When I attended NAMM 2019 as part of Agenda’s media team, I was able to interact with many of the artists that I cover as a music journalist during the year. At NAMM 2019 I had the opportunity to hear some outstanding music from Jonathan Butler at D’Angelico Guitars and veteran jazz […]
Keiko Matsui is forever crafting the templates of her music. She is an artist who paints poetic melodies on the piano, while combining her precise classical chops with the mystical, sensual flavor of jazz; and spiced with an overtone of a Japanese haiku spirit. As a true artist, Keiko is […]
A lifelong dream was realized when author Sheryl Aronson celebrated the launch of her book Passing Myself Down to the Grave at El Cid’s in Silver Lake, California. The book was years in the making, but not in the usual sense of writing a traditional novel. Taken from two short films, memoirs, and Aronson’s journaled […]
On Friday, July 29, 2016, I met and interviewed Parisian painter Michael Stervinou at the La Jolla Fashion Film Festival held at the city’s Modern Art Museum. We spoke about his involvement in one of the film, The One 3: Horror Sex Fashion, of which three of his paintings were used in a very unusual way. Dressed in a classic navy shirt and jacket, and topped with a whimsical leopard bowtie, Stervinou created his own fashion statement.
A respect for what came before filtered through the creations of these cutting-edge musicians who were now trying to put their own stamp on the modern day jazz melodies (and amplified sound). Back then the term for this type of music was called “jazz fusion,” which helped create our contemporary jazz styles today.
