A surprising thing happened as the COVID-19 crisis ran roughshod over the local live music industry throughout 2020. You know, the year in which many performance venues — especially indoor-only ones — closed down from temporarily to permanently. The year in which most able to stay open downsized their calendars from full bands to solo artists, ranging from DJs to … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2020-21: Aging veterans come out for abbreviated pop season
An abbreviated yet guardedly optimistic 2020-2021 South Florida pop concert season surges forward starting in November, featuring mostly veteran performers among folk, blues and other roots music styles. Star blues guitarists Tab Benoit, Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepherd are featured this month, in hopes that COVID-19 complications don’t give ticket-buying patrons a bluesy … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2020-21: Female stars dot 2021 jazz landscape
Jazz takes a measured approach to the 2020-2021 South Florida concert season, eschewing the current, COVID-19-ravaged year in favor of optimism starting in early 2021. Which makes for an abbreviated schedule, yet one filled with younger, international distaff performers. Those include Japanese pianist Yoko Miwa, Canadian trumpeter and vocalist Bria Skonberg, and East … [Read more...]
Back from bout with COVID-19, Boca singer eager to see audiences again
Every picture tells a story. It’s a time-honored phrase, but it’s not always true. Take South Florida-based vocalist Deborah Silver (www.deborahsilvermusic.com). Even if you know that she’s a veteran singer well-versed in jazz and adult contemporary styles, and see images that indicate the look of a classic cabaret artist, those elements are only part of her tale. … [Read more...]
Legendary fusion band Brand X to play first-ever Florida show
Formed in the mid-1970s in England, iconic jazz/fusion group Brand X became one of the sub-genre’s prominent acts of the decade after its members initially met to record solo albums for multi-instrumentalist/producer Brian Eno. Dormant afterward through the 1980s and again between 1999 and 2016, its current four-year-old lineup hasn’t yet recorded in a studio, but has … [Read more...]
Area guitarist Telesca tells of struggle with cancer in new book
With a new recording, a new book, and a new lease on life, Boynton Beach-based blues vocalist, bassist and guitarist Mark Telesca (marktelesca.com) has hit a figurative trifecta. Higher Vibrations is his first recording of solo acoustic blues as a singer and guitarist, and that new lease on life is chronicled in Telesca’s debut as an author. Available in online and … [Read more...]
Power and poetry from Lucinda Williams at Parker Playhouse
From the moment she stepped onto the stage at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 6, Lucinda Williams exemplified what sets her apart from most other singer/songwriters. Having recently turned 67, Williams neither seems to be as self-obsessed, nor take herself as seriously, as fellow guitar-playing lead vocalists. Her combination of blues, Americana, country … [Read more...]
Grace Potter tears up Revolution Live, for old fans and new
Singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist Grace Potter gracefully prowled the stage during her sold-out show at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, displaying the soaring vocal range and instrumental prowess necessary to bear comparisons to female-fueled pop/rock forebearers like Heart, the Pretenders, and Fleetwood Mac. Potter’s band included two female … [Read more...]
Hart’s art draws boomers, Dead fans to Boca gallery
Wentworth Gallery in the Boca Raton Town Center Mall bears little resemblance to the venues where San Francisco-launched act the Grateful Dead cultivated its following of Deadheads, a throng that grew between formation of the band in 1965 and the death of founding guitarist/vocalist Jerry Garcia in 1995. But former Dead drummer Mickey Hart’s forays into visual art … [Read more...]
Oz Noy in Boca: Too little of a superb thing
Israel-born, Manhattan-based jazz/fusion guitarist Oz Noy returned from an overseas tour in late October, having played across Europe, the Czech Republic and Russia in a trio with renowned band mates in bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Dennis Chambers. Noy’s first dates upon his return to the United States were 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. trio shows Nov. 5 at the Funky Biscuit in … [Read more...]