To borrow a phrase from the Grateful Dead song “Truckin,’” what a long, strange trip it’s been for guitarist Stanley Jordan, who performs solo shows at the Arts Garage in Delray Beach on April 5 and 6. Now 59 years old, the Chicago-born Jordan became a rarity — a jazz superstar — while in his mid-20s as a result of his 1985 album Magic Touch. Released on the Blue Note … [Read more...]
Drummer Joseph spreads the gospel of Weather Report
Miami native and South Florida resident Jonathan Joseph joined an elite group of fellow drummers in late 2012 — one that’s included Terry Bozzio, Narada Michael Walden, Richard Bailey, Vinnie Colaiuta, Cozy Powell, Carmine Appice, and Simon Phillips — when he started touring and recording with now 74-year-old guitar icon Jeff Beck. When Colaiuta (Frank Zappa, Sting, and … [Read more...]
Such a night: Big Medizen does right by The Band in Boca show
Boynton Beach-based singer/songwriter Jerry Leeman has presented his live, abridged interpretation of The Last Waltz, director Martin Scorsese’s iconic 1978 documentary about the farewell concert by The Band, several times at different South Florida venues since 2002. The latest installment — with Leeman playing four different roles amid an ensemble of area all-stars — … [Read more...]
Big Medizen: All this, and ‘The Last Waltz,’ too
As a veteran area singer, guitarist and songwriter, Boynton Beach-based Jerry Leeman has learned the secrets that are mostly unique to South Florida musical success. He has secondary income, especially important during non-seasonal months when paying jobs tend to fade here, as a yoga instructor. He plays acoustic guitar, which helps in the era of local volume restrictions. … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2018-19: Pop
There’s much familiarity within the 2018-2019 South Florida pop concert season, with occasional reasonably fresh faces (Lauryn Hill, Maxwell, Dweezil Zappa, Black Violin) among the old. Of those, Sir Elton John conducts his final “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour in rare, multiple area shows at multiple venues in multiple cities; Bob Dylan returns, and Fleetwood Mac debuts … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2018-19: Jazz
The 2018-2019 South Florida jazz concert season rings familiar, but also feels like a season in miniature form. There are frequent faces like trumpeter Herb Alpert and his wife, vocalist Lani Hall; keyboardist Sergio Mendes, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, and trumpeter Chris Botti. Keyboardist Chick Corea and banjo master Bela Fleck reunite for another area duo show, … [Read more...]
From a South Florida condo, the blues reaches the world
Along with popular and country music, blues is now a booming, modern audiovisual industry. Particularly since the mid-1980s, when a young guitarist/vocalist from Texas named Stevie Ray Vaughan interrupted the decade’s synthesized, video-driven pop trends by blending rock swagger and blues rhythms to help create an ongoing roots music revival. A sizable, pre-existing subset … [Read more...]
Pumpkins rise to the occasion even as Corgan snubs audience
Bands that formed in the mid-1960s and beyond capitalize on nostalgia tours, and Chicago-spawned alt-rock icons The Smashing Pumpkins reached their commercial and critical peak a full 30 years beyond that time frame. When lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist and band leader Billy Corgan was able to rein in original members James Iha (guitar, vocals) and Jimmy Chamberlin … [Read more...]
Lake Worth’s Bamboo Room renews itself as Phoenix Charity Bar
Risen from the ashes, the Bamboo Room opened for the fourth time in Lake Worth on June 8 as The Phoenix Charity Bar (www.facebook.com/PhoenixCharityBar) at the Bamboo Room. The reason for the new name is based more in benevolence than in the mythical bird’s revival, though. More on that later. The iconic venue, located in the 1920s-era Paradise Building, has featured … [Read more...]
Cake leaves out ‘Survive’ dessert from strong SunFest set
Unlike the primary California gold (and platinum) rush of popular music acts between the 1960s and present day, most of them from Los Angeles (The Doors, Van Halen, Los Lobos, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice-T, Jane’s Addiction, N.W.A., Maroon 5) and the San Francisco Bay area (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, Tower of Power, Primus), Cake emerged … [Read more...]