With more than four decades of musical experience under their belts, the members of the Irish Celtic band The Chieftains have quite a few interesting stories to tell, to say the least.
The band has either collaborated or performed with numerous artists from country darling Allison Krauss, jazz princess Diana Krall and her husband, Elvis Costello, to Sting, Van Morrison and Bela Fleck. Paul McCartney even danced a little Irish jig to their music when they played a few special tunes at Krall and Costello's wedding, where they exchanged jokes with Elton John.
“We often have that,” said Chieftains founder Paddy Maloney on surprise guest appearances. “You never know who's going to pop up.”
Other famous fans include The Boss himself, guitarist Ry Cooder, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings.
“There is definitely a spirit of danger and boldness to it, but it seems like no one knows what it means anymore,” said Nathan Warkentin, drummer in the Los Angeles-based band The Colour, on the term rock 'n' roll. “To us, rock 'n' roll is marked by the culture of the times, but also the good songs that have become timeless that people still sing today.”
The Colour is currently playing a January residency at Spaceland in Silverlake every Thursday with its debut album “Between Earth and Sky” set for release in February on the new EMI imprint, Rethink.
Formed in 2003, the quintet - singer Wyatt Hull, guitarists David Quon and Luke MacMaster, bassist Derek VanHeule and Warkentin - took to the road for extensive tours of both the U.K. and the U.S. over the past three years with bands such as Jet, Interpol and the Futureheads. In between past tours, the bandmates, who met when they were all around 18, spent time at their less-than-humble Hollywood abode rehearsing and writing songs in their home studio.
“We kind of write all together - Wyatt generally writes all of the lyrics - even on some of the melodies, so each person contributes their instrumental parts, but we collaborate on that stuff as well, trying to feel what's best for the song,” explained Warkentin. “The two things we really focus on are rhythm and melody.”
Hailing from Laguna Beach, singer/songwriter Donavon Frankenreiter seems to love music just as much as surfing, and in the same vein as Ben Harper and Jack Johnson, his sun-kissed love of nature as well as a good guitar melody emerges within his tunes like a promising swell out in the ocean.
Frankenreiter's passion for surfing began earning him money and took him all around the world by the time he was 16. Frankenreiter then decided to learn how to play guitar and by his senior year in high school was a member of the popular local band Peanut Butter and Jam.
Frankenreiter's sophomore work, “Move By Yourself,” which is his debut on Lost Highway Records, combines soul, pop, rock 'n' roll and a bit of country in the spirit of the Allman Brothers with a dash of Jamiraquoi, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers and a bit of Van Morrison. The laid-back grooves hint at Motown and 1970s funk with their great use of the wah-wah pedal. Frankenreiter's first album was on Johnson's label Brushfire Recordings.
It's great to know that a musician as artistic and engaging as singer/songwriter Randy Weeks is a local.
I first discovered Weeks at the downtown Hermosa Beach club Café Boogaloo where he often plays and with the thrilling guitarist Tony Gilkyson. It was around the time Weeks was preparing to go back into the studio with a follow-up work to the marvelous “Sold Out at the Cinema” released in 2003.
Well, the time has finally come as Weeks at the tail end of summer released his new work, “Sugar Finger.” Weeks completed three albums as a solo musician - the first was “Madeline” in 2000 - and soon after began his biweekly residency at the Cinema Bar with Gilkyson and Mike Stinson who have also played on his albums.
When you think of one of today's best jazz trumpeters, one name rarely escapes the world's musical consciousness: Wynton Marsalis.
The New Orleans native follows a historic line of Big Easy horn men - Buddy Bolden, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong - and grew out of the scene with a few contemporaries like Nicholas Payton and Terence Blanchard.
Marsalis' passion for jazz is known through his work as the artistic director and member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and for his work in the context of a quintet and septet all over the globe.
In the context of a live setting, Marsalis speaks to his fans about the songs performed for the evening in a soft-spoken tone and eloquent manner, quite a contrast to the blaring high notes that end up coming out of his horn. Whether it's the orchestra or quintet, Marsalis and his band members look the part - donning Brooks Brothers suits, shined shoes and neat haircuts - and play the part - performing originals, standards and jazz classics as some of the most proficient performers in the current jazz scene.
His Los Angeles- and perhaps Orange County-based fans are now gearing up for his return as he is back on the road, miles from his New York City, performing with his quintet at the Disney Music Hall Oct. 30. The quintet consists of the maestro himself, Ali Jackson, Dan Nimmer, Carlos Henriquez and Walter Blanding Jr.
