Blog Archives
An Exciting Jazz Performance!
I have been re-discovering live jazz over the past few months after a brief vacation and am thrilled that I have, because I’m seeing performers of the ilk of Lenny White! Part of what made this night special was that it was the inaugural concert in a new series that Berklee is staging at Scullers Jazz Club.
Lenny White
Lenny has been performing for more than forty years – in fact, the first time I saw Return to Forever in 1974 (where I sat on the floor right next to Chick Corea) Lenny was the drummer – and he is a master. Read the rest of this entry
Serious Funk and Sweet Soul Music Ruled the Night
By now my regular readers should know how much I love music from New Orleans, so the fact that I went to see Galactic at the House of Blues should not be a surprise.
Galactic
Galactic has been around for twenty years. The core group is five musicians with a revolving cast of guests. On this tour, they have Maggie Koerner singing and Corey Henry playing trombone. Read the rest of this entry
It’s Concert Announcement Friday!
It’s been a couple of weeks since I posted an announcement – in part because I’ve attended a lot of shows and in part because I wanted to catch up on my reviews of those shows.
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper (supporting Typhoon) at The Sinclair – Sunday, March 23
Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds at Narrows Center for the Arts – Thursday, March 27
Ana Popovic Band at Bull Run Restaurant – Sunday, April 6
Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet at Johnny D’s – Sunday, April 6
Jon Batiste and Stay Human at The Sinclair – Tuesday, April 8
Emmylou Harris at House of Blues – Sunday, April 13
The Mowgli’s at The Sinclair – Tuesday, April 15
The Mountain Goats (solo) at Somerville Theatre – Wednesday, April 16
Nickel Creek at House of Blues – Thursday, May 1
Melissa Ferrick at The Sinclair – Sunday, May 4
Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band at Tupelo Music Hall – Wednesday, May 14
Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band at Bull Run Restaurant – Thursday, May 15
Loudon Wainwright III at Narrows Center for the Arts – Thursday, May 22
Ingrid Michaelson at House of Blues – Monday, June 2
Newport Folk Festival: Mavis Staples, Jenny Lewis, Houndmouth – July 25-27
Tom Rush at Narrows Center for the Arts – Saturday, September 13
Jonathan Edwards at Narrows Center for the Arts – Saturday, November 22
Susan Cattaneo Penned My New Anthem
I first heard of Susan Cattaneo when she performed in the music of Muscle Shoals, Alabama show last December. I was quite impressed when I heard her perform songs written by others; I am even more impressed with Susan’s songwriting, as evidenced by her newly-released album, “Haunted Heart”.
Susan Cattaneo – photo by Jyoti Sackett
Susan is a songwriting professor at Berklee College of Music. This is the first album for which she wrote all of the songs, and it’s stunning. Read the rest of this entry
Soul Queen Bettye LaVette Amazes!
A friend told me that Bettye LaVette brought her to tears at a concert last year and that impressed me, so I was very excited to see her perform at Johnny D’s last night.
Bettye LaVette
This was a monumental show! She poured her heart and soul into each note than emanated from her and the very large crowd appreciated every one of them!
Bettye
Soaring Afro-Cuban Jazz Concert
I was minimally familiar with Roy Hargrove before this show at Scullers, but all I needed to know was that his style has been Afro-Cuban with forays into funk, hip-hop, and bop. Afro-Cuban is arguably my favorite form of jazz so I was all in for this show.
Roy Hargrove
I apologize for the darkness of the photos; I was sitting very close to the stage, which was perfect for sound and the view, but not so perfect for photos. Read the rest of this entry
Funky/Jazzy Evening at Scullers
This show was another unexpected pleasure for me. The Matt Wilson Quartet was performing with special guest John Medeski, who I knew and enjoyed when I saw him perform with Medeski Martin & Wood.
The Quartet Watching Matt Wilson
What a treat this evening turned out to be! Read the rest of this entry
Two Amazing Blues Guitarists Shared A Stage
It can be incredible seeing one fabulous guitarist doing a solo show, but adding a second one can bring a show to a whole other level as it did last week with Sonny Landreth and Cindy Cashdollar.
Sonny Landreth and Cindy Cashdollar
I’d seen Sonny perform a number of times over the years (including a previous show or two at Regattabar where this show was also held) but had never seen Cindy. What a duo! Read the rest of this entry
A Bluegrass Ball??? Who Knew?
The show was billed as The (First Annual) Deadly Gentlemen’s Ball. This show, held at The Sinclair in Cambridge, was hosted by, you guessed it, The Deadly Gentlemen.
The Deadly Gentlemen
I knew this was going to be an evening of bluegrass, but I had no idea how much fun it would be! Read the rest of this entry
A Jazz Saxophone Treasure
I had never seen David Sanborn perform; when we noticed he was doing several shows at Scullers, we had to go. We had another show to attend earlier in the evening, so we rushed to Scullers for his 10 pm show. I generally prefer the late show for jazz; the band is completely warmed up and is generally looser for the later set.
David Sanborn
We got there a few minutes after the show started, but the audience was already fully engaged. One of the things I love about jazz audiences is that they tend to be very respectful of the musicians. Read the rest of this entry
suze reviews the blues 