The title, Bad Hombre, found its inspiration in the way Donald Trump characterized people who were coming over the border from Mexico. It also found inspiration in the way ICE was handling immigrants as he discussed in our interview last year.

Migration is made up of Chase Baird (Saxophone), John Escreet (Piano), Matt Brewer (Bass) and Thana Alexa (Vocals).

Just as he did with the Birdman performances, Sanchez has a new album out while he’s on tour for the previous one. The new recording is called Lines in the Sand. Sanchez, an immigrant from Mexico, makes it clear in the liner notes what his inspiration is for the new recording.

“The United States of America is a country of immigrants. The mixture of races, creeds, languages and cultures that coexist here is what makes it great and what sets it aside from so many other wonderful countries.

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Everyone has that one record that becomes an obsession. The grooves get worn out from repeated playing. For wild Up Artistic Director Christopher Rountree, one of those albums was John Coltrane’s 1966 recording, Ascension. That album, considered to be one of the finest of the jazz saxophonist’s career and a landmark artistic accomplishment, awoke in Rountree a passion that continues to this day.

“When I heard this album I thought about it as having this pulsing energy,” says Rountree. “It has this beautiful architecture, but is totally free. I heard it as a young man and thought, ‘I want to make something like this.’”

Coltrane was a fearless musician. He constantly combined his exploration of sounds and innovative music with a deeply held spirituality. As he once said, “My music is the spiritual expression of what I am – my faith, my knowledge, my being…When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hang-ups…I want to speak to their souls.”

Rountree along with several key composers and his experimental classical ensemble wild Up, have now created a work that takes its inspiration from Coltrane’s album. of Ascension is not an attempt to recreate Coltrane’s work, but rather to inspire and elevate an audience as Coltrane described by combining a wide range of musical genres together to create wholly unique and mesmerizing experience. Just as Coltrane did 52 years ago. As Rountree says, “The idea of music that lifts us up so much it sends us into the heavens.”

To create of Ascension, Rountree functioned like the most innovative and thoughtful deejay. He mixes styles and genres and samples music you might not think of putting next to each other, but when done right it seems as if they have always belonged together.

“Certainly classical music is part of it,” Rountree reveals, “although I wouldn’t say that’s the main part of it. Jazz is part of it. Sound art and performance art is part of it. We have ancient spiritual music that is tonal and gorgeous. We’re doing old church music. We have free jazz next to new complexity and they sound similar. And if you put them next to each other they have this similar energy, but something really special happens for all of those things. They all change and there is this energy of like lifting off the grounds.”

One contributor to of Ascension whose own music and familiarity with Coltrane’s album is crucial is composer Ted Hearne. He was recently a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his composition Sound from the Bench. It was a conversation Rountree and Hearne had a few years ago that lead to the creation of this work.

“We were talking about Coltrane’s album and Ted said, ‘I teach this album as a study of form in my classes.’ I thought that was totally fascinating. Ted’s the big question asker. He’s the provocateur-in-chief. Sampling is part of what Ted’s work is and it’s part of the show. With Ted’s help what of Ascension has become, it’s not the thing after the thing, but it’s certainly a thing inspired by the thing. The central idea is of the feeling of the music.”

While that might sound as a puzzle within a puzzle, Rountree is certain that of Ascension absolutely lives up to what wild Up is known for and what its audiences expect to see and hear.

“So much of what we do is not the normal mode of performing. It’s about the experience and it’s about the ensemble. This does all the things that we want to be doing. It allows us to explore ideas we are interested in. It allows us to be soloists. And the person who is comfortable with totally notated music and those who are not are doing things they aren’t comfortable with. It’s central to what we are doing – putting separate pieces together and showing they are all valuable. It’s like doing a piece of theatre in the home of classical music, but it’s actually a jazz piece.”

wild Up’s innovative approach to music reaches new heights here by adding a theatrical presentation involving movement of the musicians and the use of video. But perhaps the most important “added component” is the role the audience will play. When of Ascension has its premiere in November at The Soraya in Northridge, wild Up will be surrounded on three sides by the audience on stage.