If you only had to go on the music of Jonah Smith, chances are you'd probably think he lives in Nashville or New Orleans, but in reality he resides in New York City - a city that has a little or even a lot of everything when it comes to music.
Smith, 30, who rocks out as much as one can on a Fender Rhodes, is the songwriter behind some of the most expressive, serene and soulful compositions of the year all on his self-titled debut album on Relix Records.
“I didn't really have a specific thing in mind, like I wanted to play American roots music when I moved to New York,” said Smith. “I moved to New York to be a songwriter and to be a musician. This is my first national record, I guess you could say. I've recorded two other albums before (one jazz-inspired and the other classic R&B) independently and each record is pretty different from the last one.”
Who says beautiful things can't grow out of Skid Row? With its debut album “Self Help Serenade” recorded in 2002 and now out on the streets in the U.S., the Los Angeles-based band Marjorie Fair has come a long way from its roots in Skid Row and will soon embark on a tour, opening for Sheryl Crow and John Mayer.
According to Evan Slamka, vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter of the quartet, he and his band mates - Dain Luscombe (keys), Scott Lord (bass) and Mike Delisa (drums) - once lived in a loft in what the city technically deems as Skid Row and what Slamka calls “one of the strangest neighborhoods” in town.
“Living in L.A. is great, the weather can get kind of boring,” said Slamka, who now lives in Echo Park, “But as a musician you have to live in a city because it's hard to stay focused and busy when you're not around other musicians and art. It's pretty lively and vibrant here.”
In what seems to be its most political album to date, Gov't Mule has not only created a work that is a sign of the times, but has also captured the effervescent and vigorous sound trademark to its live shows.
Gov't Mule - Warren Haynes (vocals, guitar), Danny Louis (keyboards), Andy Hess (bass) and Matt Abts (drums) - is coming to town next week performing at the Wiltern Theater in support of its new record, “High & Mighty,” now out on ATO Records.
“We've always had subtle political statements on our albums, but not to this obvious of an extent,” said Haynes about the new work.
In recording “High & Mighty,” all four band members sat around in one room to record the 12 original songs. Some were recorded in New Jersey, but most in Austin, Texas, miles and miles from New York where most of the band resides (Haynes, Hess and Louis live in Manhattan, Brooklyn and upstate New York, respectively). The album marks the second trip into the studio with the current lineup; the last was for the album “Déjà Voodoo.” Based in the rock idiom, the songs reflect a jazz sensibility in terms of the instrumentation with hints of Latin, reggae and blues sounds mixed throughout.
“Ollabelle came together because of these musicians' love of this music, without thought of success or career or any of the other trappings of the modern professional music business. It has great value to our culture, adding new life to a tradition that is an important part of who we are. But mostly, they sound great. They sing great and they play great, and they are wonderful people,” said legendary producer and musician T-Bone Burnett of the band Ollabelle.
Named after Ola Belle Reed, a traditional North Carolina Appalachian singer born in 1916, the quintet of New York City transplants (with the exception of singer Amy Helm) all met at the Nine C club in Manhattan's East Village now called Banjo Jim's. One of its members, Tony Leone, a Connecticut native, migrated to the big city of dreams to work as a jazz drummer, and met bassist and former Indiana resident Byron Isaacs; guitarist and singer Fiona McBain, from Sydney, Australia; and keyboardist Glenn Patscha, originally from Winnipeg, Canada, who spent about 10 years living in New Orleans.
With the release of her debut album “My Denial,” San Francisco-based artist Nya Jade is taking the music world by storm as her music is already garnering the kind of attention common to a no-nonsense female troubadour.
“My Denial” acts like an iPod shuffle in the sense that every song reflects Jade's penchant for the glorious rock sounds of U2 on her song “Molasses,” the social consciousness of a Natalie Merchant on “One Pill,” or the soulful acoustic love song of a Sarah McLachlan on “Next to You.”
“I didn't want to put out a record where every song reminds someone of the last song,” said Jade. “People want a variety, so I thought of what would be cool to put in your car for a road trip from San Francisco to L.A., and not get bored.”
Born in Ghana, Jade (her first name “Nya” means “purposeful” in Swahili and “illustrious” in Gaelic), grew up partly in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Canada as her father traveled the world as a doctor with UNAIDS - a joint United Nations program on HIV/AIDS.
