Jazz at LACMA

The ninteenth season of jazz the LACMA is currently underway. Every year, prominent jazz musicians from the Los Angeles area partake in a series of jazz performances hosted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Each Friday, lasting until May 28th, will feature a different jazz musician or group of musicians. All events in this series are free with no reservation required. To get a sense of what can be expected at these events, here is a what's happening this coming Friday:

Alan Pasqua Quartet
Friday, April 23 | 6:00 pm
Pianist and recording artist Alan Pasqua started with the New Tony Williams Lifetime along with guitarist Allan Holdsworth, and went on to perform with such diverse musicians as Eddie Money, Bob Dylan, Santana. Aretha Franklin, Sammy Hagar, Al Jarreau, Queen Latifa, and Burt Bacharach. In addition to his busy recording and touring schedule, Pasqua was recently named chairman of the Jazz Studies Department at USC.

Friday: ECHO & CLUB UNDERGROUND present MICACHU (DJ Set) @ echo

[From the Echo] Micachu is the moniker of major new talent, 21 year old songwriter and producer Mica Levi.

Despite her relative youth, Mica arrives as something of a Midas touched, Renaissance artist: equally at home writing and producing stunning, experimental pop with the likes of Matthew Herbert, as MCing with friends in various grime collectives and balancing this with her day time tutorage at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she’s studying composition.

Perhaps the real beauty of Mica’s talent is despite her prodigious musical ability she without fail keeps things rough around the edges: no polished beats when bit fat dirty ones will do, obvious choruses eschewed for intricate yet subtle melodies that grow and grow…

9pm / $8 advance, $10 day of show / 18+

Listen With Your Eyes? The McGurk Effect

So here's a short experiment. Watch this five second video with the sound on. Try and determine what he is saying.

Done? Now, close your eyes and just listen to the video. What did you hear? The majority will hear "da da da" when watching the video, and then hear "ba ba ba" when they close their eyes and just listen to the video. The speaker is actually mouthing the syllables "ga ga ga." The appearance of "ga ga ga" in conjunction with the sound "ba ba ba" causes most people to hear "da da da." Apparently speech perception is a multi-modal ability that involves more than just the ears. Fascinating!

Amoeba's Charity Auctions

The first Saturday of each month, Amoeba Music in Hollywood holds AMOEBA AUCTIONS to generate money that goes towards humanitarian efforts. At these auctions, participants can bid on music, rare memorabilia, collectibles, movie and concert tickets, and much more. . To help increase funds, Amoeba Music matches every bid up to $1,000 so each item earns double the money that goes to charity! This upcoming Saturday, the proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders and Haiti earthquake relief. This is perhaps one of the best ways to get your hands on some awesome items without tarnishing your conscience. Check it out this Saturday!

Top 25 SXSW Tattoos

The SXSW festival is predominately about music and film. This year, however, also featured some pretty cool tattoo artwork sported by the attendees. Check out this slideshow from the LA Weekly displaying the top 25 tattoos from this year's South by Southwest event in Austin: http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/top-25-sxsw-tattoos-29495575/1/

In Concert at Herrick Chapel: The Chamber Chorale of UNLV

The Occidental College Glee Club

presents

IN CONCERT

The Chamber Chorale

of the

University of Nevada Las Vegas

and the

A Capella Choir

of

Crescenta Valley High School

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

3:00 PM - Herrick Chapel

Free Admission!

Junior Recitals

The Occidental College Music Department

presents

Junior Recitals

Alexandra Forman, violin & Alyson Melzer, violin

From the studio of Larry Sonderling

Accompanied by Galina Barskaya and May Fang
Music by Bach, Ives, Kabalevsky, Beethoven, Hindemith

Saturday, March 27, 2010
Bird Studio
2:30 p.m.
Admission is free
Refreshments to follow

Free NPR Music

Download music from All Songs Considered and Second Stage. This National Public Radio blog encourages you to “right click” and save the music featured on their blog right to your computer. Most of it is music similar to what you’ll hear on L.A.’s KCRW…a lot of indie, rock, folk and the occasional blue-grass, electronic and stuff I just can’t label but sounds good. NPR introduces new music every week. You can find full concerts by names like Moby, Gossip, Yo la Tengo and other eclectic bands. Everything is down-loadable at no charge.

