Results for "California"

Give "Gator" Some Respect

April 27, 2010

In 1964, sax man Willis “Gator" Jackson released the album Nuther'n Like Thuther'n on Prestige Records. This title neatly sums up the main criticism of Jackson: that he made a lot of records and they all sound the same. Granted, Jackson was no musical innovator, but one can still feel how his gritty, lowdown-blues blowing could ...

The Charles Sharp Quartet and Alexcline/Will Salmon @ The Open Gate

April 27, 2010

This Sunday, The Open Gate Theatre presents two great musical events. First up is Alex Cline/Will Salmon duo and next up is the Charles Sharp Quartet with an array of LA's primo improvisers. Come out and support this long running series!Alex Cline - percussionWill Salmon - flute, voice, movement-plus-Charles ...

La Piano Unit @ Harbor College May 1st!

April 27, 2010

The ladies of the LA Piano Unit are at it again on May 1st. Come out to hear a mixture of classical repertoire, contemporary compositions, and improvisation!From the LA Piano Unit: It's been 4 year since we founded this group and without your support, it wasn't possible. This concert is nothing but the expression ...

Popularity of 3-D is Affecting How Screenplays Are Written

April 27, 2010

When Matt Pitts, a writer on “Fringe" and a former assistant to J.J. Abrams, recently began shopping his first film script to movie studios, he knew he had a marketable idea on his hands. The title of his screenplay, after all, was “ Spring Break Zombie Cruise" and its storyline followed, well, just that. But the ...

Gonzalo Bergara Quartet at Lord of the Strings Concerts May 7th & 8th

April 26, 2010

World Renown Gypsy Jazz King, Gonzalo Bergara and his Quartet come to Orange County for two shows. After having toured the world extensively with the John Jorgenson Quintet, native Argentinean Gonzalo Bergara is now presenting his new CD Portea Soledad to glowing reviews all over the world. Gonzalo began playing professionally at age 16 in Buenos ...

A Love Letter to Latin Jazz

April 26, 2010

Calle 54 is clearly the work of an enraptured lover of Latin jazz, and the film looks marvelous. This 2000 documentary was directed by Spaniard Fernando Trueba, who also directed the wonderfully sexy film Belle poque (1992), starring Penelope Cruz. Here, he films some of the all-time greats of Latin jazz playing their music, including Tito ...

Paul Desmond - "Emily" (1975)

April 26, 2010

Top Scribes Reap Pic Rewrite Riches

April 26, 2010

Once upon a time, the ultimate Hollywood ambition was to direct. Nowadays, clients are more likely to tell their reps: “What I really want to do is polish scripts." For Hollywood's dozen or so top-tier script doctors, that means commanding $250,000- $300,000 a week, being booked months in advance and keeping their efforts largely cloaked in ...

Gene Lees Jazz Historian and Critic Dies

April 26, 2010

A Canadian by birth who moved to Ojai more than 30 years ago, he wrote highly personal essays and biographies of such jazz greats as Oscar Peterson, Woody Herman and Johnny Mercer. Gene Lees, a jazz historian and critic known for his pugnacious, highly personal essays and biographies of such jazz greats as Oscar Peterson, Woody ...

3-D Hollywoods Latest Hot Trend

April 26, 2010

On a recent afternoon, a dozen cinematographers, directors and camera assistants huddled inside a sound stage on the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City, wearing black plastic glasses as they watched a monitor. The object of their gaze: the body movements of a USC acting student sitting at a kitchen table on a set a few ...