“With an audience that will be as close as we want them to feel and, in fact, will be, they are in charge of the energy in the room as well. Music is at the core of the performance but it is not about observing beauty, but being part of a ritual where sound is at the center. Playing this certainly brings people who love all these different genres of music together to hear music who would never otherwise sit together.”

Different genres of music living next to each other is precisely the point for Rountree as it was for Coltrane those many decades ago. With of Ascension Rountree is exploring the possibilities of music his way. Which ultimately makes sense for the young man who grew up to appreciate equally Beethoven, jazz, Philip Glass and Kendrick Lamar. And who dreamed of some day creating something as inspirational for today’s audiences as Coltrane’s album was for him. Now he has.

Update:  This piece has been updated upon receipt of news that the previously announced Thursday night performance has been cancelled. 

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School of Rock – Pantages Theatre

Now-May 27th

When this musical adaptation of Richard Linklater’s film opened last night at the Pantages Theatre, the show’s illustrious composer, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber was in attendance. This musical tells the story of a man who still dreams of being a rock star, Dewey Finn (Rob Colletti). He pretends to be his best friend Ned (Matt Bittner) when an offer to teach at Grace Academy arrives for Ned. Dewey suddenly finds himself a school teacher. Rather than teach the traditional curriculum, (after all, he’s not really a teacher,) he schools them in the ways of rock ‘n’ roll. The school isn’t happy. The parents aren’t happy. But check out that band! All the kids in the show are actually playing their instruments. No faking it.

Angélique Kidjo Remain in Light – The Theatre at the Ace Hotel/CapUCLA

May 5th

When The Talking Heads released their landmark album Remain in Light in 1980, they gave the world such great songs as “Once in a Lifetime,” “Crosseyed and Painless” and “Seen and Not Seen” and “The Great Curve.” Now the phenomenal Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo has put her own spin on this album and she will be performing live on Saturday night at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel. Kidjo is always a force of nature on stage. Her taking on this great album is both inspired and will certainly make for one of the best concerts of the year.

If this combination seems unusual, it’s best to keep in mind what Kidjo once told me during an interview: “I like unpredictable settings and pairings. Life is too short to be boring. Every music deserves to be heard and every truth of the music diverse to be heard. Expose people to that diversity of music that is part of the diversity of the human family that we all are. That’s all that matters to me.” No need to ask “How did she get here.”

Noises Off – A Noise Within

Now – May 26th

This backstage comedy by Michael Frayn continues to be one of the most popular shows presented by A Noise Within. Each time they stage the show it gets extended and the calls for another revival grow louder. If every show had the goings on that Frayn’s comedy depicts, nothing would ever work on stage. Thankfully the laughs reign supreme here because productions are more buttoned up. Noises Off is the perfect show to use to forget the world and laugh your butt off.

Quetzal with Flor de Toloache – The Soraya (Valley Performing Arts Center)

May 5th

Why stand in line at your local Mexican restaurant on Cinco de Mayo to prove you can celebrate like everyone else? Instead, head over to The Soraya to hear Quetzal perform. They are a local band from East LA who put jazz, rock and R&B into their musical blender to come up with a tasty blend. Flor de Toloache is an all-female mariachi band. They shatter stereotypes and impress with their music. And if that isn’t enough, there will be taco trucks at the venue serving up a wide array of gourmet tacos.

Honeymoon in Vegas – Musical Theatre Guild – Alex Theatre

May 6th

Jason Robert Brown’s musical adaptation of the film Honeymoon in Vegas was one of the most purely delightful shows to hit Broadway in a long time. Brown perfectly captured the wit and joy that Andrew Bergman brought to the 1992 film. Thankfully shows don’t have to disappear forever. Musical Theatre Guild is performing, for one night only, this utterly charming show (which, of course, has skydiving Elvis impersonators.)

I once asked the composer why the show didn’t succeed on Broadway. “We did get great reviews. The music was so much fun. People will appreciate Honeymoon in Vegas. I’m so grateful that it got done and it got done exactly the way we wanted it to. What can I tell you, our producers sucked.” He went on to say that “It will get licensed and it will be all over the world.”

