Articles by Chuck Koton
Eric Reed Quartet, Pan African People's Arkestra and Pharoah Sanders / Joey DeFrancesco Tribute Band
by Chuck Koton
Eric Reed Quartet Sam FirstLos Angeles, CA June 9, 2023 This spring's weather was unseasonably cool, but the jazz scene has been hot in California! In June, master pianist Eric Reed brought his quartet, including tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore, bassist Mike Gurrola and drummer Reggie Quinerly to Sam First, a cozy jazz club just east of Los Angeles International Airport. The band opened with a composition of Moore's titled “623 C Street," which, according to Mr Reed, ...
read moreJazz At LACMA: 30 Years Of Friday Night Jazz
by Chuck Koton
For more than thirty years, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has been presenting a free, swinging jazz concert every Friday evening. During that time so many jazz clubs in the Los Angeles area have come and gone: the Vine Street Bar and Grill, Charlie O's, Spazio's and Cafe Metropol, among others, have all shut their doors. In 2009, landlord greed forced the Jazz Bakery out of their long-time home and, more recently, Covid killed Joon Lee's Blue ...
read moreBobby Bradford and Friends: Stealin' Home: Jackie Robinson Suite
by Chuck Koton
Born in Mississippi in 1934 and raised in Dallas, Texas, cornet master and composer Bobby Bradford knows racism and segregation. When asked if Texas was completely segregated, Bradford said, “If there's a word stronger than 'completely,' that was Texas." In spite of the hate and discrimination of everyday life in the Jim Crow South, Bradford and his family were tuned in to events around the country that impacted African Americans. They “got the news from the outside world" from Black ...
read moreHot Fun In The Summertime: The Leimert Park Jazz Festival Celebrates The Culture Of Black Los Angeles
by Chuck Koton
When Diane Robertson moved into LA's Leimert Park neighborhood (the cultural center of Black Los Angeles), she knew she wanted to do something to celebrate the community and bring the people together. So, in 2015, she organized the first Sutro Avenue Summer Soiree. But after a great deal of thought and hard work, in 2020 Robertson, along with Dwight Trible and The World Stage, transformed this street party into the Leimert Park Jazz Festival. Sadly, due to the Covid crisis ...
read more15 Months Later: How A Historic Los Angeles Performance Space Survived Covid
by Chuck Koton
On March 1, 2020 The World Stage in Leimert Park, the cultural heart of the Black community in Los Angeles, hosted a fundraising concert to help Eliane Henri complete her documentary on the late, great horn master, Roy Hargrove. The performance featured veterans tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore and Willie Jones on drums, rising stars, pianist Gerald Clayton and Mike Gurrola on bass and included a short video of the still in-progress film. Little did anyone in the venue realize that ...
read moreAzar Lawrence Has Paid His Dues...Two times
by Chuck Koton
Tenor and soprano saxophonist Azar Lawrence has been one of the most dynamic and spiritually-charged reed players of the post-John Coltrane generation. Lawrence forged his sound in the fires of the Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner bands in the 1970s and, for nearly five decades, he has performed and recorded with the best musicians in the world. Today, Lawrence is at the peak of his horn playing, blowing with as much beauty, power and intensity as anyone on the music ...
read morePhil Ranelin: Phil Ranelin Collected 2003-2019
by Chuck Koton
One day, in Indianapolis in 1948, a nine year old Phil Ranelin made a fateful visit to his paternal grandmother's home. She was a real music buff and that afternoon, before she went to do some work out back, she told young Phillip, “Any of these records, feel free to play 'em and see what kind of music you like. Just don't scratch 'em!" That afternoon, Phillip discovered “everything from Big Maybelle to Charlie Parker." A couple of ...
read moreStan Levey: Jazz Heavyweight
by Chuck Koton
Stan Levey: Jazz Heavyweight Frank R. Hayde 224Pages ISBN: #13978-1-59580-086-2 Santa Monica Press 2016 When one thinks of Bebop, the names Bird and Dizzy along with Monk, Max and Bud immediately pop up. In the mind's eye, one can see those classic Herman Leonard jazz photos of these Cats playin' in smoke-filled clubs like Minton's in Harlem and the 3 Deuces on 52nd Street. But someone else, virtually unknown, by comparison, deserves to ...
read moreTheo Saunders: Jassemblage
by Chuck Koton
Veteran Manhattan-born pianist, composer and arranger, Theo Saunders, has been a driven artist since his days at the High School For Performing Arts. In the ensuing decades, whether in NYC or California, his devotion to improvisational music has led him to stamp his personal vision on the music he plays, whether composing compelling original music or rearranging standards. Six years ago, after a typically unfettered, emotionally searing performance at one of LA's great jazz hangs, the late Charlie ...
read moreSwingin' In The Rain: Portland Jazz Festival 2016
by Chuck Koton
Sonny Fortune and Azar Lawrence Jimmy Mak'sPDX Jazz FestivalPortland, OR February 18-19, 2016 Any American burg that aspires to “great city" status has got to have a solid jazz scene. Sorry, but hipster hat shops, artisanal juiceries, and $6 coffee from beans grown on sustainable farms in Africa and Latin America just wont do. Portland, the Rose City of the rugged Northwest, is one of those aspirational cities. And after a ...
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