Chris Walker
Chris’s Contributions
06/19/11 Concerts
Maria Schneider at Ojai Music Festival
Composer and big band leader presents new work at southern California music festival
06/18/11 Concerts
2011 Playboy Jazz Festival
Chris Walker reviews performances from the festival sponsored by Hugh Hefner and his brand
12/12/08 Concerts
Riviera Maya Jazz Festival
Free jazz on the beach, in Cancun, Mexico, is pretty far removed from the traditional way of celebrating Thanksgiving. For anyone wanting to get away from belly-swelling turkey dinners, “shop-till-you-drop” Black Friday, and college/professional football...
06/27/08 Concerts
Playboy Jazz Festival
In another locale, a 30th anniversary would have at least warranted a commemorative speech from its founder or main organizer, or even a special all-star band jam/segment. But at the Playboy Jazz Festival, held at Los Angeles’ landmark Hollywood Bowl, the...
04/17/08 Concerts
The Langston Hughes Project - Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz
Recorded words recited dramatically by Langston Hughes, the poet/writer laureate of the Harlem Renaissance, filled the stately Huntington Library’s auditorium in Pasadena resoundingly. Then in rapid succession a pre-taped oratory by Ronald McCurdy, chair...
March 2008 Gearhead
Yamaha Allen Vizzutti Artist Model Trumpet
I don’t play like Allen Vizzutti. Chances are you don’t either. With the recent introduction of the new Yamaha YTR-9335VS Allen Vizzutti Signature Artist Model trumpet, the rest of us mere mortals can play Allen’s trumpet, if not play trumpet like Allen...
11/19/07 Concerts
Blue Bay Jazz Festival
Frederiksted, on St. Croix, largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, with a population under 55,000, was boldly shaken out its tranquility for the first Blue Bay Jazz Festival. Exuberant and freewheeling musicians from New Orleans, which the islanders feel embodies...
10/08/06 Concerts
City Ballet of Los Angeles Presents "Behind the Red Door"
Dance—especially jazz ballet—seems an unlikely conduit for John Coltrane’s innovative and affecting music. Nevertheless, Coltrane came alive beneath a glowing full moon at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Through City Ballet of Angeles and...
June 2006 Artist Profiles
Lisa Thorson's JazzArtSigns: Unbound
Vocalist and bandleader Lisa Thorson is wheelchair bound, but when she performs with her quintet many people won’t even notice. Instead they’ll focus on the animated motions of improvisational painter Nancy Ostrovsky. Working prominently behind the musicians...
January/February 2006 Books
How to Grow as a Musician
Sheila E. Anderson
A common perception is that, in the past, all a jazz musician needed to know in order to succeed was how to play extraordinarily well, create appealing compositions and lead an intriguing band. But the truth is, then and especially now, a performer also...
January/February 2006 Books
Understanding Jazz: Ways to Listen
Tom Piazza
To the uninitiated (and sometimes even to those who are), jazz is mysterious, complex and difficult to comprehend. Unquestionably, this is one of the main reasons it barely represents a sliver of the popular musical pie. Author Tom Piazza makes "America...
January/February 2006 DVDs
Brazilian Beats
Various Artists
This DVD is divided into three documentaries depicting unique aspects of Brazilian culture. The first one concentrates on the roots of the rock-and-samba movement, the second continues with an emphasis on the second wave of performers and the last is nonmusical...
January/February 2006 DVDs
Chicago Blues Reunion: Buried Alive in the Blues
Various Artists
Organist Barry Goldberg, guitarist-vocalist Nick Gravenites, guitarist Harvey Mandel, vocalist Tracy Nelson, drummer Sam Lay and harmonica player Corky Siegel all survived the 1960s Chicago blues-rock scene. They reunited for a special performance taping...
06/14/05 Concerts
Playboy Jazz Festival 2005
During a press conference, Playboy Magazine publisher Hugh Hefner said Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Count Basie all played the company’s first jazz festival in Chicago. The 27th installment, spearheaded by producers George Wein and Darlene Chang...
December 2004 Books
Soul on Soul: The Life of Mary Lou Williams
Tammy Kernodle
It sounds like a cliche, but if the phenomenal pianist and innovative composer and arranger Mary Lou Williams had not been a woman, black or born in 1910, she undoubtedly would have received much wider recognition and been much more successful. Unfortunately...
September 2004 News
Dr. Michael White: Woods Shedding
Clarinetist Dr. Michael White thoroughly knows and loves New Orleans. He's been playing gigs around there for over 30 years and also is an endowed chair of African-American studies and Spanish at Xavier University. Nevertheless, Algiers, La., across the...
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