Chamber Music at the Clark – Enso Quartet

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If you read my post about the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library last November, you know how much I enjoyed my visit. It is truly one of the underappreciated and little known treasures in the City of Los Angeles.

In addition to its incredible collection of rare books and manuscripts, its fascinating history and beautiful building, it is also the home of The UCLA Center for 17th – & 18th – Century Studies’ Chamber music series, which takes place in the Clark’s drawing room. With concerts scheduled throughout the year, you have many opportunities to listen to a variety of music and experience the library in person.

Joey DeFrancesco Trio with Steve Wilkerson and Ramon Banda

Talk about getting an early start. At the ripe old age of 39, Hammond B3 master Joey DeFrancesco has already logged more than three fruitful decades on the jazz scene. The son of “Papa” John DeFrancesco, a respected, hard-swinging Philadelphia organist, he started playing piano and organ at four and by six was good enough to sit in at one his father’s gigs. He hadn’t graduated from high school yet when Miles Davis recruited him in 1988 for his band, a gig that took DeFrancesco out on the road with the trumpeter for several months.

Jazz Pick of the Week – Kenny Garrett Quartet

When it came to evaluating other musicians, Miles Davis was better known for caustic putdowns than effusive praise. But when a cat had something to say, the legendary trumpeter didn’t hesitate to hand out props. “All these young guys are doing is playing somebody else’s shit, copying all the runs and licks that other guys already laid down,” Davis said in his autobiography. “There are a few young guys out there who are developing their own style. My alto player, Kenny Garrett, is one of them.”

Jazz Pick of the Week – Ernie Watts Quartet

Tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts is probably best known for his passionately lyrical work with bassist Charlie Haden’s Quartet West, a group that’s honed a nostalgia-laced, cinematic sensibility inspired by 1940s film noir. He first gained attention as a member of drummer Buddy Rich’s band in the mid-1960s, a gig that brought him to L.A. Watts didn’t plan on becoming a first-call session cat, but when veteran players such as Buddy Collette, Bill Green and Plas Johnson started calling him to sub for them on record dates and TV shows, he welcomed the work.

Jazz Pick of the Week – Alan Pasqua, Darek Oles and Joe LaBarbera

Three wily veterans with consummate technique and a wealth of melodic ideas explore jazz standards and American Songbook gems in this superlative trio. Pasqua is a well-traveled pianist with a ravishing touch and a luminous harmonic palette. Oles makes the bass sing with plump, rounded notes, and LaBarbera is a trap set poet who gained renown as Bill Evans’ last drummer. Together, they turn jazz’s bread and butter configuration into a sumptuous feast.

Her Wild Oat Screening at the Historic Orpheum Theatre Kicks off Wurlitzer Weekend 2011

If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience a great silent movie with live organ accompaniment, then this event is for you. The Los Angeles Conservancy’s Broadway Initiative Cultural Partnership Program is proud to partner with the Los Angeles Theatre Organ Society (LATOS) as they present the 1927 silent comedy, Her Wild Oat. The film opens the society’s annual Wurlitzer Weekend and will screen at the magnificent 1926 Orpheum Theatre.

KCRW Presents First Fridays 2011: Nostradamus Edition at the Natural History Museum

If you don’t have any plans yet for this Friday night, give this event some serious consideration. Public radio station KCRW (89.9FM and KCRW.com) will present the First Fridays after hours series at the Natural History Museum, with KCRW DJs spinning throughout the evening in the African Mammal Hall lounge and musical performances by some of today’s best up and coming buzz bands.