Last night's concert at Dizzy's was a special affair, indeed. Before an absolute standing-room-only crowd, tenor saxophonist Daniel Jackson, trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos. pianist Joshua White, bassist Marshall Hawkins, with special guests, alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, and flautist Lori Bell delivered, …

A Scribe Amidst the Lions debuted their new La Escalara Records split 7” with south of the border buddies Sour Soul in Mexico City earlier this month, an adventure wrought with near death experiences, loss of personal property, Communist hauntings, …

“I had a manic episode this past July,” says Veronica May, who with her girlfriend and Lovebirds bandmate Lindsay White has been very open about her battles with bipolar disorder. “[I’m] about a week off of Zyprexa and I can't …

“A few years ago, there was talk in certain music publications about the death of the guitar,” says Sam Lopez, curator of the San Diego Experimental Guitar Show. “Notions were made that this archaic instrument was no longer a relevant …

"The Picture Head project reached its funding goal on Kickstarter, and we have the record release party scheduled for January 28 at Pete's Place," Quasi Recordings owner Matt Rhea tells the Reader. "All of the artists involved will perform the …

We asked our Everyone’s a Critic contributors to compile a CD hit list for 2011, which we cross-pollinated with our own in-house faves to drop on you this wicked-scientific and original top-ten. So, without further adoodoo: 10. Youth Lagoon’s electro-pop …

Here’s some local music you should probably know about. New Reader contributor Bobby Bray gave you the low down on the Moonshake “Future Disco, Spacey House, and Techy Groove” party at Kadan in this week’s Blurt column. The biweekly dance …

From what I can see, there aren't any concerts this weekend or next. This gives us time to explore some topics and go a little deeper with them. First up, the major triad that opens Wagner's Das Rheingold. The horns …

These are the ten best CDs to cross my path in 2011, regardless of geography. Some of them were recorded in New York, LA, and Portugal. Even still, the San Diego connection remains strong. Bert Turetzky, Mark Dresser, Peter Sprague …

In 1978, Brian Eno released a vinyl compilation of four bands from New York’s fringe No Wave movement. Though it failed to chart and soon went obsolete until a 2005 re-release by Lilith Records, No New York is considered to …

San Diego is home to a large number of world-class jazz musicians. The talent pool is deep here. Three of the top-ten local recordings are also represented on my top-ten discs from anywhere (see tomorrow's Top Ten Global releases). Top …

It gets complicated: Scott Wilson, a Santee blues rocker wrote, recorded, and released “Yoga Girl” in June. Then, in November, a hip-hop song with the same name surfaced. Same name, different song, and it got 450,000 hits on YouTube. David …

If there be any doubt of the power of music, consider the Christmas Truce of 1914. After rushing to war in a spirit of carnival, the armies of World War I found themselves in a world of misery. The war …

Duo LaRé is comprised of mandolin virtuoso Chris Acquavella and rising star guitarist Nate Jarrell, ably assisted on several tracks by additional musicians Erdis Maxhelaku on cello, Harley Magsino on double bass, and Steve Haney on percussion. Recorded at San …

A Christmas Eve playlist. O Holy Night (Cantique de Noel) by Adolphe Adam has become a Christmas Eve standard. Initially it was resisted by French clergy because the political views of the lyricist, Placide Cappeau, were too liberal. Cappeau wanted …

San Diego flute master Lori Bell recently received a 2011 Award Of Excellence from the GMA, (Global Music Awards). "I found out about it, (the award), from the faculty at SDSU, who encouraged me to apply, then from I got …

This message showed up in my email inbox earlier in the week: “San Diego's own Ernie Becquer -- #4 on the iTunes Soul and R&B Top Album Charts for his work on Jeremy Passion’s debut album For More Than a …

Saturday night I went to Tijuana. I ate tamales, drank Modelos, met some awesome people, and listened to even more awesome music. My friend and I caught a bus to downtown TJ for the Beach Fossils concert, and it could …

After the contretemps of 91X Wrex the Halls’ first night at the Valley View Casino Center, when ticket-holders were stuck in line trying to get into the pit, things moved more smoothly on Night 2. After an opening set by …