The show is wonderful and I recommend you make your way to Glendale on Sunday to check it out. Here’s a montage from the New York production:

Angelia Kidjo photo by Danny Clinch. Courtesy of Shore Fire Media

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This is Blanchard and The E-Collective’s second recording. Their first was entitled Breathless and was inspired by the death of Eric Garner in New York when he was put in a stranglehold by police. Live continues that conversation in hopes of leading to positive social change. It was recorded in several cities that have all had inflamed racial tensions.

When I spoke with Blanchard in 2014, he explained his goal with The E-Collective. “It’s a groove-based band. That in itself makes for a different approach. It’s been an interesting journey because I’ve been trying to find the balance between groove-based music and interesting stuff for musicians to play. It’s hard to put into words. You have to hear the music for yourself.”

Blanchard, whether he’s doing his jazz albums, film scores or working with The E-Collective, has always been an innovator and someone who not only raises important questions through his work, but makes attempts to offer healing along the way. He’s one of our most important artists and these two nights will be special indeed.

Photos by Henry Adebonojo

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Last week I wrote about how I discovered Ms. Salvant when she opened for Bryan Ferry at the Hollywood Bowl. You can read about my admiration of this amazingly talented woman. For now, the best thing to do is just let you hear Cécile McLoran Salvant sing!

Photo by Mark Fitton

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Salvant is doing two shows next week at The Soraya (Valley Performing Arts Center) on April 18 and 19. Seating will be on the stage providing an intimate experience with this one-of-a-kind artist. For those of you who think going to Northridge isn’t worth the effort, let me assure you. It absolutely is to witness Salvant. (If you are in Orange County, she will be performing at the Barclay Center in Irvine on the 20th.)

Salvant clearly relishes legendary performers such as Dinah Washington, Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald and others. But what she possesses is the ability not just to sing a song, but to approach every lyric like the best possible storyteller. And she doesn’t have to do a thing to show what she’s doing. She completely embodies the concept of keeping it simple – as this video from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris shows. Imagine being in line waiting for a flight and hearing this:

I’m certainly not the only one who has noticed. She won a Grammy Award in 2016 for her album For One to Love. She was awarded a second Grammy earlier this year for her most recent release, Dreams and Daggers.

Last year Fred Kaplan in The New Yorker said of her performance at the Village Vanguard: “…it was clear right away that the hype was justified. She sang with perfect intonation, elastic rhythm, an operatic range from thick lows to silky highs. She had emotional range, too, inhabiting different personas in the course of a song, sometimes even a phrase—delivering the lyrics in a faithful spirit while also commenting on them, mining them for unexpected drama and wit.”

She also makes interesting choices in material. Though many singers have sung “People,” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl, there aren’t too many who have chosen to do “If a Girl Isn’t Pretty.”

If you attended Bill Charlap’s show at the Broad Stage in February, you got a chance to hear Salvant. But these two shows at The Soraya are all hers. And they should be all yours, too. Simply put, I’m mad about the girl. Thankfully Bryan Ferry was, too.

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But if you look at the landscape in the last few years you will find that their musicals are now being embraced more than ever. A revival of Carousel officially opens on Thursday in New York. Bartlett Sher has directed two revivals on Broadway that were both very successful: The King and I (2015-2016) and South Pacific (2008-2010.) With the arrival of a new production of South Pacific from McCoy Rigby Entertainment (this week at The Soraya at Valley Performing Arts Center and beginning next week at the La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts), it seemed like the perfect opportunity to discuss Rodgers & Hammerstein and their continued relevance.

Todd S. Purdum is a national editor and political correspondent for Vanity Fair. He has written books about the Iraq War (A Time of Our Choosing: America’s War in Iraq) and the Civil Rights Movement (An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.) His new book, Something Wonderful: Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Broadway Revolution, was just released this week. I spoke with him about the legendary duo and also about the still-topical themes found in South Pacific.

Ted Chapin, who runs the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, told me that even though we look at Rodgers & Hammerstein as being part of the old guard and very traditional, their shows at the time were very risky when first produced. How much does time tend to tamper down our appreciation of the risks these two actually took?

