchaikovsky, but want to hear something less commonly recorded, this new album from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is just the ticket.

The most widely performed piece on this recording is Capriccio Italien. Opera afficionados might know the Introduction to The queen of Spades. The rest of the program includes Fatum, Dances from The Oprichinik, music from Hamlet and three pieces from The Snow Maiden.

This is a great album that allows for a sense of discovery with a composer about whom we thought we knew it all. All of Tchaikovsky’s signature sounds are here:  big, sweeping themes, emotional themes and unforgettable music.

JAZZ: BIG GEORGE – One For All with George Coleman – Smoke Sessions

Tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, trombonist Steve Davis; drummer Joe Farnsworth, pianist David Hazeltine, trumpeter Jim Rotondi and bassist John Webber are the musicians who make up One For All. They are also the composers of most of the tracks on this album that celebrates saxophonist George Coleman and finds him joining for the three songs in the middle of this terrific album.

Big George also celebrates other jazz giants who are still active today (see our top pick for a jazz giant who is still making terrific music).

The various members of One For All wrote most of the songs on this album. Appropriately one of those originals is Oscar Winner by Rotondi. A week late for the Oscars but a fun song that gives Coleman plenty of room to shine.

JAZZ: POWER TO THE PEOPLE – Joe Henderson – Craft Recordings/Jazz Dispensary

This 1969 album from composer/saxophonist Henderson has long been considered a classic. He was joined on this album by Ron Carter on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Herbie Hancock on piano and Mike Lawrence on trumpet for two songs.

This album may be best known for introducing the world to Henderson’s composition Black Narcissus. Henderson wrote five of the tracks on this album. Ron Carter’s Opus One-Point-Five and the Jerome Moross/John Treville Latouche song Lazy Afternoon are the other songs heard on this album. His take on Lazy Afternoon is amazing.

This is both a high-end vinyl re-release and the record is also available in remastered form on streaming platforms.

JAZZ: HEARTLAND RADIO – Remy Le Boeuf – SoundSport Records

If you’re looking for a straightforward jazz album, Heartland Radio is probably not for you. Not that it doesn’t have that, but it also has music that sounds like it came off the dance floor, an R&B festival and elements of being performed at Coachcella.

All of which is to say this is an album that showcases the many ways in which a large ensemble can be presented and recorded. Composer/saxophonist Le Boeuf says in press notes that this album is like the soundtrack to a road trip. What a diverse soundtrack it is!

He mentions influences including Bon Iver, Clean Bandit, D’Angelo, Al Green, and Thom Yorke. The title track, which opens the album, made me wonder if this album was for me. But patience rewards and Heartland Radiodoes as well. It all comes together in a satisfying stew or influences and genres that would make any road trip or any 45 minutes (the album’s length) much more satisfying.

OPERA: DALINDA – Chor und Orchester de Berlin Operngruppe/Felix Krieger – Oehms Classics

In May of last year the Berlin Operngruppe gave the world premiere of an opera by Gaetano Donizetti. Yes, the composer of Lucia dei Lammermoor, Don Pasquale, La fille du régiment and more had an opera that hadn’t been performed before. It never got staged because the work ran afoul of Neopolitan censors.

The plot is rather complicated and would take too much space here to try to synopsize. Suffice to say that in the title character, Donizetti has found another remarkably compelling women around whom to create his opera. (Felice Romani – librettist for Bellini’s Norma and Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore wrote this libretto.)

Soprano Lidia Fridman sings the title role and is joined by bass-baritone Paolo Bordogna and tenor Luciano Ganci.

This is an important and fascinating discovery and if you’ve loved any of Donizetti’s other operas, I’m certain you’ll find much to enjoy here.

OPERA: WHEN NIGHT FALLS – Elīna Garanča – Deutsche Grammophon

I’m such a fan of mezzo-soprano Garanča that it almost wouldn’t matter what she chose to record. What impressed me most about this album is that she has chosen a mix of orchestral songs along with various pieces arranged for voice and piano, voice and piano and guitar and in one case, voice, piano and oboe.

Amongst the composers whose work she has recorded are Luciano Berio, Johannes Brahms, Engelbert Humperdinck, Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss and Sir Francesco Paolo Tosti. 

Not being familiar with Tosti, Sogno by the composer was a particular delight. Manuel de Falla’s Asturiana is beautiful as is Nana Criolla by José Maria Gallardo del Rey. Let’s face it, the whole album is gorgeous.  This is a well-spent hour for any opera lover.

That’s all for New In Music This Week: March 15^th.

Enjoy the music!

Enjoy the weekend!

Main Photo: From the album cover of The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow

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“Gone are the days of releasing a record with a particular band and go right on the road with the same band for months at a time, plugging that music, plugging that album, playing that music, right? I look at every tour, every gig, every musical situation I have on my calendar and I just think what would make this as enjoyable an experience as possible for the band, for me and for for the audience. What can I do to make this what it needs to be?” So says pianist/composer Gerald Clayton when discussing how to approach the upcoming release of his new album, Bells on Sand.

Before Clayton’s album is released by Blue Notes Records on April 1st, he has a few concerts lined up. On February 17th he’ll be performing at The Soraya in Northridge. On February 25th Clayton will be at the Starlight Patio and Lounge with Domo Branch in Portland. After Bells on Sand comes out he’ll be at the Johnson Theatre in Durham, New Hampshire. Clayton is also part of three all-star concerts celebrating Nat “King” Cole with the Nashville Symphony.

Clayton is an immensely talented artist who gives considerable thought to who he is artistically and the traditions from which his career was possible. We spoke last week via Zoom to talk about Bells on Sand, those artists who inspire him and whether or not he is an old soul. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

You said that Oscar Peterson’s Night Train was the first jazz album that really got its hooks into you. Peterson once said, “I don’t believe that a lot of the things that I hear on the air today are going to be played for as long a time as Coleman Hawkins records or Brahms concertos.” What are the challenges you face as a composer and a musician cutting through all the music that is available now and at the same time creating something that may last as long as a Coleman Hawkins record or a Brahms concerto?

