CELSO & DARRYL, BLUES @HARVELLE’S -courtesyphoto
NOTE: CHECK FIRST WITH ALL VENUES BEFORE GOING
NEW FEATURE
This NOTEWORTHY column intends to alert people to great music they might otherwise miss, especially live performances.
I go through all my sources each week to list don’t-miss shows in the next eight days. But too many times those shows are sold out by the time performance week comes.
It happens often at a small venue like our own McCabe’s, which books many acts that have a rabid following, and even when Billie Eilish recently played five nights, 85,ooo tickets, at the Kia Forum, by the week of her performances there were only a handful left.
So now I will list, after COMING ATTRACTIONS at the bottom of the column, those shows farther down the road. Now you have NO excuse.
BUT IS THIS THE RIGHT TIME?
With so much of LA in ruin and embers still smoldering?
Apparently so. Jazz Bakery’s indomitable maven Ruth Price told me she almost pulled last Saturday’s performance by bassist Richard Bona, “but sales were picking up so fast I figured this was something we all needed.”
Boy did she nail it. The Moss Theater at New Roads School at the end of Olympic was packed, more than I’ve ever seen in nine years of attending. And Bona is not even a top-name draw, but he is an elite musician and superb showman. Playing with two Cuban sidemen, he performed for more than two hours, a lot of it Afro-Cuban style, sang beautifully and even scored with a loop machine. His bass playing was versatile and divergent, more lead than bottom.
I’ve learned to trust Price’s bookings. I knew almost nothing about Richard Bona, but I’m so thankful I was there.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
Tonight - CELSO & DARYLL – Oh boy! It’s been too long since my favorite rockin’ blues duo in the universe has surfaced in Santa Monica. Brazilian guitar meets California blues harp, and they are each masters on their axes. I don’t know if they will have a drummer and bass player along, but I actually prefer the stripped down duo sound. They usually trade vocals, sometimes sing together, and it’s all great. They’ve been doing this nearly 30 years, and they’re just getting better. You can’t possibly have more fun for 10 bucks. Thurs 9:30 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $9.99.
TONY GILKYSON, RICK HOLMSTROM BAND – One of my favorite combos at one of my favorite venues. Gilkyson is a treasure in any setting – solo pickin’ and storytellin’, rockin’ the roof off with X, countrifyin’ with Rick Shea, or fitting in with one of the premier backing combos ever, for everybody, the Holmstrom Band, driven by the perfect metronome of Santa Monica’s own gem Steve Mugalian. I don't know what they’ll have on the musical menu that night, but I can bet you will have a big smile on your face. Fri 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, free.
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – You can go to the Cinema Bar any Monday night, 9-11:30, for more than a decade now, and hear these hot players run through Django Reinhart-style ‘30s jazz. This amazing ensemble is a treasure. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, free.
RECOMMENDED:
TOLEDO DIAMOND – His decades-long Sunday night residency at Santa Monica’s Harvelle’s, the oldest blues bar in LA (almost a century!), is a treasure that you shouldn’t assume will always be there. Toledo choreographs (literally) 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. Every Sunday 9:30 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $12
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s, 1/26, 2/2, 9, 16, 23, 3/2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 4/6, 13, 20, 27; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar, 1/27, 2/3, 10, 17, 24, 3/3, 10, 17, 24, 31; TONY GILKYSON, RICK HOLMSTROM BAND, Cinema Bar, 1/24; JOHN MCEUEN, McCabe’s, 2/1; MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS, LA PHIL, Yuja Wang, Disney Hall, 2/1; TOM MORELLO, Fonda Theatre, 2/7; SAMARA JOY, Disney Hall, 2/8; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Theatre, 2/9, 3/9, 4/13, 5/11, 6/8, 7/13, 8/10, 9/14, 10/12, 11/9, 12/14.
DOWN THE ROAD: PAAVO JÄRVI, LA PHIL, RAVEL & BRAHMS/SCHOENBERG, Disney Hall, 2/13, 14, 15, 16; KURT ELLING, PETER ERSKINE, The Soraya, 2/15; MAHLER Grooves Listening Party, Paramour Estate (sold out) 2/19; CHUCHO CHUCHO VALDES, ARTURO SANDOVAL, The Soraya, 2/20; DUDAMEL Conducts MAHLER’s Journey, LA PHIL, Disney Hall, 2/20, 21, 22, 23; DUDAMEL, LA PHIL, MAHLER Sumphony No. 7, Disney Hall, 2/27, 28, 3/1; MAHLERTHON I, Youth Orchestra LA, Inner City Youth Orchestra of LA, Santa Monica High School Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Disney Hall, 3/2; MAHLERTHON II, UCLA Philharmonia, USC Thornton Symphony, Colburn Orchestra, LA Master Chorale, Disney Hall, 3/2; GUSTAV + ANNA with DUDAMEL, Disney Hall, 3/6, 7, 8, 9; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Theatre, 3/9; LA FOLK FESTIVAL/EMMYLOU HARRIS, Bellwether, 3/22; PATRICE RUSHEN, Disney Hall, 5/2; BEETHOVEN with ESA-PEKKA, Disney Hall, 5/2, 3, 4; JACK WHITE, Hollywood Palladium, 5/12, 13; DIANA KRALL, The Soraya, 5/14; GERSHWIN, “Also Sprach Z,” LA PHIL, Disney Hall, 5/23, 24; ALISON KRAUS, UNION STATION, Greek Theatre, 7/13.
Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 3,000 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 39 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Not even Kauai. Send love and/or hate mail to: therealmrmusic@gmail.com
