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Tributes, Page 2

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

An Inside Appreciation of Martial Arts Master Jim Kelly

Reflections of Jim Kelly within a Black Belt Prism Circa `74
by Kweli Pitt-Bey


In the summer of 1974, I moved to Los Angeles from Roanoke, Virginia with my mother Judith and my little sister Lori.  At age 11, I was quite upset that I’d be missing my close friends and family.  One thing that helped me to cope was that I’d be moving to the fabled Golden State: sunny Southern California with its legendary swimming pools, palm trees and movie stars.  Deeper still, my mother promised she would look into getting me into Jim Kelly’s renowned and respected Black Belt Jones Karate Studio on Crenshaw Blvd.  That was something I could really sink my hope’s teeth into. 

Jim Kelly PHOTO 1

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.
 
Booker T - Sound The Alarm

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.
 
OneNightWithJanisJoplin

Bob Baldwin Presents “Betcha By Golly Wow – The Songs Of Thom Bell”

Bob Baldwin - Betcha By Golly Wow
 
Bob Baldwin Speaks On “The Spark of Magic” of Thom Bell
by A. Scott Galloway
 
Once upon a time, a ubiquitous Bell tolled throughout the land.  It was the sound of music at its creamy dreamiest, crooned hearts-on-sleeves by groups with mystical monikers like Stylistics, Delfonics and Spinners.  T’was a time when real men feared not to sing of love and romance in phrases like “You Are Everything” and “You’re as Right as Rain.”  Their inescapable signals were carried on the wind by the multitudes, massaging the magic in their own inimitable ways. In this time of soul-warming enchantment circa `70, hearts throbbed to the pulses of true love and romance…the symphonic soul soundscapes of Maestro Thomas Randolf Bell.

Gerald Levert | The Best Of Gerald Levert

Gerald Levert - The Best of
 
The Best of Gerald Levert
By Brent Faulkner
 
The unfortunate and untimely death of R&B icon Gerald LeVert in 2006 was a sad day for me and the many fans -especially women (or so I am told) – who loved LeVert’s soul-laden vocals. Sensuality oozed in every LeVert vocal performance, which could be characterized as possessing gospel histrionics and the sensual overtness of the late Marvin Gaye. On The Best of Gerald LeVert, Atlantic/Rhino Records had the arduous task of compiling a single disc covering LeVert’s best.

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