Doing Joni Proud
Last night's Robin Adler & Mutts of the Planet concert celebrating the music of Joni Mitchell was huge success on every conceivable level--and like a classical music performance--much of the credit is due both to the performers and the composer. …
Valle Group 'Heads Wes' at Tango Del Rey
Guitarist Jaime Valle is one of the San Diego jazz scene's most valuable players and distinctive musicians. Last night, he assembled an incredible group of veteran performers to pay tribute to the music, and spirit of jazz icon Wes Montgomery …
Mutts of the Planet: Joni Mitchell Tribute @ 98 Bottles, Sept. 1
On Saturday, Sept. 1, vocalist Robin Adler and her guitarist husband Dave Blackburn will bring their all-star aggregation known as Mutts of the Planet into The Back Room at 98 Bottles for an evening of music composed by the brilliant …
Patton Group honors Jackson in The Back Room
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/aug/29/30491/ Last night, the soul-stirring and acrobatic vocalist Leonard Patton took the stage before a sold-out audience in The Back Room at 98 Bottles with an all-star band featuring trumpeter/vocalist Teagan Taylor, pianist Ed Kornhauser, guitarist Nate Jarrell, and bassist …
Brian Levy & Mikan Zlatkovich in The Back Room
Former San Diegan, (he lives in Germany, now), tenor saxophonist Brian Levy has been back in town for a week or so, doing some gigging and recording a new disc at Peter Sprague's studio. Last night, he wrapped things up …
Last Train Home from Tango Del Rey
The Peter Sprague Group Plays Pat Metheny scored a direct hit last night at Tango Del Rey in Pacific Beach, reinforcing many of the very ideas that have made Metheny's output such a vital force in modern music over the …
Sprague Plays Metheny: Aug. 23 @ Tango Del Rey
San Diego jazz guitar icon Peter Sprague will be paying tribute to guitarist Pat Metheny Thursday night, August 23 at Tango Del Rey in Pacific Beach. "Pat just had a birthday, and we're pulling our band together to play a …
Besos de Coco: 1st Gig is Standing Room Only
Women in jazz have been a source of interest for me ever since I bought Jean Luc Ponty's Aurora back in 1977, and saw that Patrice Rushen was the pianist on the date. Last night, Besos de Coco, a trio …
Brian Levy / Rick Hollander Group: Live in San Diego
Tenor saxophonist Brian Levy headlined a Chuck Perrin Dizzy's production at 98 Bottles last night, featuring an international quartet of heavy hitters including drummer Rick Hollander from Germany, bassist Dave Santoro from Boston, and San Diego's own Mikan Zlatkovich on …
Joshua White/ Jeff Denson Project live at 98 Bottles
Virtuoso pianist Joshua White continued on his inexorable ascension into the improvising elite last night with a concert celebrating his 27th birthday at 98 Bottles. This time it was with the Joshua White/ Jeff Denson Project featuring the Bay Area …
Tommy Holladay Quintet at 98 Bottles
98 Bottles hosted the Tommy Holladay Quintet last night, a fascinating blend of emerging and fully formed talent. Holladay is a fine young guitarist working in the post- Abercrombie vein, and he shares the front-line with trombonist John Egizi. Together, …
BMG: Local Jazz Collaboration at 98 Bottles
Three of San Diego's finest musicians/composers combined their considerable skills for a collaborative effort Saturday night at 98 Bottles. Tenor saxophonist Brian Levy, pianist Mikan Zlatkovich, and trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos, took the stage, supported by bassist Dave Marr and drummer …
WorldBeat Center Concert: Turiya Mareya & Friends
Friday night, the World Beat Cultural Center hosted a double-bill concert featuring the sounds of the African diaspora as interpreted through the mind of Turiya Mareya and musical friends. Opening were the Women's Spirit Music Ensemble, featuring Toni Pope, Ayanna …
Danny Green: "A Thousand Ways Home"
Pianist, composer Danny Green probably doesn't get enough credit in a town with Mike Wofford, Joshua White, Anthony Davis, Geoffrey Keezer and Mikan Zlatkovich all in various levels of activity — but one thing's for sure — this young cat …
Castellanos, Zollar, Kuzma, Moore: Night of the Cookers
Gilbert Castellanos might just be the most exciting trumpet player working in the jazz mainstream today. He attacks the bebop sound structure with enough passion and precision to consistently breathe life into forms more than 60 years old. Last night. …
Anthology Summer Jazz Institute Concert
The Anthology Summer Jazz Institute held a concert featuring their second class of young musicians (ages 12-14) on Friday, Aug. 3rd at the iconic club, for friends, families and jazz education supporters. Previous commitments kept me from catching the first …
Turiya Mareya: Double Concert @ WorldBeat Center, August 10
Turiya Mareya is a musician equally qualified in two seemingly different aesthetics: her early work in San Diego featured her piano and bass-clarinet in a spiritual, avant-garde context--and her current work showcases her mastery of the Afro-Latino rhythmic blend found …
Rose & the Nightingale: Spirit of the Garden, Aug. 11, in El Cajon
Next weekend, cellist/vocalist/composer Jody Redhage will be bringing her group, Rose & the Nightingale to San Diego from her home in New Jersey to play a special concert, "The Spirit of the Garden," at the Water Conservation Garden in El …
Vlatkovich Tryyo: Pershing Woman
Trumpeter Jeff Kaiser's fiercely independent record label pfMENTUM has scored big once again with its latest release by trombone virtuoso Michael Vlatkovich titled Pershing Woman--Vlatkovich Tryyo. This disc represents the state-of-the-art in free-trombone, and small group improvising aesthetics. Vlatkovich is …
Steph Johnson Trio + Dave Millard Rock 98 Bottles
Johnson Trio by TOM HARTEN Guitarist/vocalist Steph Johnson has embarked on a journey-to-jazz that began a few years ago--but may have been inevitable, all along. Johnson's singing voice is an amazing instrument--the result of growing up in a house where …