Category: Concerts | Page 3 | TheUrbanMusicScene.com

Jason Miles Captures The Spirit of Grover Washington, Jr.

Jason Miles
To Grover with Love: Live in Japan
(Whaling City Sound)
Record Reflections by A. Scott Galloway

In the scheme of all things musical, the question often arises, “Why a tribute CD?” Would you rather hear people paying tribute to an artist by rerecording their works or instead hear the legendary artist’s music itself? In most cases, the latter is true. Sometimes there are exceptions, the latest being keyboardist/producer Jason Miles’ third tribute to a man that has given him consistent inspiration, saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. Unlike the previous two, this one was recorded live.

Kenny Lattimore LIVE in Concert at Jazz Alley in Seattle, WA | March 2nd, 2016

Kenny Lattimore LIVE in Concert
Jazz Alley in Seattle, Washington, March 2, 2016

Jazz Alley is a long-time Seattle, WA establishment, who have prided themselves in welcoming a diversified and expanding family of vocalists and musicians from jazz, world music and the contemporary urban market. Many of those artists have made the rounds back to the Alley on several occasions include Kenny Lattimore, who burst onto the scene in the nineties with other smooth soul-sters…

All Star Jazz Series in Newport Beach Kicks Off In Kick Back Style with Michael Franks & Trio of Lorber, Harp & Loeb!

Michael Franks / Jazz Funk Soul (Everette Harp, Jeff Lorber, Chuck Loeb)
Hyatt Newporter – July 25, 2015

A Concert Reflection by A. Scott Galloway

One of Southern California’s most popular summer spots for jazz is the Hyatt Newporter hotel in big money Newport Beach. They have a Friday night jazz series every summer in a mini outdoor amphitheatre on the lawn that just gets stronger with each passing year. So far in 2015, I dipped down there once to see this all-star show which proved to be a sweet night of seasoned music.

Photo: Jeff Lorber, Chuck Loeb & Everette Harp

Reggae Legends Third World Rock Playboy Jazz Festival Day 2

Playboy Jazz Festival – Day 2 – Sunday June 14, 2015

A Concert Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
Photos: Mathew Imaging

Brown Bunnies of Playboy

An afternoon of tradition and roots gave way to an evening of mash-ups and fusions for the second day of the 37th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl.

37th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival Proves An Avalanche of Diversity

Playboy Jazz Festival – Saturday June 13, 2015

Concert Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
Photos: Mathew Imaging

June gloom morphed into jazz-soul glory for Saturday June 13, 2015 – the first day of the 37th annual Playboy Jazz Festival – a day of great music that found the heat slowly and consistently escalating to the very end.

Honeys at Playboy

Footprints: Lalah Hathaway Live at The Troubadour, April 21, 2015

Lalah Hathaway – Troubadour – Tuesday April 21, 2015 (10PM show)
A Concert Reflection by A. Scott Galloway
Show Photography: Arnold Turner

Jazz composer/saxophonist Wayne Shorter wrote a piece entitled “Footprints” that within its original instrumental structure conveyed volumes about the dual weight and gravity of upholding lineage and legacy. On a cool Tuesday evening in West Hollywood over the course of two shows, singer/songwriter Lalah Hathaway proudly upheld her end of the genealogical bargain in highly anticipated concerts steeped in the Black Pool of music history. Not only was she performing at The Troubadour nightclub – ground zero for where her father Donny Hathaway recorded the most thrilling half of a “Live” LP 43 years prior in August of `71 – she was recording her shows for CD and DVD, too. This is high hallowed territory for not only is Donny Hathaway Live (Atco 33-386 – 1972) arguably the greatest live album of all time, it is the greatest album of all time. A second volume titled In Performance was released 8 years later containing as many gems as the first.

The Troubadour marquee (Photo: Wendy Smith-Brune’)

Manhattan’s Cafe Noctambulo is New Hot Spot for Jazz Vocal Loving Night Owls

Jazz Great Andy Bey Kicked Off First Season for New Nostalgically Intimate Manhattan Performance Space Café Noctambulo

by A. Scott Galloway

The atmosphere is quaint and hushed as revered jazz vocal veteran Andy Bey slides in behind the ivories to premier music from his brand new CD, Pages From an Imaginary Life. In a space as cozy as a living room, the master is comfortable enough to speak candidly about his music by way of introducing songs – sometimes reflecting, other times joking. Amid his loving tributes to Billie Holiday which he rendered floating from his warm natural baritone to his high plaintive falsetto, Bey penetrates deepest with his more recent original compositions that offer keen insight into his mind’s inner workings at that more important life juncture – today. Songs like “Bad Luck May Be Good Luck,” “Worried Life Blues” and “Humor Keeps Us Alive.” These are songs so new that even though Andy wrote them, he stumbles occasionally in performing them perfectly. What master would ever allow this to happen in front of an audience in a New York City nightspot? It is only because of THIS particular nightspot that Andy feels free enough to “try” things as opposed to sticking to his tried and true.

(Photo: James Gavin)

EnVogue Rocks L.A. Like Never Before!

EnVogue – Saban Theatre (Beverly Hills) – May 2, 2014
Concert Review by A. Scott Galloway

`90s Soul-Pop sensations EnVogue showed L.A. that they have seasoned well into a first class legacy act capable of entertaining audiences with a broad but satisfying cornucopia of fare. Original members Cindy Herron-Braggs and Terry Ellis along with longtime member Rhona Bennett took the stage as a well-oiled and united front giving fans the kind of show most have never seen from the group because – in their heyday – they were too often part of multi-artist/festival lineups that put a cramp in their stage time. As headliners on Friday, May 2, at the Saban Theater in Beverly Hills (formerly The Wilshire Theater), they took their sweet time and served their followers not just slices but the whole pie.

EnVogue opened boldly with the catchy but obscure album cut groove “No No No (Can’t Come Back)” from their fourth CD, Masterpiece Theater, before launching into one of their biggest hits, “My Lovin’ (Never Gonna Get It)” – one of six of the group’s Billboard R&B chart-toppers.

R&B Legend Booker T Jones gives L.A. Album Release Concert

Booker T & Friends L.A. Show is Like A “See Saw”
by A. Scott Galloway

Memphis-born Rhythm & Blues legend Booker T. Jones held court with a Tuesday June 25th album release concert/videotaping at the El Rey Theater in Mid-Wilshire Los Angeles to coincide with the in-store date of his new album, Sound The Alarm, which marks his return to the latest incarnation of Stax Records (via Concord). Co-produced by Jones with soul sons The Avila Brothers, the 12-song CD hiply bridges both retro and contemporary musical directions plus features guests on all but two selections. That treatment was also given to the concert – a show that much like the Don Covay/Steve Cropper song made famous by Aretha, was like a “See Saw” in terms of what worked and what did not work.

Blues-Rocker Janis Joplin’s Life Reprised In Song

“One Night with Janis Joplin” Rocks yet Leaves Some Stones Unturned
Pasadena Playhouse – March 17 – April 14, 2013
by A. Scott Galloway

Think of Janis Joplin and the first thing likely to come to mind is of a Jack Daniels guzzling blues-rock wailer with a big voice and a tragically short life. But an intimate new musical “One Night with Janis Joplin” seeks to deepen the understanding of this hippie-era rock icon via short confessional revelations she shares between songs in a concert setting that keeps the music coming.

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