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Denise Donatelli and Janis Mann at Charlie O's, May 20, 2011
by Chuck Koton
Denise Donatelli Charlie O's Van Nuys, CA May 20, 2011 The Los Angeles area is blessed with the presence of many talented vocalists--drawn, no doubt, by both the Mediterranean climate and the abundance of studio work. In May, a pair of transplanted East Coast songbirds, Denise Donatelli and Janis Mann, warbled their ...
Jazz it Up: New Webcast Debuts This Sunday June 26th
In spite of its hallowed historical role as America's only original art form, jazz has often been criticized for “living in the past." For many contemporary listeners, jazz has been “trapped in amber," content to recycle the popular musical forms of a half-century ago. While there may be an element of truth in this observation, often ...
Playboy Jazz Festival: June 11-12, 2011
by Chuck Koton
Playboy Jazz Festival Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA June 11-12, 2011 June gloom blanketed Los Angeles and the Hollywood Bowl last Saturday, but it wasn't long before jazz heat from the 33rd Playboy Jazz Festival burned away the last traces of fog. Playboy Jazz producer, Darlene Chan, who ...
Marcus Miller: A Night in Monte Carlo
by Chuck Koton
It's been more than four years since James Brown, the “hardest working man in show business," departed this Earth for an ethereal stage, time enough to anoint a successor. Bassist Marcus Miller deserves consideration--a tribute that would, no doubt, put a smile on the face of the Godfather of Soul. After all, a typical year for ...
2011 Playboy Jazz Line-Up Announced
By Chuck Koton There are many reasons for Americans to express their collective gratitude to Hugh Hefner. He played a fundamental role in sophisticating society's senses in the1950s. And there are the women. There is the ground breaking path Hef carved in transcending the puritanical sexual mores of the Eisenhower era. And there are the women. ...
Good News For LA's Jazz Community
The jazz community has, too often, endured bad news. This sad reality recently manifested in the deaths of legends James Moody, Lena Horne, Billy Taylor and Buddy Collette, among others. The loss of the music's great instrumentalists and vocalists to the ravages of time and disease is, of course, inevitable, though no less painful. Like these ...
Live From Los Angeles: Autumn 2010
by Chuck Koton
The Los Angeles jazz scene, in spite of occasional rumors to the contrary, is vibrant and eclectic, though admittedly, also quite far flung. No hoppin' on the “A" train to the Village; out here jazz lovers spin their odometers drivin' from Hollywood to Studio City, from downtown LA to Long Beach, in search of hip and ...
2010 Playboy Jazz Festival: A Swingin' Party At The Hollywood Bowl
by Chuck Koton
Hear the name Playboy and in an instant, a parade of “hot" images race involuntarily across the mind's eye. There's Dizzy, bent over and blowin' the hippest sounds through his misshapen horn; Stan Getz' tenor sax pourin' forth cool samba; Benny Goodman and Count Basie leadin' their bands through swing history; Art Blakey and his band ...
Sonny Fortune: Last Night At Sweet Rhythm
by Chuck Koton
Jellyfish plumes of toxic smoke may no longer hover in the air, but clinking glasses, persistent waiters and the intermittent roaring of drink mixers still conspire to diminish a jazz lover's listening pleasure at a live nightclub performance. Yet, somehow, spontaneous improvisation--the lifeblood of jazz--and the intimate interactions among the musicians and the audience, combine in ...
Azar Lawrence: Mystic Journey
by Chuck Koton
Azar LawrenceMystic JourneyFurthermore Recordings2010 Unlike many who stumble in the darkness for years, tenor and soprano saxophonist Azar Lawrence discovered his way in life early, knowing that he would be journeying down a road filled with music. By the time he turned 21, Lawrence had already played with ...