The free, downloadable music includes new songs from Fantasmes, Emily Jane White, Lissy Trullie, Ice Palace, James Yuill, Paul and the Patients, and many others.

Happy listening! http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/second_stage/

Grooveshark: Online Music At Your Fingertips

Sorry Pandora, but you have been downgraded. When it comes to free, online music, we love the internet radio sites that allow us to customize our own stations so that it plays the type of music that we like. Nevertheless, we sometimes wish we could just choose, precisely, which songs we listen to. A new online music resource, called Grooveshark, allows users to do exactly that. No, it doesn't create radio stations for you, but it does allow you to create your own playlists from a wide selection of tracks. As long as you're connected to the internet, you can access the millions of Grooveshark tracks that range from the mainstream to the barely known. By creating an account, you can save your playlists just like you would in your own iTunes library.

Check it out at: www.listen.grooveshark.com

Free Music for Climate Change!

To encourage civic participation in climate change, The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Headcount, and the NRDC Action Fund have put together a collection of tracks from many popular music artists that will be available for download. Anyone can retrieve this "Best of Bonnaroo" collection for free from the Music For Action website. People are encouraged to write a letter to the President, a Senator, or a newspaper that expresses an argument or opinion about climate change. Familiar names have joined this cause, including Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Jack Johnson, Wilco, and The Decemberists.

Music Helps Stroke Victims Rebuild Language Skills

For the many stroke victims devastated by the loss of their ability to speak, music may hold the key to unlocking language, according to a new study.

The research produced often dramatic results in 12 patients whose speech was impaired after a stroke to the left hemisphere of the brain. Such patients struggle to communicate or cannot speak at all.

In the study, patients who were taught to essentially sing their words improved their verbal abilities and maintained the improvement for up to a month after the end of the therapy, according to Gottfried Schlaug, a neurology professor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School.

Sting to Bring Musical Fusion to the Hollywood Bowl

I may be getting ahead of myself here because this event isn't scheduled until June, but I feel obliged at least to put this up on Sting fans' radar screens. Even if you think you've seen and heard everything that Sting does (that is magic, ha!), this upcoming performance may still surprise you. In the past, Sting has stretched his musical ability from a career of solo performances to the revolutionary rock of the Police. This time, Sting comes on stage with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, an eclectic combination that is sure to please classicists and rock-lovers alike.

Sting, who last appeared at the Hollywood Bowl with his old group the Police, is returning on June 15 with the type of band more traditional on the Bowl stage -- a symphonic orchestra.

Faculty Artist Recital: Junko Garrett at Bird Studio

The Occidental College Music Department

presents a

Faculty Artist Recital

featuring

Junko Garrett , piano

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Bird Studio
7:30 p.m.

Free Admission
*CSP 99

This concert is cosponsored by the Music Performance Fund

Robert Vijaay Gupta at Bird Studio, Feb 23

The Occidental College
Music Department

presents

MASTER CLASS

featuring

ROBERT VIJAY GUPTA, violinist





Mr. Gupta will be working with:

Margaret Leith, S’10 – cello
Alyson Melzer S’11 –violin
Alexandra Forman S’11 – violin

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Bird Studio
4:30 p.m.

There will be a reception after the class

Dan Black at Cinespace, Feb 23rd

Dan Black is a British electronica artist. He was originally a member of alternative rock band The Servant before their 2007 split, and he is also known as a guest vocalist for the Italian group Planet Funk. He is currently signed to Polydor Records, releasing his first two singles "Alone" and "Yours" in 2008. His breakthrough song was "HYPNTZ", a mashup of Notorious B.I.G.’s "Hypnotize" and Rihanna’s "Umbrella". He gained further popularity in 2009 when album track "U + Me =" was chosen as the UK iTunes Store’s Free Single of the Week.