That’s a really beautiful sentiment and fascinating to think about. One of the parts of the premise of that question is that I consider all of the music around me to cut through in the first place. Maybe the way to go about arts and making music is to to drown out all the other noise and really set your sights on that bull’s eye, on that North Star. Just serve the art, serve the music as best as you can, as honestly as you can, as diligently and thoughtfully and thoroughly as possible, and let the rest take care of itself. I think that’s generally the equation that been the modus operandi for me since I was a kid.

I think it’s natural that we all sort of aspire to leave something behind, to be so lucky as to to make music that is great and magical and wonderful enough that it even deserves to live on after we’re long gone. I think part of the allure of that is this very human desire to have your ego remain you’re gone. But to experience music and experience art that is that pure and worthy of that is really what excites me and is something that I’m inspired to try to get to. Just to even record something on the level of those artists you mentioned would be incredible.

At the same time I was first listening to Bells on Sand I was listening to Joel Ross’ new album, The Parable of the Poet and Ethan Iverson‘s new album Every Note Is True. One thing that struck me about all three albums was that there was a sense of calm that I heard in the music that I don’t think I’d been hearing in the last few years. They’re all coming out around the same time and reflect more of a coming to peace with one’s self or one’s world. Is that something that you wanted to express in this album, particularly after all that we’ve gone through as a society recently?

I think you’re probably onto something. I think there’s an affect from this wildly new time that we’re living in that is maybe hard to fully comprehend at this moment. Maybe it takes another couple of years to look back and see that all of the music coming out at this time all had this in common. Maybe it’s that sort of calm sensibility or what have you. It could also be just individual paths and journeys of all three of us. For me this record is also a reflection of where I am in comparison to the previous records I put out and feeling that it was time to include something that’s a little bit more intimate in my body of work.

This is an intimate record. What the title and narrative of the project is trying to get after is to play music without anything else. Just have a song and that sort of catharsis, that therapeutic relationship with you and the sound and how that’s just a thing that happens in a moment. And then you go on to the next moment. And if you come back to the same song it’s a new moment and the sands have shifted. To point that all back to the sensibility of calmness and and meditation feels very relevant.

If we were to take Boogablues, which opens your first album, Two-Shade, and then take Water’s Edge, which opens Bells on Sand and use them as goalposts at opposite ends of the field, what does that say to you about the journey that you’ve taken and who you are today versus who you were then?

There are different ways to to take people on a musical journey and I think that’s something I’ve had the privilege of exploring over these past 15-20 years of doing this. To see what it feels like to open the concert with a dance like Boogablues, then what comes after that? How does it feel to actually start not with the jovial sort of bouncy attitude feeling of Boogblues, but start with a little bit more of a pensive or intellectual or cerebral [composition]? Going there first and then taking them to the blues as sort of a release from that tension to end a set big or to end a set on a ballad. I like the variety of things and I definitely don’t have one way of doing things. That’s what always turns me on about art and music. I suppose it says that maybe it would be strange to start your first record, your first statement to the world on a ballad, you know? But now that I’ve got plenty of baggage that I take along with me to this next record, I think I feel the freedom to go there and to start on this energy.

Looking back on Ben Ratliff‘s New York Times review of the first night of your first stand at the Village Vanguard in 2010 he said, “Perhaps because he inherited* so much aesthetic knowledge, Mr. Clayton seems from a different era.” Do you feel like your are from a different era or are an old soul?

I think there’s something about being a 1984 baby that maybe our generational purpose is one of connecting past to future. That we are the last of that soulful generation that remembers being social before the internet. So yeah, there are values and lessons from the before times that are really near and dear to my heart that I think are actually really important. 

I think there are plenty of other people my age and younger who feel that as well and want to be about carrying that torch forward. But there are plenty who don’t have that connection and are still amazing, creative, beautiful artists that I love to work with. So maybe compared to some of those cats I am maybe a different kind of old soul. But really I think it’s just the same as anybody else, just trying to play what what feels right and be honest about the things you think are beautiful.

Legendary drummer Billy Higgins once said. “Because the stuff that they feed kids now, they’ll have a bunch of idiots in the next millennium as far as art and culture is concerned.” I think he’s been more than proven wrong twenty-one plus years into this century. But what would you say to him if you had a chance to respond to that comment?

I won’t really say anything. I listen and I take note and I say, I hear you Maestro. I’m really lucky to to work with Charles Lloyd who had that very deep connection with Billy Higgins. He talks about Billy a lot. Hearing him talk about life and music, the things that are and the things that aren’t, I love that. Just soaking that up and really ruminating on it and and making sense of it for yourself. I think that’s one of the gifts of this music is that community and the voice of the elders. I think part of the responsibility of my generation, and really probably anybody’s generation, is to take those lessons that those elders have to say and make sense of them for yourself and bring them forward and try to do do them justice and consider them as you move forward.

Without getting too cynical there’s a lot about this time we live in that feels a bit like smoke and mirrors. That the focus has maybe shifted. It’s not necessarily about the quality, maybe it’s more about the quantity. Without being too judgmental or critical a lot of this stuff is not that great. So I guess what happens as a result of that might be speaking to what Maestro Higgins was talking about. You create a whole audience of viewers and listeners that don’t have that same bar of expectation of what something could be or should be or needs to be for it to be considered good. I hear him on that. I also agree with you that there is something about this about music and about art that is much bigger than the dialects of the language. It is human creativity and this actual need for people to express their joys and their sorrows in a creative way. That never dies.

*Gerald Clayton is the son of jazz musician/composer John Clayton and nephew of the late jazz musician Jeff Clayton.

Photo: Gerald Clayton (Photo by Ogata/Courtesy Blue Note Records)

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What makes it so interesting? Imagine combining the amazing jazz music of legendary saxophonist Charles Lloyd with the piano stylings of the endlessly creative Jason Moran. Okay, maybe that’s not unique on its own. After all, they did release Hagar’s Song in 2013.