I think that’s a really good question. The corollary for success is you forget at what price success was achieved. Now we take for granted that Oklahoma was a smash. When it was opening word of mouth was decidedly skeptical. There were empty seats and nobody knew how it would turn out.

If I had any mission in writing the book, it was to remember that Rodgers & Hammerstein were the daring pioneers of their time. They were not the establishment – they were taking them on. They were taking risks that experienced people looked askance at and asked “why are you doing this?”

Their work went out of favor for quite some time. Why?

What happened in the 60s, 70s and 80s is Rodgers & Hammerstein’s shows were relegated to high school and college productions and tours with stars like Robert Goulet in South Pacific and Yul Brynner in endless The King and I tours. Sometimes they were summer stock or bus & truck tours and not sophisticated. They were even cheap. Richard Rodgers was partly to blame because he and Oscar, for tours, required amber-like fidelity to their shows.

How and when did the shows become embraced again?

I may be wrong, but I date the resurgence to the National Theatre revival of Carousel [1992 in England and then transferred 1994 on Broadway] in which Nicholas Hytner reimagined the show and imported it to Lincoln Center. That was the revolutionary production where Audra McDonald played Carrie Pipperidge. Many people thought the show was most problematic because of abuse and sexual politics. Michael Hayden played Billy, not with the pipes people expect, but a very vulnerable actor who brought out pathos. And this color blind casting of Audra McDonald and then the snow children as this mixed race parade of half-Black/half-White children. Andre Bishop [Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theatre] told me that what he was waiting for was a new generation of sophisticated directors to dig into the text and find relevance for modern audiences and use the latest techniques in staging.

South Pacific’s view of racism seems like something that could be written and accepted as is today. Can you talk about their passion for tackling that particular issue?

They were so far ahead of their time. Think of it: 1949, when it came out, was two years after Jackie Robinson integrated baseball. After President Truman integrated the Army. Certainly interracial marriage was still illegal in most of the United States; the idea of it being normal was radical.  Even the most sophisticated critics thought “Carefully Taught” didn’t have a place in the show and dragged it down. When the show was touring in Georgia it was condemned as Communist propaganda. In the Vietnam era a play about a popular war in Asia was inconceivable. South Pacific, which was considered almost un-revivable, never had a Broadway revival until 2008 when Lincoln Center revived it with Kelli O’Hara.

They are timely even today. I saw that production and the touring production in Washington, D.C. and audiences were overwhelmed by the relevance in the Obama era. What these smart interpretations by Bartlett Sher and others have proven is there’s a lot of political content that is ripe for fresh rediscovery. The audiences embrace of these productions proves that.

What do you think Rodgers & Hammerstein would make of the world today?

That’s an interesting question. They probably wouldn’t be afraid to tackle it. They lived through tough political times. I think they’d both be appalled by the state of politics and dialogue, but wouldn’t be shy about confronting it and nudging it along.

There is no cultural force in American life today that is as unifying and encompassing as Rodgers & Hammerstein were in their day. They dominated pop culture from Broadway to Hollywood to radio and television. There just aren’t artists today who have that kind of grip on the loyalty and the affection of the American public. Bruce Springsteen has his passionate defenders. But we’d be hard pressed to find one single creative force that has the dominant effect like Rodgers & Hammerstein in their heyday.

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It’s a homecoming this week for John Clayton, one of the founders of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. The big band will be performing on Thursday night at Clayton’s Alma Mater: Cal State Northridge. Though they didn’t have The Soraya (Valley Performing Arts Center) when he was a student there. (The other founding members are John Hamilton and Jeff Clayton.)

The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra is a true big band. According to their website their typical configuration is 19 pieces as follows:  4 rhythm, 5 saxophones, 4 trombones, 5 trumpets and John as bass soloist and conductor. This band can swing! They have released six CDs so far.

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The line-up of musicians for this concert features Vincent Wilburn, Jr. on drums (Davis’ nephew), Christian Scott on trumpet, Debasish Chaudhury on tabla, Darryl Munyungo J. on percussion, Robert Irving on piano/keys, John Beasley on keyboards, Darryl Jones on bass, David Gilmore on guitar and Antoine Roney on saxophone.

Photo credit: Miles Davis courtesy of Monterey International

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