Posts

Mardi Gras Bhangra with Red Baraat and Butler, Bernstein & the Hot 9, Royce Hall

February 9, 2016 Fat Tuesday in Los Angeles is hard to discern from any other day of the year in this sun spoilt metropolis. Once you get past the pre-packaged king cakes in Whole Foods, there are limited options to channel any decent Mardi…

KAABOO, Del Mar

September 17-20, 2015 With summer and festival season coming to a close, in steps KAABOO, a 3-day inaugural event held a sea breeze away from the Pacific at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The brain child of Denver based Bryan Gordon and a huge…

Galactic with Kung Fu, El Rey Theatre

March 5, 2015 Yes, it's that time of year again. Jazz Fest is a month or so away, Opening Day even closer, and Galactic lit up the El Rey Theatre on their regular March swing through the Southland. Flashing 20 years of musical intuition and…
Jim Brock Photography-Southern Soul Assembly-Regent Theater

Southern Soul Assembly, Regent Theater, Los Angeles

November 18, 2014 The Southern Soul Assembly is not the horn laden, Stax driven sound the name could conjure. Southern, yes, with Mark Broussard, Luther Dickinson, J.J. Grey and Anders Osborne covering that geographic territory. The soul…
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…

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,…

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…

Dragon Smoke, The Mint

December 12, 2012 Certain celestial alignments skip decades, if not lifetimes, or at a minimum, involve covering great distances at greater expense. Think solar eclipses, Comet Hale-Bopp or if you get around, the aurora. Even then, there…

Voodoo Experience 2012

October 26-28, 2012 As an unabashed Jazzfest vet, I approached my first Voodoo with excitement and a hint of fear. The mix of rap, EDM, and the often indefinable, sprinkled with the best of New Orleans contemporary and traditional, on a bed…