“San Diego is such a volatile music scene,” says Jesse Kranzler, an organizer of the three day “I Promise” Che Café benefit show. “One venue or group of bands usually keeps it going, especially in the all ages community. The …

In October, at a benefit concert for an OB keyboardist (and now cancer patient) named Joe Longa, a gathering of the usual suspects were on hand. The bill that night included Private Domain, the Farmers, Mojo Nixon, Chet Cannon, the …

Adam Lambert, former American Idol contestant and San Diego County resident, was arrested in Finland Thursday after brawling with his boyfriend --Finnish reality-star Sauli Koskinen-- inside a bar in downtown Helsinki, reports online gossip-site, TMZ. Police officers arrested Lambert for …

Frank Zappa would have celebrated his 71st birthday today. The Zappas moved to San Diego in 1954. Thirteen-year-old Frank bought his first record player at Valley Music in El Cajon. He soon began buying used records in a retail vinyl …

If Mayan astrology, New Age paranoia, and visions reveled to philosopher Terence Mckenna in the Colombian Amazon on a massive dose of psychedelic mushrooms and ayahuasca are to be believed, exactly one year from today, on December 21, 2012, the …

LA trumpeter/cornetist Bobby Bradford is a living legend of free jazz music. He grew up in Fort Worth, Texas and played with childhood friend Ornette Coleman, eventually replacing Don Cherry in Coleman's quartet years later, after a stint in the …

I told you a bit about bLUMPy aka The Beef Wellingtons aka Harley's Monster last month after catching them incidentally at Tori Roze’s Ruby Tuesdays night at the Ruby Room. The free jazz trio combined wandering bass (multi-instrumentalist Harley Magsino …

This year Unsilent Night celebrates their tenth anniversary in San Diego with another holiday boom box processional through downtown. Ask organizer Ellen Weller to describe the sound of hundreds of boom boxes carried aloft and playing the same song in …

One-time Escondido resident Benjamin Britten wrote a beautiful piece of Christmas music during his sea voyage back to England in 1942. The music was Britten's Ceremony of Carols. The piece is written for three-part treble choir and harp. Treble choir …

“The San Diego scene for our sound is alright,” says Beejay Buduan, guitarist and songwriter in Clockart, over coffee at Twiggs on Park. “It’s more of a rock city. It was getting pretty big here, the whole beach, chillwave thing. …

This list of the top-fifteen concerts was culled from more than 100 I attended this year. There were some I missed, due to personal economics, like Herbie Hancock and Return To Forever IV, but as it was, whittling those 100 …

From Germany to Hawaii, from the smallest sweat box clubs to the sweltering desert, Raiza Rukus has spent over 16 years getting blasted by countless watts of bass. “Whether spinning on my head at a b-boy jam or watching the …

9 Beet Stretch. My friend asked if I'd heard of it after the Symphony concert of Beethoven's Ninth. I hadn't. He explained that it is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony stretched out over a 24 hour period with no pitch distortion. He …

Musica Vitale could make an argument for being the best choir in San Diego County. They've been singing quality concerts since 2006 but not too many people have heard of them. I went to their concert at All Souls' Episcopal …

Last night's Holiday Concert at the Sunset Temple by Steph Johnson, a singer, songwriter and guitarist with seemingly unlimited potential, was a prime example of an emergent artist spreading her wings. Two years ago, Ms. Johnson was working at a …

Scott West's music video for "Standing on the Moon," from his album Sex on Sunday, passed 100,000 views this week. West began developing Sex On Sunday with Ian Samwell in 2002. “I used to have lunch with Ian on Fridays, …

98 Bottles in Little Italy has been open just 10 weeks now, but they've established a forward-thinking policy of featuring jazz musicians in performance--always a welcome trend. Thursday night, they opened with a bang with the Joshua White Trio, which, …

The new band on Mario Escovedo’s Requiemme label is from Chula Vista. The Beautiful View (the English translation of Chula Vista) is four friends who met in high school, started a band in 2007, and played as many live shows …