Now combine their brilliance with Alonzo King LINES Ballet and you have the main attraction on Saturday’s program, Azoth. Lloyd and Moran composed the music, performed and recorded it for this work by King which had its world premiere in 2019.

The title is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “mercury regarded by alchemists as the first principle of metals.” King takes the concept of transforming metals into creating spiritual gold by transforming hearts and minds.

Also on the bill at Segerstrom are works from their repertoire that feature music by Gabriel Fauré, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer. This is a precursor to their 40th anniversary celebrations which begin next year.

I’m personally an enormous fan of both Lloyd and Moran’s work that seeing dancers move to it will certainly be the highlight of my weekend.

By the way, if you are a fan of Jason Moran and live in the Southern California area, he has an intimate show on Monday, September 13th at 2220 Arts & Archives (formerly the Bootleg Theater). The show is presented by Just Jazz Presents and LeRoy Downs. For tickets please go here.

On October 1st, Alonzo King LINES Ballet will perform at the San Francisco Symphony’s Re-Opening Night Gala. They will be performing Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia Suite. Also on the program are works by John Adams, Silvestre Revueltas and songs performed by Esperanza Spalding that were written by Wayne Shorter. Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the orchestra. This concert will also be performed on October 2nd.

For tickets at Segerstrom Hall please go here. For tickets to Re-Opening Night Gala at San Francisco Symphony, please go here. For tickets to San Francisco Symphony’s October 2nd performance, please go here.

To attend any of these events, including Moran’s solo piano show, you must show proof of vaccination.

Update: This post has been updated to more accurately reflect the COVID vaccination requirements at all three venues.

Photo: James Gowan of Alonzo King LINES Ballet (Photo by RJ Muna/Courtesy Alonzo King Lines Ballet)

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We spoke on December 15th as 2020 was nearing its end; the Covid crisis was escalating instead of diminishing; a new president had been elected and three weeks before the turmoil that shocked the world on January 6th.

Last week we got an update on CAP UCLA’s remaining events in their 2020-2021 season when it was announced on January 15th that all previously scheduled live events for this season had been cancelled. Not a surprise after what Edmunds told me.

What follows are excerpts from that conversation which have been edited for length and clarity.

When we spoke in March you said that it was important on an emotional and structural level to have a future time you can work towards. How have you managed the constantly shifting realities of the pandemic and how that impacts your ability to put a schedule together?

You know what I did at the beginning, I think you fall forward towards your biggest values. It clarifies things, at least for me. I had to pull my mind towards what is it we can do. What is my top priority? I decided early on to start initiating commissions, as in micro-commissions, commission with a small “c,” to as many different artists as we could to manifest different kinds of work.

What are you seeing as the cultural response, particularly in the creation of new material, to this past year?

There’s a lot of pretty deep soul searching. What is the work that feels the most necessary? Not necessarily my next idea, but what do I have to offer into this dialogue now where this economy is profoundly altered. I think many of them – and it depends on the art form – what are the stories that need to be told that help the public find a way back together. They are composing and making and thinking. You watch artists really authentically try to invent how they can contribute their artistry in a different way, which is revealing their humanity in a different way. There’s been a lot of really remarkable results.

Our biggest concern is how we put our bodies back together and try to hold a stage in a meaningful way. An audience is going to be ready to see us at top speed. It will take us a while to get there.

Over the past four years we’ve had an administration in place that essentially actively tried to defund the arts. With the Biden administration how do you expect the dialogue between government and the performing arts to change?

I think we’ll have some ears on that this time around. One of the biggest pieces that will fall forward in this is how do we now work on creating a national cultural policy. How do we look at the roll government does – and can – play in how artists are at the table for social and cultural belonging? We play a pretty substantial role in the grief of a nation coming back together in a much more compassionate way. That cultural policy and how we are valued for what we generate into a national and global community matters.

Our activity accrues benefits to society adjacent to us. Meaning, we seek money to sustain our practices. What we spend it on, and what our activities generate, benefits businesses peripherally and interdependent on us. The more we are put back into activation with a baseline support for that activation, it helps a recovery where adjacent interlocking things benefit along with us.

Can and will the arts fully recover from the pandemic? If so, what will it take?

In the health department updates I get, it will likely be unevenly distributed based on what part of the country we live in. It’s pretty clear that most of us, larger venues or anything with 200 or more people, are being strongly encouraged to look at early 2022 as to when we’ll probably have some more mobility of gathering to some scale. That’s a long time. Ticket revenues make up 50-75% of most organizations’ annual budget. That is eviscerated and will continue to be. The economic fallout will be much larger and longer. It’s probably an additional three years before you see something rebound.

When you look back on 2020, what were the best things to come out of the pandemic?

One of the best things was the way in which colleagues and organizations across the spectrum – from small tiny community cultural spaces up to the grand halls – we started sharing ideas, problem-solving, working on contract language, connections. You’re always reasonably pivoted within your profession and your eco-system to collaborate in service to one another in the big picture. How can we keep a cultural framework functioning? How can we keep each other persisting? How can we help each other overcome denial? How can we share strategies? A lot of those things were a really remarkable piece of it.

You told KCET during the Tune-In Festival that one thing that was important about the festival was to “ignite the public to stay strong and feel inspired.” How have you ignited yourself to do the same thing?

For me it’s about continuing to be in lockstep with what artists are doing. I can have a conversation with an artist, who is as profoundly distraught as I might be, but in that conversation we are able to reignite one another, to keep trying, to find a form, to change what that might be and keep trying.

I was talking to a dancer and she said live performance isn’t happening right now, but the dance is still alive. Artists are going “How do we keep collaborating and work with each other?” Artists are finding these places where somehow the glue in the cracks is a kind of kindness and compassion and a willingness to manifest some form of connection. That is ultimately what is going to be what the tail end of this is. We’ve been able to stand in solidarity with people and say we are here as part of what this is. We are able stand in front of a country that doesn’t understand our practice, but did find out that they actually missed us.

