Results for "Los Angeles"

Lauren White

Born: October 1

Lauren White is an accomplished Los Angeles-based jazz singer with a beautiful and versatile voice. Her first three CDs, Lauren White, Experiment, and Meant to Be, were well received and have enjoyed airplay on L.A.’s local jazz station KJAZZ as well as throughout the country. She performs twice yearly at the Metropolitan Room in New York City and can be heard in many jazz venues in the Los Angeles area, including Catalina Bar & Grill, Vitello’s, and the Cinegrill. Her newest CD, Out of the Past: Jazz & Noir, will be released in May, 2016. With updated jazz arrangements, the project brings to life songs featured in some of the most popular movies of the Film Noir genre. Lauren was born and raised in in Great Neck, Long Island

Scott Detweiler

Born: November 16, 1962

Scott Detweiler is an award winning American artist and actor, born and raised in New Orleans.  Over the course of his 30 (thirty) year career, his catalog of music has chronicled his evolution into a highly unique composer/performer, blending the styles of blues, funk, jazz, gospel & soul, but always rooted in the blues. 

His lyrics tell imaginatively woven stories that follow in the grand tradition of southern writers and classic lyricists.  He is a true son of the rich musical climate and one-of-a-kind culture that is the Crescent City. It is these influences that are in the soul of his creations and evident in his live performances, whether solo or backed by his band.

Nick DePinna

Born: September 19, 1985

San Francisco bay area native turned Los Angeles resident and enthusiast, composer and trombonist Nick DePinna studied music composition at UCLA, completing his M.A. in 2010. During his time at UCLA, his mentors included James W. Newton, Paul Chihara, David Lefkowitz, and Kenny Burrell among others. As a composer of concert, film, and commercial music, his output is wildly diverse. His creative concert works and large ensemble arrangements are performed with increasing regularity by various professional ensembles and universities across the nation, while at the same time his music for visual media can be heard frequently on such networks as ABC, FOX, HBO, National Geographic WILD, VH-1, and CMT

George Kahn

Born: January 7, 1952

Playing Records is proud to announce the release “STRAIGHT AHEAD”, George Kahn’s collaboration with Alex Acuña (drums) and Lyman Medeiros (bass). The project is George’s 9th album release and his first in the traditional piano trio format. The album consists 12 new tracks performed by the trio: 7 original compositions, each one in tribute to a pianist that is an inspiration to George (jazz greats like Dave Brubeck, Wynton Kelly, Red Garland, Roger Kellaway, and Joe Sample) and 5 “cover tunes” that are creative takes on current pop artists (Prince, Adele, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran) GEORGE KAHN – PIANO When a young musician’s sources of inspiration are jazz greats like Dave Brubeck, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Sample, Vince Guaraldi, and Wynton Kelly, you’d figure that his own music would turn out to be pretty special — and in the case of jazz pianist and composer GEORGE KAHN, you’d be right

Judy Wexler

Born: April 17

Los Angeles-based vocalist Judy Wexler has been garnering rave reviews and fans across the country and around the world. A touring and recording artist, she has headlined at jazz festivals, performing arts centers and major jazz clubs both nationally and internationally. She has a pliably warm, lustrous sound and displays an unerring ear for underexposed gems. She began studying music at a very young age and spent her early years training in theater and performing in plays, musicals and television — skills which have helped make her a consummate interpreter of lyrics. All About Jazz says, “Judy Wexler is more than a mere singer of songs, she is an actress, mood painter, song archaeologist and vocalist par excellence.” Her fifth CD, a collaboration with piano great Alan Pasqua called Crowded Heart (June 2019, Jewel City Jazz), presents “jazz standards for the 21st century,” an anthology of ten modern jazz compositions by contemporary songwriters

Michael Ragonese

Michael Ragonese is a Los Angeles based pianist, composer, arranger, and educator. He received his Bachelors of Music in Jazz Studies at California State University Northridge, where he led jazz combos to 1st place at the Reno and Monterey Jazz Festivals, also receiving the “Best College Performer” award at the Reno Jazz Festival. In 2017, Michael took 2nd place out of 8 piano finalists across the world in Lee Ritenour's Six String Jazz competition. Michael has performed, recorded, and worked with jazz artists such as Bennie Maupin, Charnett Moffett, Alphonso Johnson, Sue Raney, John Daversa, Louise Cole, Darek Oles, Gary Pratt, Walter Smith III, David Binney, Bob Reynolds, Bob Sheppard, Gene Coye, Rick Braun, Dave Koz, and Engelbert Humperdinck

Dave Weckl: The Cymbal of Excellence

by Jim Worsley
May 15, 2019

Attention to details and impeccable standards coupled with a desirous curiosity and a wealth of talent have served Dave Weckl well. The savvy and astute musician has meticulously traversed the jazz and fusion world over the past few decades. Weckl is on a very short list when the topic of drumming icons is broached. Perhaps best ...

Teodross Avery's 'After The Rain: A Night For Coltrane' (Tompkins Square) Out Now

May 10, 2019

In the beginning there was John Coltrane. Growing up in a family that listened to a vast and global array of music, Teodross Avery experienced an epiphany at 13 when he first heard Trane’s epochal harmonic steeplechase Giant Steps. Taking up the tenor saxophone, he emerged in the mid-1990s as one of the most powerful young ...

Thundercat: On Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington, Erykah Badu and the great LA jazz renaissance

by Rob Garratt
May 6, 2019

When, a few years back, the mainstream media began breathlessly anointing the arrival of a West Coast-born jazz “renaissance," Thundercat's name was invariably invoked second in the evidence list— behind, of course, that of his childhood buddy Kamasi Washington. While Washington's career has gone stratospheric—with a summer co-headline tour alongside Herbie Hancock the latest summit mounted—Thundercat ...

Barbara Reed

Like all life long musicians it seems that I never really decided to become a musician, but that the decision was natural, and therefore automatic. I simply had to do it. We had a baby grand when I was a toddler and I'd crawl up on the bench and make what I thought was wonderful music for hours at a time. I'm pretty sure that singing was the medium through which I pictured myself communicating musically, and that too seemed to be automatic. That's not to say that there weren't lessons and studies along the way, but only that I felt as if these things were stepping stones to that fabulous world of making beautiful sounds