Sultry singer/ songwriter/ guitarist Steph Johnson is deep in preparation for a special San Diego concert Dec. 17, at the Sunset Temple, 3911 Kansas St. in North Park. Johnson's work is well known to SD music fans. Her first CD, …

The Mattson brothers of La Jolla invented a genre called surf jazz. But don’t confuse it with the surf rock of the 1960s. In the case of the Mattsons the essence of their sound is simple: straight ahead jazz and …

No doubt surfing the cosmic adumbrations of Saturday morning’s lunar eclipse (yeah, I slept through it, too), tomorrow holds not only one of my favorite experimental monthlies (Liquid Geometry Presents), not only my other favorite experimental monthly (Makeout Weird), but …

With Beethoven's Ninth behind us at the San Diego Symphony, what's next? Brahms's First Symphony at the La Jolla Symphony. Granted, the Brahms isn't until February, but it's a happy coincidence. Brahms worked on his First Symphony for at least …

December's blues show at KSDS Jazz Live got a definite shot in the arm tonight with the performance of singer /songwriter, country blues specialist Doug Macleod. Macleod is as much a storyteller as anything else, and his stories are pretty …

My break up with Handel's Messiah lasted all of a week. I found myself at St. Elizabeth Seton Parish, in Carlsbad, participating in the La Jolla Symphony's annual sing along. That Messiah is tough to give up. It's always there, …

“This is Wobble Events' seventh installment and the most anticipated so far,” says promoter Bryen Beglinger. “Krafty Kuts, aka Martin Reeves, has been a legend in the EDM [electronic dance music] scenes and more specifically the Nu Skool Breaks and …

Those who may have searched Bonham’s auction website in the days following November 29 for news about sale 19037, lot 373w, found a cryptic message posted in red: this lot has been withdrawn. Lot 373 w consisted of one extraordinarily …

Jamuel Saxon's debut full-length Pre-Madonna will be available digitally January 17, 2012 on local Single Screen Records. The announcement comes off the heels of the release of the video for the album's first single "Planetarium," a celestial sway-and-shake party anthem …

“We believe in the Occupy movement and others like it,” says Scott Stephens, manager and vocalist of local pop rock entourage Liquid Blue. “We’ve been an activist group for many years. We’re really hyped to support this movement and provide …

Conductor John Nelson has an impressive resume. He's conducted four of the "big five" American orchestras. He's conducted at The Met and Lyric Opera of Chicago and has worked at several major houses in Europe. He also won a Grammy …

If you were to load up Vanja (pronounced Vonya) James’ Christmas stocking this year with any spare coin you may have, she’d like that very much. The San Diego based singer/songwriter is in the middle of a new recording project, …

KSDS Jazz 88's Jazz Live concludes its 2011 concert series with the traditional December blues show, in honor of their long-time announcer "T". Dec. 13, the Saville Theater will present veteran troubadour, storyteller, and country blues specialist Doug MacLeod at …

98 Bottles is a new lounge and entertainment venue in northern Little Italy that features craft beer, sake, wine, "farm to table food," and entertainment. Owned and operated by long-time San Diego residents, and husband and wife, Steve Anthony Mesaros …

For 89 year old guitarist Mundell Lowe, age is not a deterrent, a ravage or a disqualifier. At last night's concert with Bob Boss, it truly seemed that playing music might be Lowe's fountain-of-youth. His technical facility was actually more …

Dan Chusid is showing up more and more in publications and online in the small print around the margins of concert images of rock stars. A music photographer, the bulk of Chusid’s assignment work is done for Sound Diego (NBC.com) …

Trio M is composed of bassist extraordinaire Mark Dresser, Bay Area pianist Myra Melford and the New York based drummer, Matt Wilson. The Guest House is their brand new CD, recorded for the longstanding German label Enja. This is not …

Last month, Jamie Minotti of the Madero Group told the Reader about his mission to cultivate local and out-of-town electronic music with regular Ocean Beats events. Tonight’s a great chance to see what that’s all about with an Uptown edition …

The San Diego Center for the Arts is featuring a rare two guitar duo of Mundell Lowe and Bob Boss, Dec.9, at the Architecture venue, 3956 30th St., in North Park. Lowe is a legendary figure in jazz history. He …

