The improvised music we call jazz is full of workaholics and overachievers—it tends to go with the territory. I’ve met dozens of hard working musicians over the years with superhuman ambitions and the stamina to achieve them. Having said that, I could easily make a case for drummer/bandleader/composer/instrument builder Nathan Hubbard as a special case. […]
Michele Lundeen is one tough cookie. And I say that with the utmost admiration and affection. She’s a free-spirit who works intensely at her craft and chooses direction, speed, and velocity on her own terms. If something is not right she’ll tell you, to your face. If it is right, she’ll hug you to within […]
When I first experienced Peter Sprague back in 1977, playing an outdoor concert at Robb Field in Ocean Beach with his group Dance of the Universe, it was a game-changer for me as a young, aspiring jazz guitarist. They opened the concert by playing John McLaughlin’s “Le Danse du Bonheur” (The Dance of Bliss), a […]
There are few sounds as satisfying as the husky laugh of Victoria Roze, always skimmed down to the more down-to-earth, “Tori” on her records. “It is about to get ugly up in here,” she trails off as she sits down to her coffee and cozies in for some probing. “I got this for Jody.” As […]
It’s true that Larry Grano is a master musician. Over the past four decades, Grano has built a rep as a sideman of choice and is one of the busiest players in San Diego’s burgeoning music community. A brilliant drummer with a keen sense of melody, a session powerhouse, a live vocal dynamo and mentor […]
I’m pretty sure that the first time I witnessed Lorraine Castellanos fronting her own band was in 2012 at 98 Bottles in Little Italy. She was doing a tribute to Billie Holiday, and although I usually don’t dig those kind of affairs, this one worked, in part because both singers share a similar approach to […]
My favorite “toy” from my childhood was a record player. It was kid-sized friendly, suitable for playing the Golden Records series of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. But from the very beginning, I was interested in sampling my parents’ collection of vinyl. I recently calculated that my father was already 34 when Elvis Presley made […]
Laura Chavez is hard to pin down. For one thing, she’s never home. Her unrelenting tour schedule includes multiple bursts into Europe with the Nikki Hill band, followed by a variety of dates with Vanessa Collier up and down the eastern seaboard. A few more weeks back in Europe for the Blues Caravan tour then […]
Many musicians go the solo route. Some take their place in a band. But for some, it’s when they find the right musical partner that their career really blossoms. Such is the case of the January Berry Band, based around the guitar work of John January and the vocals of Linda Berry. Though considered a […]
