Tribute acts are the latest acid for the masses, especially in South Florida. Most of the artists being paid tribute to have either died or are still touring past age 50 --- meaning they're often popular enough to charge exorbitant fees for concert tickets to compensate for their lost recording royalties in the musical streaming era. So consumers who either can't, or … [Read more...]
Cream tribute show did best when it stuck to trio’s heyday
For a band that lasted less than three years between 1966 and 1968, Cream cast a long shadow, influencing the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jeff Beck Group, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, and countless others. But considering the trio's all-star personnel of guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, vocalist/bassist Jack Bruce (1943-2014) and drummer/vocalist Ginger Baker (1939-2019), that isn't … [Read more...]
Cream, prog rock tribute acts bound for Lauderdale, Boca
Two drummers; two very different tribute projects, each paying homage to two very different styles of music. And yet, where there are tributes, there are also tributaries. Kofi Baker is the son of drummer Ginger Baker (1939-2019), the firebrand who drove the short-lived 1960s British blues-rock trio Cream with vocalist/guitarist Eric Clapton and vocalist/bassist Jack … [Read more...]
In 40th year, SunFest celebrates the volunteers who make the music happen
Since SunFest unveiled its more youthful pop, hip-hop, and country music-centric 2022 musical lineup in February, there’s been no shortage of opinions about it. Just look at Facebook for proof. Or don’t bother. Yet 40 years after its 1982 inception — and especially after a two-year, COVID-19-necessitated hiatus — it may be time to look backstage, and behind the scenes, of … [Read more...]
Trumpeter Blanchard, set for Boca festival, goes from strength to strength
As anyone who’s followed jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard’s career knows, his upcoming appearance at Festival of the Arts Boca will hardly be his first figurative South Florida rodeo. Following a long run as artistic director for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz at the University of California Los Angeles, Blanchard took a similar position in the … [Read more...]
Since 1976, West Palm’s Music Man has kept the bands playing
During the same year Music Man (www.MusicManInc.com) opened on North Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach, consider that the United States celebrated its bicentennial anniversary, and Jimmy Carter was elected its 39th president. The average cost of a new house was slightly more than $43,000; average income was $16,000, average monthly rent $220, and gas cost around 59 cents per … [Read more...]
Roots guitarist/singer Osborne gives Boca crowd something to sing about
If the concept of a Sweden-born roots music artist seems like an oxymoron, Anders Osborne dispelled that notion in quick order during his Jan. 22 appearance at the Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton. The singer, guitarist, harmonica player and songwriter appeared solo to a capacity crowd for the second consecutive night at the venue, and displayed the elements of blues, R&B and … [Read more...]
Flagler Museum to feature six concerts by University of Miami musicians this season
Tucked away in Coral Gables, several miles southwest of the city it’s named for, the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami (www.frost.miami.edu) is the linchpin of all South Florida musical institutions of higher learning. Renamed for arts patrons Phillip and Patricia Frost in 2003, its program actually goes back 95 years. Saxophonist Paul Chafin (1930-2008) … [Read more...]
New jazz festival set for Pompano Beach from Jan. 28-29
Editor's note: Organizers of this festival canceled it Jan. 6 because of the spike in coronavirus cases. Percussionists are often an afterthought for band leaders who are putting together musicians for recording or live performance. From pop music to jazz, most think that having vocalists and a guitarist, bassist and drummer, plus perhaps a keyboardist and/or horn players, … [Read more...]
Appreciation: South Florida jazz master Lonnie Smith kept surprising his listeners
Dr. Lonnie Smith wasn’t an actual doctor, and didn’t play one on TV. But when he manipulated the keys, pedals and drawbars of his Hammond B-3 organ, as he did publicly and on more than 70 albums from the early 1960s through the late 2010s, he was a soulful jazz surgeon. Smith died Sept. 28, at age 79, at his home in Fort Lauderdale after a long battle with pulmonary … [Read more...]