CAP UCLA’s upcoming streaming programs includes an already-running concert with saxophone legend Charles Lloyd (available through January 31st); Douglas J. Cuomo’s Seven Limbs featuring Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet (available February 12th) and Israel Galván Maestro de Barra on March 6th.

Photo of Kristy Edmunds by Lovis Ostenrick/Courtesy CAP UCLA

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So let’s get to it. Here are your Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th:

Zoot Suit – Center Theatre Group – Now – December 20th

Amongst one of the most memorable shows ever to appear at the Mark Taper Forum was Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit. Upon its premiere in1978, it was immediately hailed as a masterwork. Zoot Suit returned to the Taper in 2017 for their 50th anniversary season.

Zoot Suit tells the story of Henry Reyna, the leader of the 38th Street Gang, who gets accused of the murder of José Williams at Sleepy Lagoon. Reyna and his gang were about to fight their rivals, the Downey Gang, when the mythical El Pachuco stops it. Police nonetheless arrive and arrest Williams and his gang. This sets in motion a very magical show that uses dance, Latin music and surreal moments to reveal what happens to Reyna and how El Pachuco guides the actions and reveals certain truths.

In collaboration with Los Angeles Theatre Works, Center Theatre Group is making their radio play version of Zoot Suit available for free listening.

Marco Rodriguez plays El Pachuco, Kinan Valdez is Henry Reyna, Daniel Valdez is Enrique Reyna and Alma Martinez is Dolores Reyna.

This is a wildly imaginative and entertaining play. Well worth your time to give it a listen.

Skeleton Crew – Atlantic Theater Company – Now – October 23rd

Playwright Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew had its world premiere at New York’s Atlantic Theater in 2016. It is the third play in her Detroit Cycle and depicts one auto plant department’s work family. Everyone has challenges in their own lives that will have to be navigated if the plant closes. In the middle of this is Reggie, the manager who was once one of the workers. He has to determine whether to be loyal to his work family or maintain the discretion required of his job.

As part of their Fall Reunion Reading series, Atlantic Theater is bringing most of the original cast back: Jason Dirden as Dez, Wendell B. Franklin as Reggie, Nikiya Mathis as Shanita and Adesola Osakulumi (choreographer and performer.) New to the company is Caroline Clay who takes on the role of Fay which was originated by Lynda Gravatt. Ruben Santiago-Hudson returns to direct.

Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review of that production said, “It is, in other words, a deeply moral and deeply American play, with a loving compassion for those trapped in a system that makes sins, spiritual or societal, and self-betrayal almost inevitable.”

I saw the Geffen Playhouse production of Skeleton Crew. It’s quite a good play. This should be an excellent reading.

There is no charge to watch Skeleton Crew, but reservations are required. A donation of $25 is suggested.

Beethoven Symphony No. 7 – LA Philharmonic Sound/Stage – Starts October 23rd

In this fifth episode of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage series, Gustavo Dudamel leads the orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

Composed in 1811-1812, the symphony’s debut took place in 1813 in Vienna. There are four movements: Poco sostenuto – Vivace, Allegretto, Presto – Assai meno presto and Allegro con brio.

Dudamel and the LA Phil performed a full cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies in 2015 that earned rave reviews. Given that this work is orchestrated for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings it is perfect for a socially-distanced performance at the Hollywood Bowl.

Of course, it’s also great music.

dwb (driving while black) – Baruch College – October 23rd – October 29th

The New York premiere of Susan Kander and Roberta Gumbel’s dwb (driving while black) was meant to take place in March at Baruch Performing Arts Center. As a result of that postponement, they have created a directed-for-video performance of the work which will have its world premiere on October 23rd.

The 44-minute dwb portrays the dilemma every Black parent faces when his/her son is of age to drive. How do you both encourage him to enjoy the freedom that comes with the ability to drive while also making sure he’s fully aware of the challenges and anxiety that come with driving while Black.

Gumbel sings dwb. She is accompanied by Hannah Collins on cello and Michael Compitello on percussion. Chip Miller directed.

The work had its debut in Kansas City in 2019. The Pitch, the alternative newspaper, said of dwb, “In pinpointing and relating the terror racial biases and injustices cause, Kander and Gumbel created one of the most singularly devastating theatrical moments of the last year.”

You must register to watch the video of dwb. Baruch Students can watch for free. General admission is available and you can pay what you can to watch it.

Ravi Coltrane Quartet – Village Vanguard – October 23rd – October 24th

New York’s Village Vanguard has straightened out their streaming issues and returns with two performances by saxophonist Ravi Coltrane.

Coltrane had not even turned 2 when his father, John Coltrane, passed away. But he inherited true musical talent from both his father and his mother, Alice.

He became a bandleader and released his first album, Moving Pictures, in 1998. At this point in his career he had already worked with Geri Allen, Kenny Barron, Stanley Clarke, Steve Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Pharoah Sanders, Carlos Santana and McCoy Tyner.

For these performances he will be joined by David Virelles on piano, Dezron Douglas on bass and Jonathan Blake on drums.

Tickets are $10.

Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Is Now – American Masters on PBS – Check Local Listings

Earlier this year, and perhaps not quite as ceremoniously as planned, Michael Tilson Thomas concluded a 25-year run as the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. It was just one accomplishment in a truly amazing career. He has 11 Grammy Awards, has received a National Medal of Arts and was a Kennedy Center Honoree. Not too bad for a guy who grew up in Los Angeles and accompanied musicals while a student at USC.

American Masters on PBS will presents Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is on October 23rd. The 90-minute documentary by Susan Froemke and Kirk Simon follows his young life in Southern California to his time as a protégé of Leonard Bernstein through to his becoming one of the world’s most acclaimed conductors.

