By CHARLES ANDREWS
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
“BLUE KISS,” Ruskin Group Theatre – How can I highly recommend something I haven’t seen yet? See Library Girl. See Jazz Bakery. Track record and integrity. More next week, but GO now! Fri, Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $35.
FRED HERSCH TRIO – 17-time Grammy nominee Fred Hersch has been an influential creative force for more than three decades, as a composer, bandleader, educator, collaborator, improviser, and recording artist. Vanity Fair named him “the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade.” The New Yorker may have skimped a bit in calling him merely “a living legend,” but also applauded the trio for playing with “high lyricism and high danger.” That intrigues me. But what do the critics know, right? We get to find out for ourselves, right here in Santa Monica. Thank you, jazz maven, Ruth Price, for finding and booking the best. Hersch has picked up a few awards too, like a Doris Duke Artist, “Jazz Pianist of the Year” from the Jazz Journalists Association (2011, 2016, 2018), and the Jazz Magazine (France) International Artist of the Year. The Fred Hersch Trio was voted the #1 Jazz Group in the 2019 DownBeat Critics Poll. The Wall Street Journal calls the trio “one of the major ensembles of our time.” They have regularly headlined at the legendary Village Vanguard since 1997. Fred Hersch – piano, Drew Gress – bass, Johnathan Blake – drums. The Jazz Bakery uses a few venues, but I’m always glad to see them “back home” in Santa Monica at the beautiful Moss Theatre on the New Roads campus. Sat 8 p.m., Jazz Bakery, Moss Theatre, Santa Monica, $43.
LIBRARY GIRL, “All That’s Left — A Tribute to Jack Hirschman.” When I ran my LA NightHawks VIP tours of live entertainment in LA, I often took people on a weekend to the Improv on Melrose, and I would tell my clients, don’t worry if you don’t care for the comic who’s up, you may go nuts over the one who follows in 20 minutes. That’s the way it works with a mixed ensemble. Over the last 15 years, I have seen a poet or two at Library Girl that I wasn’t crazy about, but never, ever a show I didn’t find worthwhile overall, if not inspiring. I bumped this one up from RECOMMENDED to HIGHLY for a few reasons. It was curated by founder Susan Hayden with Matt Sedillo and Michael C Ford, two of my favorites, and is part of the Jack Kerouac Festival. Discussion to follow, moderated by Richard Modiano.
With Surprise Guests! Sunday, 7 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, $20 includes free parking and dessert.
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – The amazing quintet, a Django-style ‘30s-’40s jazz quintet (for starters, but they go way beyond) whose across-the-board virtuosity never fails to bring a smile, tore it up Saturday before last as they inaugurated the Audre Stage at the new Ruskin Group Theatre at the airport. The 55-seat venue can host plays (and will for their next production, “Blue Kiss”), but is also an intimate music venue, and now with their liquor license, it becomes a music club, but with the bar in the lobby, it is still a listening room. Hooray! Another great music opportunity right here in Santa Monica. I have never heard anyone walk away from one of the HCOLA shows and say, “They’re pretty good.” Usually, it’s hard to say anything when your jaw is on the floor. Still at their years-long residency at the intimate Cinema Bar just outside Santa Monica, every Monday night. Lucky us. Take advantage. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, no cover.
SAMARA JOY – There’s no question Samara Joy is a great talent, carrier of an old school torch, and the Blue Note would be a perfect place to see her, but I can’t even tell you how much the tickets were because both nights are sold out. Blue Note LA is definitely one of those venues where you have to jump on tickets as soon as you see an act booked (and they add new bookings all the time) that you really want to see. I suppose you can call the club and see if they have a cancellation list. Next Wed, Thurs, 7, 9:30 p.m., Blue Note LA, Hollywood.
RECOMMENDED:
TOLEDO DIAMOND – Who’s been showing up even longer than the Hot Club, with a very different but also virtuosic show? His decades-long Sunday night residency at Santa Monica’s Harvelle’s, the oldest blues bar in LA (almost a century!), is the stuff of myth. Toledo choreographs a truly unique show, a blend of ‘50s hipster jazz and his dancing dames and a most modern smokin’ hot band that gets better all the time. Toledo is perhaps the longest-running proof that Santa Monica is a City of the Arts. (Yes, you bet, this is art.)Sun 9 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $13.
DAVID BYRNE – I had this in HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, because it’s David Byrne, until I saw the ticket prices, and you have to get to Santa Barbara, and maybe spend the night, so, like Ice-T says in the Car Shield commercials, how much do you love your David Byrne? Tues 7:30 p.m., Santa Barbara Bowl, $157-3,000.
TV RECOMMENDATIONS:
“THE DAILY SHOW” – Mon – Thurs 11 p.m., COMEDY CENTRAL.
“HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU” – You can learn a lot from this show, but, nah, it’s all about the newsworthy jokes and satire. Sat 9 p.m., CNN.
‘“DARK WINDS” – OK, the final episode of season 4 was last Sunday and season 5 doesn’t begin until next year, so I’m not going to beat a dead horse… that might contain the hidden spirit of the shape shifter killer the Navajo Police have been searching for, because Leraphorn might detect the subtlest clue on that carcass… OK, I made that up, but barely because this brilliant, very different series does present superbly-written, -acted, -edited psychological thriller murder mysteries set deep in Diné country, proceeds from the Navajo perspective, ingrained over centuries in the same NM-AZ desert territory. There is a reason, or many reasons, why Robert Redford persisted for decades to get Tony Hillerman’s tales brought to the screen, and finally launched it as executive producer (with George R.R. Martin) before he died. All episodes available on AMC+ and Netflix. Binge-watch and you will marvel that you experienced such all-around superb filmmaking, and that you were also transported to another world you had no clue existed. Oh yeah, and the cinematography, the landscape, is breathtaking.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): “BLUE KISS,” Ruskin Group Theatre, 4/10-5/17; FRED HERSCH TRIO, Jazz Bakery, 4/11; “HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU,” CNN Sat 9 p.m., 4/11, 18, 25; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 4/11, 18, 25; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Group Theatre, 4/12; DAVID BYRNE, Santa Barbara Bowl, 4/14; SAMARA JOY, Blue Note LA, 4/15, 16; JANEK GWIZDALA TRIO w/ PETER ERSKINE, Nir Felder, Sam First, 4/18; VERDI “FALSTAFF,” L.A. OPERA, 4/18, 26, 30, 5/2, 6, 10; RICK SHEA, TONY GILKYSON, McCabe’s, 4/19; THE LEGENDARY WAILERS w/ JUNIOR MARVIN, Blue Note LA, 4/19; GERALD CLAYTON TRIO, Sam First, 4/20, 212;
DOWN THE ROAD (also recommended):; TAKE 6, Blue Note LA, 4/30-5/3; STANLEY CLARKE’S SANTA MONICA INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, BroadStage, 5/1-9; LIQUID KITTY PUNK ROCK BBQ, Harvelle’s, 5/3; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s, 5/3, 10, 17, 24, 31; MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO, Blue Note LA, 5/4, 5; LA SANTA CECILIA, Fonda Theatre, 5/7; MOZART “THE MAGIC FLUTE,” L.A. OPERA, 5/30, 6/6, 11, 14, 17, 21.
Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 3,500 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 40 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or hate mail to: therealmrmusic@gmail.com.
