Jim Brock Photography-New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 2014-Cowboy Mouth-John Thomas Griffith

Reflections of a Wandering Jazz Fest Photographer

Years come and go. Jazz Fests do not. They endure. Each seemingly better than the last. Each its own indelible stamp on the soul. Jazz Fest 45 had everything going for it and, man, it did not disappoint. From the time the lineup dropped in January…
Jim Brock Photography Royce Hall Spring Quartet Esperanza Spalding

Spring Quartet, Royce Hall

February 22, 2014 The stunning collaboration of drummer Jack DeJohnette, saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist Esperanza Spalding and pianist Leo Genovese refers to itself as “The Spring Quartet”, and the musical possibilities suggested by…
Jim Brock Photography-The Joint-Waddy Wachtel-Blondie Chaplin

Waddy Wachtel Band, The Joint

November 16, 2013   Some of rock’s most indelible moments are the work of sidemen and session players, most of whom stay in the shadows, some of whom go on to achieve fame of their own. Over the past 14 years at The Joint, you could…

Anders Osborne + Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, El Rey Theatre

October 24, 2013 Anders Osborne went deep and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe embraced their inner Ray Charles for a wholly satisfying double bill at the El Rey Theatre last Thursday. The two combined for 3 ½ hours of wall-to-wall intensity,…

Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder, Royce Hall

October 18, 2013 Bluegrass is a lot of things. The high lonesome. Bill Monroe. Furious pickin’. Lots of strings. Acoustic instrumentation.  What it traditionally isn’t is plugged in, horns, a drum kit, and rarely, a piano front and…

John Scofield Uberjam + Dave Holland Prism Quartet, Royce Hall

October 5, 2013 The 6th annual Angel City Jazz Festival is as unique as the city that bears its name. Multi-venue, multi-media and highly eclectic, predictable only for its unpredictablilty. Not necessarily qualities you would attach to this…

Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen, The Tin Men and Paul Sanchez & The Rolling Road Show, The Mint

September 14, 2013 Saturday’s NOLA triple threat at The Mint was as close to Frenchmen Street as you can get on Pico Boulevard (in fact, last time Sanchez and company played the room in 2010, their gig was billed as the “Return of Frenchmen…

Reflections and Musings of a Jazz Fest Photographer

The 44th annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is a few weeks past and my rear view reflections only seem to sweeten the experience. This Jazz Fest, my 10th overall, is best summarized by an exchange between two Festers NOLA bound from…

Robert Randolph presents The Slide Brothers, with the Otis Taylor Band, Royce Hall

  February 23, 2013 We’re all told to respect our elders, to learn from the generation before and to pass along tradition. Wise words musically speaking, and fundamental to any jazz or blues playbook where family legacies span generations…

3 Brave Souls, Kirk Douglas Theatre

February 8, 2013 Friday’s “3 Brave Souls” CD release event at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City is just one of many ongoing performances held by the Jazz Bakery as they await construction of their Frank Gehry designed new home…