Amongst those appearing in the documentary are composer Steve Reich, architect Frank Gehry, LA Philharmonic’s CEO Chad Smith, Carnegie Hall’s Clive Gillinson and Thomas’s husband, Joshua Robison.

For me personally, Thomas was one of the most influential people discussing, creating and performing classical music as I was growing up. Watching him talk about this music instilled in me a great appreciation for it. I would turn to his many recordings on a regular basis from the classics to a live concert with Sarah Vaughan and the LA Phil – which if you haven’t heard, you must.

While scheduled for October 23rd, you should check your local listings.

Taj Mahal Quartet – SFJAZZ – October 23rd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This week’s Fridays at Five concert from SFJAZZ is one of the last concerts to take place this year before venues were required to shut down. Taj Mahal Quartet performed on February 28th, 2020 in the concert being shown.

Taj Mahal began his career in an ill-fated band called Rising Sons with Ry Cooder in 1964. When that failed to come together successfully, he recorded with a few artists before going on his own with his first album in 1968. 31 studio albums, 7 live albums and three Grammy Awards later, he is considered one of the best ambassadors for the blues. Of course, he does more than the blues. His influences range from soul music, international rhythms and so much more and all find their way into his music.

Fridays at Five requires you have either a one-month membership ($5) or a year-long membership ($60) to watch the performances.

Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio – Lobero Theatre – October 23rd – 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT

Jazz legend Charles Lloyd just keeps performing. Aren’t we lucky? For this live performance from Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre he will be joined by pianist/composer Gerald Clayton and guitarist/composer Anthony Wilson. As Lloyd says in this video, he’s trying to keep live music alive.

Tickets are $15.

State of Darkness – The Joyce Theater – October 24th – November 1st

In 1988 choreographer Molissa Fenley debuted a solo project called State of Darkness. The 35-minute seriously intense work is set to the music of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Anna Kisselgoff, writing in the New York Times in 1988, said of State of Darkness , “Molissa Fenley’s use of Stravinsky’s ‘Sacre du Printemps’ as music for a new dance solo succeeds beyond expectation. A dancer who has been unmatched on the experimental scene for her explosive, even primal, energy, Miss Fenley has found her true center here.”

For these performances, Fenley has restaged the work and will have seven different dancers performing State of Darkness. This weekend’s schedule is as follows:

Saturday, October 24th: Michael Trusnovec of Paul Taylor American Dance Company performs at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT; 2020 Juilliard graduate Jared Brown performs at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

Sunday, October 25th: Annique Roberts of Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE performs at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT; Shamel Pitts (formerly of Batsheva Dance Company) performs at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

There are three additional performances next week by Lloyd Knight of Martha Graham Dance Company, Sara Mearns of the New York City Ballet and Cassandra Trenary of American Ballet Theatre.

Tickets are $13 to watch each individual performance.

Le Nozze di Figaro – San Francisco Opera – October 24th – October 25th

Conducted by Patrick Summers; starring Phillippe Sly, Lisette Oropesa, Nadine Sierra, Luca Pisaroni, Catherine Cook  Greg Fedderly and John Easterlin. This Robin Guarino production is from the 2014-2015 season and is a revival of their 1982 production. Guarino was new to the production.

Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro is based on the 1784 play La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (translated: “The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”) by Pierre Beaumarchais. Lorenzo da Ponte wrote the libretto. La Nozze di Figaro had its world premiere in Vienna in 1786.

Figaro and Susanna are getting married. They are in a room made available to them by the Count who plans to seduce the bride-to-be based on an old law that gave permission to lords to have sex with servant girls on their wedding night. When Figaro gets wind of this plan he enlists several people to outwit the Count using disguises, altered identities and more.

Critics mostly lauded this production. Many were intrigued by a younger-than-usual cast that brought a freshness to Mozart’s oft-performed opera. Of particular interest to me is Oropesa as Susanna. She should be delightful in this performance.

Diana Damrau and Joseph Calleja – Met Stars Live in Concert – October 24th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

After some schedule changes, Met Stars Live in Concert returns this weekend with a performance by soprano Diana Damrau and tenor Joseph Calleja. Accompanied by pianist Vincenzo Scalera, they will be performing from Caserta, Italy.

The program will include three arias from Puccini’s Tosca, one from Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, one from Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, one from Rossini’s Semiramide, two from Bizet’s Carmen, Bach/Gounod’s Ave Maria and more.

Damrau made her Met Opera debut in 2005 in Ariadne auf Naxos. Since then she’s performed nearly 150 times at the Met. Calleja made his debut at the Met one year later in Rigoletto and has given almost 100 performances there.

Tickets are $20

Patti LuPone Live from the West Side – Segerstrom Center – October 24th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT – $30

Two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone is the first of three performers in Live from the West Side: Women of Broadway series. The series features intimate live-streamed performances from New York’s Shubert Virtual Studios. Songs, stories and apparently questions responded in real time are all part of the show.

LuPone, as you certainly must know, is the two-time Tony Award winner for her performances in Evita and the 2008 revival of Gypsy. She has received five other Tony nominations. She was in rehearsals to open in a new revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company when the pandemic forced the closure of Broadway.

If you watched Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood, you would have seen her as the strong-willed and risky Avis Amber.

This series will include two additional concerts: Laura Benanti (LuPone’s co-star in Gypsy and also a winner of the Tony Award) will perform on November 14th; Vanessa Williams (who appeared in the 2002 revival of Into the Woods with Benanti) performs on December 5th.

The three concerts are being held to help support 22 theaters around the country. In Southern California that venue is the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Tickets are $30 for each individual concert. A three-show package might be available depending on the venue. You will be able to stream the concert for an additional 72 hours after its completion.