Dan Black will be playing at 9:00 pm on Feb 23rd at the Cinespace in Hollywood.

This Week: Free Film Screening and Jazz Concert

This week, in continuation of a Celebration of Jazz, the Brand Library will host a free film screening on Wednesday and a free concert on Friday.
Wednesday, Feb 17, 7:00 pm: film screening of "A Great Day in Harlem"

Quincy Jones narrates the story of Art Kane’s historic 1958 group photograph of the period’s jazz legends; includes archival footage and conversations with renowned musicians.

Friday, Feb 19, 7:00 pm: Dr. Bobby Rodriguez with Frank Potenza and Eddie Resto

Latin legend and Grammy Nominated recording artist Dr. Bobby Rodriguez is a trumpeter, author, and professor of jazz and Latin jazz at UCLA, UC Irvine and Pasadena City College.

Rodriquez is the winner of numerous awards, including the Los Angeles New Times Salsa/Tropical Artist of the Year, a Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz from Drew University, and KLON's Best New Latin Jazz Artist.

Seating is limited.

Please RSVP to info@brandlibrary.org or call 818-548-2051

Celebration of Jazz Events This Weekend

This weekend, as part of the Celebration of Jazz, the Brand Library in Glendale will be hosting a panel discussion on jazz and a dance performance by the Brockus Project Dance Company. Both events are free. Check them out!

Saturday, February 13, 3:30 pm
Panel discussion: The Life Cycle of Jazz: Education, Performance & Recording

Panelists will engage in a candid and lively dialog on the current state and future of the jazz music industry.

Sunday, February 14, 2:00 pm
Dance performance: Brockus Project Dance Company

Brockus Project Dance Company is an eight member contemporary jazz dance company based in LA. The majority of the choreography in the company repertory is created by the artistic director, Deborah Brockus. The company is known for its variety of styles ranging from balletic, modern, jazz, and musical theatre. Yet all styles are connected by unique musicality and energetic choreography.

Keeping Time: The Life, Music, and Photographs of Milt Hinton

This week, as part of the two week Celebration of Jazz, the Brand Library will hold a film screening of "Keeping Time the Life, Music, and Photographs of Milt Hinton. " This free event takes place this Wednesday, February 10th at 7:00 pm. Written and Directed by David G. Berger, Holly Maxson and Kate Hirson. Narrated by Jeffrey Wright. Combining rare pictures, footage and interviews with legendary musicians, this is an insider’s portrait of jazz history.

[From PBS.org] During his seven-decade-long career, legendary bassist Milt Hinton performed with nearly every major jazz artist alive, touring with Cab Calloway and performing with Aretha Franklin. KEEPING TIME: The Life, Music and Photographs of Milt Hinton is a loving portrait of this remarkably creative and generous man, who not only made beautiful music, but also took some of the most unforgettable photographs of 20th-century American life. Snapping more than 60,000 pictures over the years, Hinton provided an insider's look at the world of American music, as well as American history, from touring the South in the 1930s to his death in 2000.

Music On A Friday Afternoon!

The Occidental College Music Department

presents

Music On a Friday Afternoon

Friday, February 5, 2010
Bird Studio
4:30 p.m.

Free admission

featuring

Andrew Chang, piano
Alyson Melzer, violin
Claire O'Connell, voice
Margaret Leith, cello
Tim Chang and Kristine Nowlain, vocal duet

A Two Week Celebration of Jazz at the Brand Library

The Super Bowl won't be the only big thing that kicks off this weekend. That's right, I'm referring to the two week Celebration of Jazz that begins this Saturday at the Brand Library in Glendale. If you have to attend musical events for school, or you're simply a jazz aficionado, the Celebration of Jazz series is a great opportunity to get some wonderful jazz exposure. This is particularly the case for us penny-pinching college students because all the programs in this series are FREE!

Programs will include music and dance performances, film screenings, and panel discussions with musicians, artists, and educators. A Celebration of Jazz at Brand Library is organized around the The Performance Portraits of Bob Barry, an exhibition of 130 of the Los Angeles based photographer's remarkable images.