Kirk Whalum Concert @ Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley
October 26, 2023
One of many Seattle-Based Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley favorites, Kirk Whalum, launched his annual appearance honoring numerous soul/R&B and jazz icons, saluting he music that fueled his birthplace, and showering gospel nuggets.
Herbie Hancock Symphonically Reimagines the Possibilities of His Civil Rights Era Compositions “I Have a Dream” & “Ostinato” with Gustavo Dudamel and The Los Angeles Philharmonic
by A. Scott Galloway
On Thursday March 5th, a day I was not in the best of health, I dragged myself downtown to Disney Hall to see a Herbie Hancock concert.
Now, at 55 years old, I have had the good fortune to have seen Mr. Hancock plenty of times over the years all over southern California.
Anthony Jefferson
All I Am
(Jefferson Faculty)
A Record Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
Photography by Pedro Bonilla
In 2019, singers of Jazz classics and Pop standards hurl themselves Herculean challenges tackling material that has been sung, recorded and captured on film performed before live audiences by some of the greatest that have ever illuminated a song. While the newcomers may connect themselves to a great lineage and possibly bring these songs to the attention of new (i.e. younger) audiences, anyone who has studied or pleasurably partaken of the earlier renditions are inevitably want to not only make comparisons but also have to wrestle personal moments experienced with them as part of the soundtrack and very fabric of their lives.
Anthony Jefferson wows as Musical Director Corey Allen looks on
“Party Train” Meets “Love Train” at Historical Charlie Wilson & O’Jays Double Bill
A Concert Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
August 3, 2018
The world-famous Hollywood Bowl was the venue for a bittersweet time capsule of Black Music History on Friday, August 3, as former GAP Band lead singer Charlie Wilson headlined a triumphant generations-leaping show – his first time with an orchestra – with the mighty O’Jays trio celebrating its 59th anniversary as the opening act and what may be their final time performing in Los Angeles as they are said to be retiring at the end of 2018.
Playboy Jazz Festival Celebrates 40th Anniversary at The Hollywood Bowl
by A. Scott Galloway
Under clear blue skies, 80-degree temps with a sweet breeze blowin’ on both days, the “Playboy Jazz Festival” celebrated its 40th anniversary with days split almost squarely between World Music leaning on Saturday and Jazz on Sunday.
Saturday June 9 began with the traditional Los Angeles County High School For The Arts Jazz of promising young students followed by Columbian party band Monsieur Perine’. Things got really interesting when blind 17 year-old organ prodigy Matthew Whitaker and his trio wowed the crowd with the passionate and eclectic set list of his original “Play it Back,” the `60s pop hit “More Today Than Yesterday” by Spiral Staircase made famous on the jazz side by Charles Earland, the Brazilian gem “Mais Que Nada,” John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” and the finale of a dual medley of Earth Wind and Fire’s “In the Stone/September” with Stevie Wonder’s “As/I Wish” – what a prodigious talent and people-pleaser.
Matthew Whitaker
Peabo Bryson Review at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, Seattle Washington
March 2, 2018
Longevity in the music industry comes only every once in a great while. Since he began recording at the age of fifteen, Peabo Bryson continues to win over urban music fans with a mature piercing tenor voice that remains secure to this day.
Take 6 Concert Review
(Mark Kibble, Joey Kibble, Alvin Chea, David Thomas, Claude V. McKnight III and Khristian Dentley)
September 21, 2017
Jazz Alley – Seattle, WA
The house was packed and rightfully so as six debonair gentlemen named Take 6 claimed and owned the stage, engaging the audience with their extraordinary repertoire of inventive re-imaginations of pop, jazz and gospel classics, plus a few of their own originals. Most of the night focused on their vocal instrumental interplay and crisp harmony skills, though on a couple of occasions, several members played acoustic guitars and piano.
Quincy Jones: The A&M Years
Hollywood Bowl
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Concert Reflections by A. Scott Galloway
I’m going to begin this review by stating two things upfront. This salute to Quincy Jones focusing on his early `70s big band albums Walking in Space (CTI/A&M – 1969), Gula Matari (CTI/A&M – 1970) and Smackwater Jack (A&M – 1971) was THE concert in this summer’s Hollywood Bowl Wednesday Night Jazz Series that I was most looking forward to.
Dave Koz & Larry Graham Come Out Smokin’ But OHIO Players Bring The FIRE – “Smooth Summer Jazz” at Hollywood Bowl – Sunday August 20, 2017
Concert Reflections and Photographs by A. Scott Galloway
I have to fess up, I thought saxophonist Dave Koz was just another smooth jazz softie. He started out proving me right when he opened his headlining set with the Judy Garland evergreen “Over the Rainbow,” tongue-in-cheekily “overblown” to my expectation. But a funky thing happened at the big finish.
A Place for Joey: Celebrating the Passion of 13 Y.O. Jazz Pianist Joey Alexander
by A. Scott Galloway
There’s a very tricky tightrope that young jazz musicians come upon when thrust into the public eye. It is a hurdle that has tripped up many a prodigy over the eras. That is when a teenage or pre-teen wonder arrives at 18 or 21 and no longer has youth as a hype mechanism. Usually what happens is a player who develops or happens upon a lot of chops and ability early on winds up sounding like everybody else when they reach adulthood. What they failed to develop was individualism, adventure and heart. It’s like a young runway model that gets by on youthful freshness yet never develops a style of their own as an adult. In those cases, you just pray their parents saved her money.
Joey Alexander, at 10, Lincoln Center Gala