Gateway to Cabaret: A Star Studded Virtual Event – The Cabaret Project of St. Louis – October 24th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Fans of musical theatre will want to catch Gateway to Cabaret from The Cabaret Project of St. Louis. Their line-up is impressive: Norm Lewis (The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess), Faith Prince (Tony winner for the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls), Brandon Victor Dixon (Shuffle Along or The Making of a Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed), Alexandra Billings (Wicked), Sidney Myer (Don’t Tell Mama), Christine Andreas (On Your Toes, Oklahoma), Tony DeSare (jazz singer), Capathia Jenkins (Caroline, Or Change), Billy Stritch (pianist/singer) and Steven Brinberg (Simply Barbra).

Tickets are $25/household.

Jeremy Denk Recital – Caramoor – October 25th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

I’ve written about Jeremy Denk before. I think he’s one of our most talent and interesting classical pianists. This program on Sunday from Caramoor in New York only proves how interesting he is. The program is scheduled to include: Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C Minor, K 457; Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins’s The Battle of Manassas; Joplin/Chauvin’s Heliotrope Bouquet; Tania León’s Ritual; Frederic Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 32 in C Minor, Op. 111.

You’ll get two classical period compositions, ragtime, the work of a young Black man during The Civil War and the work of two contemporary composers. How’s that for diverse?

Tickets are $10 for non-Caramoor members. No charge for members.

LaChanze with Seth Rudetsky – October 25th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

In 1990, LaChanze originated the role of Ti Moune in the Broadway production of Once on This Island. She was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2005 she originated the role of Celie in the original Broadway production of The Color Purple. She won the Tony Award. In 2018 she originated the role of Diva Donna in Summer. She received another Tony Award nomination. Throw in some Sondheim, Dreamgirls and being one of sixteen performers to play Fanny Brice in a concert presentation of Funny Girl and you’ve got someone with serious talent and certainly some great stories.

All of that is a good thing as she is Seth Rudetsky’s guest for this week’s concert and conversation. One more thing she can discuss: her daughter, Celia Rose Gooding, just received a Tony nomination for her performance in the musical Jagged Little Pill.

As usual, there will be an encore presentation of the show on Monday, October 26th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

Tickets for either date are $25.

That’s our official list of the Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th. We do have a few reminders:

Last week we wrote about Shakespeare Trilogy on Film from Donmar Warehouse and St. Ann’s Warehouse. The series continues this week with an all-female version of The Tempest.

Charity, the final play in The Mexican Trilogy by Evelina Fernández, is now available from Latino Theater Company. For our preview of the trilogy, please go here.

This weekend’s Table Top Shakespeare: At Home includes Coriolanus, The Merry Wives of Windsor and King Lear. To read our preview, please go here.

The Public Theater’s Forward. Together. virtual fundraiser remains available through Saturday, October 24th. This was a terrific show. You can read our preview here.

The reading of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth remains available through Saturday, October 24th. Details can be found here.

SFJAZZ members can watch Terence Blanchard’s opera in jazz, Champion, through Sunday, October 25th. Our preview has all the details. You can read it here.

Metropolitan Opera’s week of Operatic Comedies concludes with Verdi’s Falstaff on Friday, Rossini’s Le Comte Ory on Saturday and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier on Sunday. You can find our preview here.

The 1999 Broadway production of Death of a Salesman that originated at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre will be available through the weekend on Playbill. For more details, you can read our preview here.

That officially ends our Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th.

There are only 72 hours in a weekend. How can you possibly watch it all? You can’t, but wouldn’t it be great if you could?

Photo: Patti LuPone (Photo by Rahav/Courtesy Segerstrom Center)

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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 let’s get to it. Here is this week’s Jazz Stream: September 22nd – September 27th:

The Early Set with Gabrielle Stravelli – Facebook – September 23rd – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

In 2018 I profiled singer Gabrielle Stravelli. You can read my interview with her here. She’s a terrific singer with an absolute appreciation of the women vocalists who came before her. As she told me, “Ella was the person I grew up listening to and then Carmen McRae and Peggy Lee and Sarah Vaughan. I’m not ever going to be those women. Nobody can be. For me I’m not trying to be them, but to be as great as they were. That’s a joyful, beautiful thing to reach for.”

This weekly show she does is a combination of conversation and music. Any opportunity to hear her sing is one worth exploring.

Roni Ben-Hur Quartet – Smalls – September 23rd – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PM PDT

Israeli-born guitarist Roni Ben-Hur had his 2001 album, Anna’s Dance, named one of the best jazz albums of the year by the Village Voice. He has been hailed as one of the most lyrical guitarists of our time.

In 2018 he recorded an album called Introspection that found Ben-Hur collaborating with bassist Harvie S. They two will be reunited fort his performance from Smalls in New York. Also joining them will be George Cables – piano and Victor Lewis – drums.

Mark Sherman Quartet – Smalls – September 24th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PDT

Mark Sherman doesn’t play just one instrument. Rather, he plays several including vibraphone, percussion and drums. For this show at Smalls, he will be at the piano.

Sherman has been performing multiple styles of music throughout his career. He has played percussion for several Broadway shows; he has worked with singers Peggy Lee, LaVerne Butler and Maureen McGovern; he’s performed with many of the world’s best-known orchestras and conductors and then there’s the jazz.

He has performed and/or recorded with  Kenny Barron, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Wynton Marsalis and more.

Joining Sherman for this performance will be Bob Franceschini – tenor sax; David Wong – bass and Anthony Pinciotti – drums.  

Danilo Pérez Trio with Ben Street & Adam Cruz – DC JazzFest – September 24th – 8:30 PM EDT/5:30 PM PDT

If you’ve been reading Cultural Attaché for any period of time, you know we usually talk about pianist Danilo Pérez as being a member of Wayne Shorter’s band. This time we’re previewing one of his own shows from DC JazzFest.

I’ve been following Pérez’s career for years and have always loved both his playing and the diversity of the material he performs. His solo material and his trio work has always challenged and moved me.

Just as Shorter has his regular musicians, as does Pérez. He’s been touring with double-bassist Ben Street and drummer Adam Cruz for several years. They will be joining him for this performance.

