San Diego is well known for its rock and jazz scenes, but of late country music has also begun to receive a bigger share of the spotlight. While there have been plenty of great local musicians who play in the genre, it’s likely no coincidence that the current resurgence began right around the time guitarist […]
Being a jazz musician can be hard on your romantic relationships. Dating, let alone marrying a musician is no picnic and, in the tradition of Valentines Day, I salute anyone who has had the guts to even try. People who make it work have earned my highest respect. Relationships between two musicians seem doubly fraught—but […]
I’ve known Chris Fast for too many years to remember and he’s always been funny. You know that dry funny? A gift he shares with surgical precision in every blues bar, club venue, house party, and festival stage across Southern California. On this night, with a full bar and a rowdy crowd, Chris fills between […]
“‘If you want to be a successful musician, you’ve got to be versatile.’ That’s what one of my teachers told me.” Jodie Hill was not yet in high school, but she clearly remembers this musical career advice. And if her schedule is any indication, she has taken that advice and applied it every day of […]
It’s been said that siblings make great music together. One need only look at the Everly Brothers, the Kinks, the Black Crowes, and Oasis to see that factoid to have some merit. It makes sense that shared influences and family life combine to make musical magic. Slightly rarer are siblings that are part of different, […]
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 […]
