Radiance….
Webster’s defines radiance as the quality of being radiant. It is further defined as radiating beams of light or brightly shining even glowing. The radiance that I speak of is that which vocalist/songwriter Lizz Wright gave as she performed on a rainy Monday evening at the Cerritos Center for Performing Arts. Her warmth and natural […]
An Enchanted Evening With Anita Baker
“We’re gonna sing some old songs for ya, cuz that’s all we’ve got!” It’s 8:40pm, the curtain goes up and the band comes on the stage. The stage was draped in romance including two chandeliers. The opening notes to “Mystery” begin to play. One of the Perry Sisters sings the opening notes of the song […]
Inspiration…
What inspires your greatness? For me, if you have not figured out it already, music is a fundamental part of my life. It inspires me and fuels my fire. I went to see Three Mo’ Tenors at the Paramount Theatre and my soul was lifted from the first note of “La Donna e Mobile” to […]
The James Carter Trio and David Murray @ Yoshi’s
James Carter – Saxophones David Murray – Saxophones Gerard Gibbs – Hammond B3 Organ and Keyboards Leonard King – Drums James Carter is the most versatile saxophone and clarinet player that I have seen. He showed this with saxophonist David Murray at Yoshi’s. He can make the saxophone wale, cry, moan, growl, bark, and shrill […]
McCoy Tyner’s Two Week Residency at Yoshi’s
Week 1 McCoy Tyner – Piano Bobby Hutcherson – Vibraphone Cecil McBee – Bass Jack DeJohnette – Drums McCoy Tyner’s two week residency at Yoshi’s has become a local and favorite tradition. For the past 10 years, for two weeks, the legendary pianist has played with some of the best and brightest talent in the […]
The Music and Energy of the Jacky Terrasson Trio
A few minutes before his 10pm show at Yoshi’s, Jacky Terrasson came out and sat at a table. He was checking out the audience and chatting with people as they came over to his table. He was very personable and a bit subdued. That changed when he and his trio took the stage. Once he […]
An Evening with Regina Carter
Dynamic, magnificent and truly outstanding are just a few of the words that can be used to describe the Regina Carter Quintet. They recently performed at the Herbst Theatre as part of the San Francisco Performances series. I was first introduced to her music in 1994 when Regina was with the Detroit all-female band Straight […]
Groovin ‘ at the San Francisco Jazz Festival
Friday evening at the 20th Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, after a trek up Powell Street because the streetcar was out of service, we went to Grace Cathedral to see saxophonist James Carter and the Tuvan throat-singing group, Huun-Huur-Tu. Grace Cathedral is a great edifice in San Francisco and I was excited about hearing music […]
What makes you feel like doing stuff like that….
Can you just tell me why certain people feel as though they can walk into a room and act as if they own every seat in a row including yours? I was hanging out in LA over the weekend with a fellow audiophile and we went to see the legendary pianist McCoy Tyner at the […]
