Articles by Carl L. Hager
Beatles, Oscars, Grammys & Overachieving: The Best Cliché Ever, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
by Carl L. Hager
So... the awards season is over. From the Golden Globes to the Grammys, the Winter Olympics to the Oscars, it's been a long and winding road. Among people competing for the various honors and annual awards, one of the more popular topics of conversation was: OK, let's say I am the winner--what then? Good question. Of those who believed they deserve the recognition (which is all of them) only those who had previously received one of ...
Continue ReadingLorraine Feather: I Love You Guys
by Carl L. Hager
The great pianist and composer, Thelonious Monk, is credited with the remark that “writing about jazz is like dancing about architecture." But don't dash off and try to authenticate the quote. One, it'll just take you down a rabbit hole, and two, whether or not he ever actually uttered those words doesn't really matter. Because far too often, it's true. It's true to the extent that the offending scribe is violating a fundamental law: either he doesn't know ...
Continue ReadingNora Germain: Let It Rip!
by Carl L. Hager
How good is your memory? Remember when the gold standard in jazz was that the music needs to swing? Good memory, eh? Remember jazz violin, that four-stringed instrument that was bowed and tucked under the musician's chin, not stood on end? Jazz violin is a tradition which has faded to such a degree that it's become necessary to invoke names of famous forebears to remind one that it ever existed. Challenge a listener to name a ...
Continue ReadingJazz, Politics, Edward Kennedy and the Ghosts of Richard Nixon: Our American Dialogue and the Hatfields and McCoys
by Carl L. Hager
To get into heaven, don't snap for a seven Live clean, don't have no fault Oh, I take the gospel, whenever it's possible But with a grain of salt --"It Ain't Necessarily So," from Porgy & Bess by George and Ira Gershwin Edward Kennedy Ellington celebrated his 70th birthday at the White House, where he received the first Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by the newly inaugurated chief ...
Continue ReadingJazz, Baseball, Politics and the Beltway Blues: Our American Dialogue, Part II
by Carl L. Hager
Ref: How Life Imitates the World Series (Penguin, 1983) by Thomas Boswell Well, that's over. $2.6 billion later, the U.S. presidential election is history. No more polls, no more red state / blue state electoral maps, no more trash-talking. Right on its heels, the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) announced the results of their voting for the league MVPs, Cy Young and other annual awards, and then issued the list of 2013's Hall of Fame ...
Continue ReadingCheryl Bentyne & City of Hope All-Star Jazz Benefit: Hollywood, CA, August 11, 2012
by Carl L. Hager
Cheryl Bentyne & City of Hope All-Star Jazz BenefitCatalina Jazz ClubHollywood, CAAugust 11, 2012After kicking off Saturday night's festivities with a hard-charging version of Cole Porter's “It's Alright With Me," a beaming Cheryl Bentyne welcomed Catalina Jazz Club's capacity audience by effusing over the wide array of talent that had assembled for the occasion. Event musical director Ted Howe was poised at the grand piano and ready to swing, with performers like singers Lorraine Feather, ...
Continue ReadingRadio Killed the Roneo Star?
by Carl L. Hager
Recently I began doing a series of short CD reviews with WJSU-FM 88.5, a station broadcasting from the campus of Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. The opportunity to do it came along within days of learning that KABC's parent company, Cumulus Media, Inc., had pulled the plug on the last remaining AM radio jazz programming in Los Angeles (yes, the very same town that nicely fills the Hollywood Bowl each year for the Playboy Jazz Festival). It seemed like ...
Continue ReadingLorraine Feather
by Carl L. Hager
Like her contemporary Kurt Elling, Lorraine Feather is that rare jazz vocalist and lyricist who reinvents herself with every project. With the February 2012 release of Tales of the Unusual (Jazzed Media) comes a new self so different that casual fans may not recognize her at first. Some might feel challenged or mystified by these ambitious lyrical statements, but the seductive textures are certain to lure them into the eerie world where Feather embraces life's most entertainingly bizarre and aberrant ...
Continue ReadingLenny White and RTF IV: Switzerland, France and Italy
by Carl L. Hager
Intro | #2 | #3 | #4 [Editor's Note: Lenny White and his fellow jazz/rockers have already returned home to the States, and picked up an opening act, Dweezil Zappa and his crack outfit, Zappa Plays Zappa. After touring the East Coast and Midwest, they have been lighting up the Left Coast. Today's installment was filed as RTF IV were wrapping up in Europe. There's big news here of a DVD-in-progress, plus White's interesting take on the ...
Continue ReadingLenny White and RTF IV: Germany, Holland and France
by Carl L. Hager
Intro |#2 | #3 |#4 “The gigs in Germany were fantastic, great audiences. The band is starting to hit its stride. In Hamburg, about 1,000 real dedicated fans stood in the rain for the full performance. In Neckarsulm, we played at the Audi performance center inside an Audi car manufacturing plant, a remarkable structure filled with classic and current Audi cars. “Overall, this is an amazing band. We played in Essen, Germany, ...
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