After his singing voice, the thing one notices at a Billy Joe Clements show is the sound of his guitar, which is to say alt-country perfect. Clements can bend lyrics in the manner of the Black Crowe’s Chris Robinson (some …

Along with many vidiots my age, television was the teat that nurtured us all, and I was less weaned than most. I recall "discovering" the Beatles on a Smothers Brothers show from October 1968 (which I recently re-watched, spotting a …

There are not a lot of places in San Diego for jazz musicians to play. Recently "re-localized" bassist Benjamin Wanicur is working hard to mitigate that situation. He's already established a Monday night jam session at the Turquoise Cafe in …

Some albums are ideal for biking. Some are for working. Some are best heard through a thick fog of bong smoke. Other’s while driving East on a vacant desert highway at dawn. Radiohead’s “OK Computer” is perfect for reading. Le …

When Kevin Martin and his band returned from a gig in LA in the morning earlier this week, they decided that they were too tired to unload the gear from his van parked in his driveway in a nice neighborhood …

According to the Professional Elvis Impersonators Association, there are 200,000 or so Elvis Presley impersonators around the globe. At least one of them lives in Oceanside California. His name is James Kruk. As an actor, he played Elvis in a …

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is going off at Symphony Hall this weekend. If Christmas is about peace on Earth and good will to all then Beethoven's setting of Schiller's poem fits well. "Embrace each other now, you millions! This kiss is …

After the monstrous Jeff Kaiser Ockodektet concert on Nov. 19, I was chatting with trumpet virtuoso Daniel Rosenboom, telling hime how much I enjoyed his work on some of Vinny Golia's latest recordings, when he alerted me to his own …

Here is a bit of classical trivia to add some balance to the festive season. If you don't already know who wrote The Funeral March, you'll never guess. Beethoven? No. Brahms? No. Liszt? No Mahler, Schumann, Mendelssohn? No. Andrew Lloyd …

Dwight Lightning, based in North County, call themselves the world’s first and only Dwight Yoakam tribute band. They may well be. A quick scan of the Internet, including the sites of several well-known brokers of such tribute acts turns up …

On Sunday I caught two Christmas concerts. The first was, you guessed it, The Messiah at Point Loma Nazarene University and the second was two Bach pieces at First United Methodist in Mission Valley. The Point Loma Messiah was largely …

Athenaeum Jazz at the Studio was sold out for the Peter Sprague String Consort gig on Dec. 2. In the audience were other local musical heavyweights like pianist Joshua White and saxophonist Ian Tordella, along with U-T music critic George …

Yesterday I gave you a preview of the Kava Lounge’s 7th anniversary line-up. Consistently at the forefront of San Diego’s electronic, experimental, and world music curve, Kava cultivates the underbelly of local and touring music and pours a mean menu …

Dream Theater, Thursday December 1, Balboa Theater: Thanks to Sony’s Social Media team in San Diego for providing the WX9 Cyber-shot camera used to shoot this show, and to photog Duane Dimock for helping us demo the camera (the same …

Last night's double-concert at UCSD's Loft, featuring KaiBorg (Jeff Kaiser: trumpet/electronics; David Borgo: winds/electronics) and the very popular Marco Benevento Trio (Benevento: piano; Reed Mathis: electric bass; Andrew Borger: drums), combined two drastically differing aesthetics. UCSD has a long, and …

The Kava Lounge is celebrating their seventh birthday tonight with Dakini Star and Aima the Dreamer of Goddess Alchemy Project, a tribe of lunar Amazonian gypsy shamans chanting heady spoken word hop over jazzy, bass-heavy beats. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YM49AzmFpQ Filling out the …

"Imagine Cassandra Wilson on acid and you're on the right track." ( Deni Kasrel--Jazz Times ) Vocalist Bonnie Barnett's new disc on Jeff Kaiser's pfMENTUM label, In Between Dreams, released last month, is a startling example of how the voice …

Last year when the Far West band went looking for a place to record they settled on the American Legion post in Encinitas. “Our drummer, Tony Sanborn, he lives down just south of Oceanside,” says Lee Briante. “His mother works …