Pérez has released over a dozen albums, including Secrets Are the Best Stories, a collaboration with Kurt Elling that was released earlier this year.

Nate Chinen, writing in the New York Times, called Pérez’s approach to music, “A distillation of ideas developed over roughly the last 15 years — mingling elements of classical form, jazz flexibility and Latin-American folk melody — it’s impressive for both its design and its execution, and for the strong implication that those two qualities are inextricable, even indivisible.”

Nicole Glover Quartet – Smalls – September 25th – 4:45 PM EDT/1:45 PDT

Tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover has performed with Mel Brown, Mike Clark, Kenny Garrett, Chuck Israels, Geoffrey Keezer, Bennie Maupin, Bill Stewart and Esperanza Spaulding.

She and drummer Nic Cacioppo (who joins her for this performance from Smalls) recently released an album called Literature. This record is bold and challenging. It is simply sax and drums. It’s a terrific album and portends well for Friday’s show.

Also joining them will be Davis Whitfield – piano and Daniel Duke – bass.

John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme 50th Anniversary Concert – SFJAZZ – September 25th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

One of jazz music’s most important recordings is being showcased in this week’s Fridays at Five from SFJAZZ. John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme will be celebrated by musicians Ravi Coltrane (the composer’s son and also a saxophonist), tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, pianist Geri Allen, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Ralph Peterson Jr.

A Love Supreme was recorded in 1964 and released in early 1965. This concert, therefore, dates back to December 13, 2014. It has long been considered Coltrane’s masterpiece and it also one of the most influential jazz albums ever recorded.

I haven’t seen this concert that SFJAZZ will be streaming. But A Love Supreme runs just over 33 minutes, so an hour-long concert is time enough to perform the entire album. If so, that should be a treat. I once saw Wynton Marsalis and his band perform A Love Supreme in concert and I can tell you hearing this music live is an experience not-to-be-missed.

Kenny Barron Trio – Village Vanguard – September 25th – September 26th

2010 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Kenny Barron is this week’s performer at New York’s Village Vanguard. The pianist, who was asked to join Dizzy Gillespie’s band solely on the recommendation of James Moody without Gillespie hearing him, has been making great music for over 50 years.

He’s recorded and performed with Terence Blanchard, Roy Haynes, Freddie Hubbard, Yusef Lateef, Milt Jackson, Lee Morgan, Buddy Rich, David Sanchez, Stanley Turrentine and more. He’s also recorded over 40 albums as a leader.

Giovanni Russonello, in recommending upcoming concerts in 2019, wrote in the New York Times, “At age 76, this piano eminence and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master remains an exemplar of pianistic intellect and poise.”

Joining Barron for this performance will be Kiyoshi Kitagawa – bass and Johnathan Blake – drums.

Tickets to watch this performance are $10.

Ramsey Lewis – September 26th – 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT

85-year-old jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis has retired from touring, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still performing. The Grammy Award winner and NEA Jazz Master performs the last Saturday of every month in a series he calls Saturday Salon.

I previously listed one of these salons as worthy of your attention and this weekend is no exception. The one-hour concert costs $20 to watch, but some of the proceeds from this (and each monthly performance) go to The Jazz Foundation of America. JFA supports jazz musicians and perhaps at no other time has that support been more necessary with the lack of opportunities to perform live in venues for an audience.

Marcus Strickland Trio – Blue Note – September 26th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

When musicians Dave Douglas, Roy Haynes, Christian McBride and others have needed a saxophonist for their recordings, they have called on Marcus Strickland to join them.

Strickland was named “Best New Artist” in the 2006 JazzTimes Reader’s Poll. In Critic’s Polls for DownBeat he was named the 2008 “Rising Star on Soprano Saxophone” and the 2010 “Rising Star on Tenor Saxophone.”

He’s been releasing albums since 2001’s At Last. His most recent recording was 2018’s People of the Sun. All it takes is one listen to hear immediately why Strickland has received such praise.

Joining Strickland for this performance are Ben Williams – bass and his twin-brother E.J. Strickland – drums.

Tickets to watch this concert at $15. It will also be re-streamed on September 26th at 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT.

Lloyd-Hussain-Lage Trio – Healdsburg Jazz – September 26th – 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT

The Lloyd in this trio is legendary saxophonist (and flautist) Charles Lloyd. The Hussain is tabla-master Zakir Hussain and the Lage is guitarist Julian Lage. But you had me at Lloyd.

I interviewed Charles Lloyd in 2018 when he was headlining at the Playboy Jazz Festival. You can read that interview here. Two years ago he said “It’s like my original groups, I thought I could change the world with my creativity. I was naive enough to think that.” History will ultimately decide whether or not he could change the world with his creativity, but he has certainly carved out his own unique path within jazz.

His most recent album was 8: Kindred Spirits (Live from the Lobero). The album was recorded at a concert that celebrated his 80th birthday. Lage was part of that concert. (Trivia: Lage first performed with Lloyd when he was 12 years old.)

Lloyd joins a few others in this week’s listings as being an NEA Jazz Master.

This concert will be live from Healdsburg, California. The three musicians will be playing safely together in The Paul Mahder Gallery.

There is a minimum donation of $15 required to see the concert. You can watch it live and also for 72 hours after the conclusion of the performance.

Those are my picks for Jazz Stream: September 22nd – September 27th. Enjoy the music!

Photo: Marcus Strickland (Photo by Petra Richterova/Courtesy Strickland’s website)

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As individual artists, each of these musicians is top of their field. When put together, you have fireworks.

Before becoming a bandleader, DeJohnette played with Charles Lloyd, Bill Evans, Betty Carter and Miles Davis (he was the main drummer on Bitches Brew). More recently he’s played with Jason Moran, Chick Corea and Bobby McFerrin. He was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2012.

Grammy winner Joe Lovano plays multiple instruments in addition to the saxophone. He’s played with John Scofield, Bill Frisell and collaborated regularly with the late Paul Motian.

