Diane Michelle
Is a 38-year resident of Ocean Park who has been singing professionally since age 12, won a Battle of the Bands at the Hollywood Bowl when she was 17, opened New York, New York in Vegas with her three-part harmony group The Goils, toured Japan with them four times and had a five year residency in the beautiful historic art deco lounge on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. It was 49 years before she recorded her first album, Blood Harmony, with her daughter Nicole and a stellar group of mostly local musicians. It was all songs she wrote, over the years.
But I guess that whetted her appetite because now she has completed a project dear to her heart, an album of songs associated with her idol and inspiration, Billie Holiday. She only had to drive nine blocks to the studio (could’ve walked). Her band, above, was put together by percussion master Peter Erskine, a 37-year resident of Sunset Park.
Don’t let all that gray hair fool ya, this is a star lineup. From left, Tom Ranier (Grammys, Oscars, Emmys, Streisand, Sinatra, Shirley Bassey, Placido Domingo, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga) played piano and clarinet; Chuck Berghofer on bass (These Boots Are Made for Walking, Beach Boys Pet Sounds, The Wrecking Crew, Streisand, Paul, Joni, Ella, Elvis, Frank Zappa and Sinatra, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Ray Charles, Everly Brothers, Peggy Lee, Ry Cooder, Pete Jolly, and more than 400 movie soundtracks); Diane Michelle; Peter Erskine on drums and bongos (co-founder of Weather Report, Yellowjackets, Steps Ahead, on around 600 albums, author, professor; Aaron Walk (Oscars etc), engineering and mixing. These pros knocked out 12 songs in four hours, then had a relaxed lunch. Mixing has just completed, so now mastering, and then CDs.
Oh, I almost forgot — Diane is my wife. I never could have married a mediocre vocalist. I mean, really. This album proves I was right, then and now.
Jazz Bakery and Ruth Price are back!
I mean, all the way back, good as ever (and that is very good). She never left, of course, but COVID was tough, and then her concert bookings were a bit irregular and in other venues.
But now she says almost all shows will be back at the Moss Theatre on the New Roads campus here in Santa Monica. It is an elegant space with great acoustics and no bad seats. It is an important element of Santa Monica as an arts city.
She had french pianist Jacky Terrasson there last Sunday. I was barely aware of him. Now I am a huge fan. It was one of the best, most electrifying jazz concerts I have ever seen. He improvised on an odd group of "standards" – Caravan, If It Takes Forever, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, the emotional gospel number Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen, Besame Mucho and a couple of runs at Happy Birthday, because Price announced from the stage that she had a birthday two days before — she’s 94. Unbelievable. Booking concerts is a long, hard job, and she is still at the top of her game.
The other bombshell she dropped was that the trio on stage had never played together before ("one mini-rehearsal," Terrasson said)! There was an audible gasp from the audience. I don’t have the space to review the concert, but I have to say that drummer Damion Reid was simply amazing. I can’t imagine he also plays rock, hip hop and R&B, because he is so masterful and instinctive at jazz.
If you want to catch Terrasson, you’ll need a passport and a plane ticket. He’s in Europe now, and he was before he did this one show. How fortunate are we? Thank you, Ruth Price.
Highly Recommended
Tonight — Dvořák, Dudamel, Ortiz, LA Phil – It’s Dudamel! And another of my favored Slav composers, Czech Antonin Dvořák. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard his oh-so-popular 9th Symphony, "New World." But of course there are a lot of good reasons for that popularity. Don’t miss the Ortiz, before intermission. This is an LA Phil commission, and other such pieces I’ve heard of hers were a delight. Thurs, Fri, Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm, Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $87-259.
Hot Club of Los Angeles — You can go to the Cinema Bar any Monday, 9–11:30pm, for more than a decade now, and hear these hot players run through Django Reinhart-style ‘30s jazz. This amazing ensemble is a treasure, just over the border from SM. Mon 9pm, Cinema Bar, Culver City, no cover.
Recommended
LIBRARY GIRL, "IT’S ALRIGHT MA, I’M ONLY BLEEDING" – Not a Dylan tribute, LG founder and curator Susan Hayden almost always has a music-related prompt for the poets, and this is a special Mother’s Day performance. I’ll say it again: you should go. They always have at least one writer you will find inspirational (probably Michael Ford, at least), or the entire night might blow your mind. I’ve never been to a bad LG in eight years, and I’ve been to most of them, and I cherish the ones that were off the charts. Sun 7pm, Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $20 includes dessert and free parking.
Toledo Diamond — Unique, riveting, first class act. There’s nothing like it, it is high performance art and great decadent fun. Degeneracy is rarely so well disciplined. And the band is smokin’! Don’t. Miss. Toledo Diamond. Sun 9:30pm, Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $12.
Coming attractions (also Recommended): Dvořák, Dudamel, Ortiz, LA Phil, Disney Hall, 5/9, 10, 11, 12; Toledo Diamond, Harvelle’s, 5/12, 19, 26; Hot Club of Los Angeles, Cinema Bar, 5/13, 20, 27; Library Girl, Ruskin Theatre, 5/12; Marcus King, Wiltern, 5/14; 62nd Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest & Folk Festival, King Gillette Ranch, Calabasas, 5/19; Pearl Jam, Kia Forum, 5/21, 22; Kraftwerk, Disney Hall, 5/21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30; John McEuen, McCabe’s, 5/24; Tedeschi Trucks Band, Little Feat, Greek, 6/9; Chris Stapleton, Hollywood Bowl, 6/26, plus Grace Potter 6/27; Rolling Stones, Sofi Stadium, 7/10, 13.
Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 38 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else.
