Results for "Steve Huffsteter"

Steve Huffsteter

Los Angeles Jazz Institute Festival "Big Band Spectacular" 2017, Part 2-4

by Simon Pilbrow
July 18, 2017

Los Angeles Jazz Institute Festival Big Band Spectacular LAX Westin Hotel Los Angeles, CA May 24-28, 2017 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Jimmy Giuffre's classic, “Four Brothers," has been a much-loved anthem of the Woody Herman band since his Second ...

A Big Band Spectacular? You Bet Your Brass!

by Jack Bowers
June 5, 2017

On May 23, Betty and I flew to jny: Los Angeles to attend the L.A. Jazz Institute's semi-annual ode to swinging, this one labeled Big Band Spectacular and slated for Thursday through Sunday, May 25-28. We rearranged our schedule to arrive a day early, even before Wednesday's “bonus" event, to attend the funeral of a longtime ...

Dave Tull: I Just Want to Get Paid!

by Jack Bowers
June 15, 2016

Whoa! Is that a sharp new Dave Frishberg lyric we hear poking fun at the pompous and assailing the absurd? Could it be Bob Dorough, Mose Allison or perhaps Giacomo Gates? No, the often humorous and always perceptive sentiments expressed on I Just Want to Get Paid! are those of Los Angeles- based sideman Dave Tull ...

Clare Fischer Big Band: Pacific Jazz

by Jack Bowers
November 25, 2014

The late Dr. Clare Fischer enjoyed a long and storied career as a composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader and educator, primarily on the West Coast. Luckily, one of those he educated was his son Brent who was at his father's side as a musician and adviser for more than three decades and has safeguarded the Fischer legacy ...

Ginger Berglund & Scott Whitfield: Solitary Moon

by Jack Bowers
September 22, 2014

The unabridged subtitle of this endlessly charming album is “Ginger Berglund & Scott Whitfield Sing the Johnny Mandel Songbook." For those who were unaware that there is a Johnny Mandel Songbook apart from “Emily," “The Shadow of Your Smile" and “Close Enough for Love," this scintillating summary is a guaranteed eye-(and ear-) opener, lovingly packaged and ...

Stan Kenton Alumni Band: Road Scholars

by Jack Bowers
February 2, 2014

Road Scholars? A clever title indeed, but these gentlemen (and three ladies) are more akin to “road maestros," an appraisal that is abundantly clear from A to Z on this latest recording by trumpeter Mike Vax's turbo-charged Stan Kenton Alumni Band, taped at various concerts during the band's 2013 spring tour, a two-week, three-thousand-mile odyssey that ...

Swingin' on a Riff . . . Hangin' by a Thread?

by Jack Bowers
June 14, 2013

Betty and I returned to Albuquerque on Memorial Day after attending Swingin' on a Riff, the latest in a series of marvelous semi-annual events presented by Ken Poston and the Los Angeles Jazz Institute for more than twenty years at venues in and around L.A. This one was held May 23-26 at the Los Angeles Marriott ...

In Tune or Not in Tune... That Is the Question

by Jack Bowers
April 2, 2013

Suppose a month goes by, you have a column to publish, but nothing has happened that's worth writing about. What do you do then? Read on, as the question is about to be answered. A while back there was a discussion at a Stan Kenton web site (Kentonia) about musicians or groups of ...

Buddy Rich: In a Zone of His Own

by Jack Bowers
February 10, 2013

One of the channels that came with my Dish Network package is Classic Arts Showcase, which is a treasure trove of film clips documenting classical, ballet, folk, pop and other forms of music that one is unlikely to see anywhere else (although some footage is presumably available on YouTube, which more and more seems to encompass ...