Both DeJohnette and Lovano have played with Esperanza Spalding. She was part of Lovano’s US Five formed in 2008. She appeared on DeJohnette’s Sound Travels in 2012. But she’s best known as the first jazz artist to be named Best New Artist at the 2011 Grammy Awards. She is the first jazz artist to win that award. And she’s received three more to boot. Her most recent album was last year’s 12 Little Spells.

It only makes sense that, of course, Genovese has also recorded with her. In fact, they toured regularly beginning in 2005 and he played on her first three records. Of his third album, Seeds, Nate Chinen of the New York Times said, “it has the momentous urgency of a debut…”

A quick look shows that the Spring Quartet appears to have started playing together in 2014.

They have a brief tour that also includes stop on April 24th at Miner Auditorium in San Francisco, then the LA engagement. They will conclude their tour with stops in Boulder, Chicago, Detroit and Kalamazoo.

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A quick glance at his career reveals an artist who has played with a who’s who of jazz and blues greats:  Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry Charlie Haden, Gerald Wilson, Cannonball Adderley and more. When he started his first quartet he introduced the world to Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette. He played and toured extensively with The Beach Boys. More recently he worked with Brad Mehldau, John Abercrombie and Jason Moran.

To have a conversation with Lloyd is like the best kind of improvisation. You go wherever his thoughts take you and you have to be on your toes: the references come fast and furious. His views of the world today are equal parts fire and compassion. And his views on music come from a deeply peaceful and humble place. In other words, it’s like jazz itself. I spoke with him by phone from his home in Montecito.

You told the PBS NewsHour that “the creator will let me get just so close” to “the beautiful sound in my mind’s ear.” If you actually ever got to it, instead of just close, would there be anything left to accomplish?

It’s true. I’m a late bloomer and I keep trying to get closer to it. There is a sound that I hear in my mind’s ear, but I’ve not yet gotten there. Fortunately the creator has kept me around for a while so I can keep working on it. It’s something that kind of stays with you. I always played music because I loved it and starting as a young child, it’s always been my refuge, my all. I’m blessed to have that connection with that music and it informs me of higher thinking. If I could find that sound of all sounds, the mysticism of sound, which I’ve been striving for all my life, I’d put on the loin cloth and go back into the forest.

When one looks at your discography and the people with whom you have collaborated, it seems that putting you in a box would be a foolish exercise.

Thank you kindly. I’m just doing what I’m doing and there are these coming togethers. Many of my heroes left town at early ages. I’m still around. I have a beginner’s mind to be candid with you. I’m always striving for that freshness and that situation where, as my friend Herbie Hancock says, uncertainty becomes your ally. I’m walking this path and I’m a sound seeker and I hear things and I hear things that never were. It’s a small world, yet it’s a large world, but if you have dreams and visions and connection with the creator, something can happen that’s a blessing in the music. I keep looking for, how to say, that freshness, that kind of sweet and sour sauce I crave. I need my salsa, too. I like it picante. I love the tender ballads and I like to go on the high wire and stretch out. Before I play I tend to be a little nervous and the next thing I know they are trying to take me off the stage. The newness, that’s a great word, to be in the now is a beautiful thing.

In the press information for Vanished Gardens you are quoted saying about Lucinda Williams that she “is a reporter of the human condition, of life on planet Earth.” How does her reportage blend with your view of the human condition today?

You haven’t heard the song yet. She wrote a new song “We’ve Come Too Far To Turn Around.” It’s all in there. She talks directly and her poet nature and mysticism that comes through. How she can imbibe the human condition and report it back. She loves that we’re so loose and free with what we do and it encourages her to feel a way she’s never felt before.

Billy Higgins, your close friend and collaborator, was concerned about the future. He said “Because the stuff they feed kids now, they’ll have a bunch of idiots in the next millennium as far as art and culture is concerned.” Was he right?

Of course. He was a wise man. He was always asking the creator for it. When I look at his visitation through here, he was always bringing it and had that natural beauty. That was a great blessing in my life to be around poeple like him. I was around when giants roamed the earth. That’s a great blessing for me. When young musicians play with me, they weren’t there. You bring it and you have it. Being around hearing Coltrane hold church or Sonny Rollins take over a room or Monk with that beautiful expressive thing. I played with those guys and so many guys. Buddy Collette was a mentor to Eric Dolphy. Buddy told Mingus when he was a little boy with a cello, “if you get a bass, I’ll put you in the band.” Buddy is the spiritual father to Dolphy, myself and many others. He was the underground railroad looking after us and sending us to New York.

There’s so much turmoil going on in the world, perhaps even more so than when you went to the Soviet Union, at the request of the people, not the government, during the Cold War. What role does music play in providing both commentary and balance in a world that seems to be spinning out of control?

I think it is just healing. I don’t imagine a world without music. The human condition is something that needs some nurture and food for the soul. When I went to Russia the Cold War thing was going on, but now it’s just gotten…It’s despicable now how the behavior of the scene is and how people profit off divisiveness. It’s so blatant. The game is more subtle, but it’s also more gross. The grossness of it needs some tenderness and the music touches the heart. Hopefully we’ll have more young people waking up to the condition of the condition. I was around in the 60s when Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin were around. Bob Dylan was a friend. We were idealists. We didn’t live in a world of bifurcation or lines of demarcation. That has to do with thievery and stepping on other people. I don’t know how we got to this situation. It baffles me. I’m very upset about it.

Beethoven said “don’t only practice your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the Divine.” Do you feel that your career has raised you to the Divine?

Anyone who knows don’t say and anyone who says don’t know. I’m not going to pat myself on the back. I’m still a beginner’s mind and the further I go I realize I’m knowing less and less. But the experience of living and loving truth and love, something happens for me that puts me in a way that I have to be from time to time.  Going back to what you asked me earlier, if I ever get to that place where I can play that one sound, I think it will heal the universe. It’s like my original groups where I thought I could change the world with my creativity. I’m naïve enough to think that.

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