Results for "Mike Lang"

Mike Lang

Focusing on piano and composition, Mike Lang received a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Michigan. Shortly after, wining awards at the Notre Dame Intercollegiate Jazz Festival, his trio performed at The Village Vanguard in New York. Other notable teachers included Arnold Schoenberg students Leonard Stein (piano) and George Tremblay (composition). Returning to Los Angeles, he studied with Pearl Kaufman and Lalo Schifrin, and commenced a freelance recording career in records, motion pictures and television, becoming conversant with every possible music idiom and form, including jazz, classical, pop and R&B

Patrice Jégou: If It Ain't Love

by Nicholas F. Mondello
March 8, 2019

Listening to Canadian vocal artist Patrice Jégou's second album, If It Ain't Love, one would never think that she once was a world-class professional figure skater. One would also immediately discern that she and her similarly world-class musical partners have delivered a perfect-10 performance. Surrounded on the opener by Take 6's Mark Kibble ...

Discover Lyn Stanley: New CD In Development "Looking For Angel Eyes"

November 3, 2016

“To Lyn-A Great Talent!” –Sammy Nestico He chose these words to inscribe Lyn Stanley’s copy of his autobiography. Music was always part of Stanley’s life. Her mother was a spirited jitterbug dancer, her father was an enthusiastic amateur jazz pianist and her grandfather was a trained opera singer. Despite this grounding in the arts, Stanley’s mother ...

Kevin Kaska Jazz Orchestra: Shades of Rio

by Jack Bowers
February 23, 2016

Seductive melodies and danceable rhythms carry the day on Shades of Rio, a tasteful debut recording by the southern California-based Kevin Kaska Jazz Orchestra, which earns the name by using a full string section on most numbers to complement its well-upholstered twenty-three member core ensemble anchored by master drummer Harvey Mason. Kaska, a story unto himself, ...

Richard Shelton: An Englishman In Love In L.A.

by Edward Blanco
November 17, 2015

English-born actor Richard Shelton is a veteran of British theatre and television who recently moved to the United States for the opportunities that Hollywood may offer. As an actor, Shelton played the role of Frank Sinatra on the London stage in a play based on the book 'Rat Pack Confidential,' a dream come true for the ...

Bill Mays: Inventions, Conventions and Dimensions

by Dr. Judith Schlesinger
July 22, 2013

This title is more than a rhyme: it's an attempt to capture some of the legendary versatility of pianist Bill Mays. “Inventions" refers to his unprecedented, working jazz trio of piano, trumpet, and cello. “Conventions" is a nod to his invaluable contribution to the annual meeting of the International Society of Bassists (in 2013, he played ...

"Modern Sounds," or: Running a Marathon in Full Body Armor

by Jack Bowers
November 8, 2011

From October 19-25 Betty and I were at the Los Angeles Marriott Airport Hotel to attend Modern Sounds, the L.A. Jazz Institute's four-day salute to West Coast jazz, followed by a day-long tribute to Stan Kenton on the hundredth anniversary of the legendary bandleader's birth. We arrived a day early to be primed and ready for ...

Gold Medalists Abound at Big Band Olympics

by Jack Bowers
June 15, 2011

As this is being written, Betty and I are just back from a ten-day visit to California, the first six days of which would be of absolutely no interest to readers of this column. The last four, however, were spent at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel attending the L.A. Jazz Institute's “Big Band Olympics," which ...

"Charlie O's is the Best Jazz Club in L.A." -Clint Eastwood

July 3, 2009

JULY JAZZ at CHARLIE O's Charlie O's is the coolest place to be for the hottest jazz this July. We celebrate our own John Heard’s birthday with a big celebration on the 3rd, a birthday party for Slyde Hyde on the 5th, a birthday celebration for Ron Jones on the 12th with his 22 ...

March Jazz at Charlie O's

March 10, 2009

March jazz performances a birthday celebration for Bill Henderson on the 27th and a birthday celebration for Madeline Vergari Neumann on the 16th. The official release of Brandinos Melodies and Songbook and the Brandino and Friends Live at Charlie Os CD (if you purchased the original CD, please bring it back and you will receive the ...