Jeff Golub Ready To Release New CD Featuring Henry Butler

Great news for all Jeff Golub fans. Jeff will be releasing a new CD at the end of June that is sure to be outstanding. The CD is a tribute to the music of Albert King, B.B. King and Freddie King, I think that says it all about why you should own this CD. According to Jeff "When you look at the modern blues and rock vocabulary, it's almost impossible for anyone to play something that doesn't reflect their influence somehow.  Whether you're talking about Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, anyone you can name, they are directly or indirectly influenced by something that one of them did or played. Their songs are timeless and, while they also certainly had their influences, the impact of their work is unquestioned".  Keith Richards also credits the "Three Kings" in his new book, LIFE, in similar words to Jeff's. As soon a I can get this CD, I intend to publish a review. Stay tuned!

Michael Robinson Returns To Epernay

Michael Robinson

If you love "American Idol" and love to see and hear new talent now you can see a young and upcoming star up close and in person at Epernay Restaurant in Montclair, NJ. Michael Robinson is a Freshman in the BFA Musical Theatre Program at Montclair State University. Michael made his first appearence at Epernay with great reviews this past fall.  He will be singing Gershwin, Porter and Sondheim again at Epernay on Tuesdays, May 31, June 7 and June 14. Epernay has great food and it's a BYO. So grab your favorite bottle of wine and head over to Epernay for a great night out and support this young student. Tell your waitperson that you heard about Michael from "The Music Man Blog" and they will take 10% off your bill.

Great Sounds and Stories From Jazz Legend Benny Golson At Trumpets Jazz Club In Montclair, NJ

Trumpets Jazz Club & Restaurant

Benny Golson

Vitali Imererli & Benny Golson

Rick Crane

Eliot Zigmund

Matt King, Vitali Imererli, Benny Golson, Eliot Zigmund

Matt King

Marlene VerPlanck & Benny Golson

On Sunday May 15, the "Great" Tenor Sax Legend Benny Golson made his first appearance in the metro area in over 10 years.  He was joined in this performance by the talented violinist, Vitali Imererli. There was an air of anticipation in the room waiting for Mr. Golson to arrive. It's not every day that you can get to see an 82 year old jazz legend perform live.  One of the highlights of the evening for me besides the great music was the warm and personal stories Mr. Golson shared with the audience that included stories about jazz giants he has known and played with in his remarkable career.  Benny told us that he got his first sax at age 12 when his family was living in Philadelphia. He related that he started practicing in the summer with the windows open and his neighbors were not that excited about his sound but he was determined to improve.  Shortly after he started with the tenor sax, he asked to bring a friend of his who played alto sax over to practice together. However, the neighbors were even more unhappy now having two kids practicing every afternoon with the windows open. As they both improved, they knew the neighbors were starting to like the sounds coming from his house because they started to request popular songs.  Benny's alto friend's name was John Coltrane. There were several other wonderful stories Benny shared with us including the personal loss he suffered when his close friend Clifford Brown was killed in an auto accident.  Benny told us how he went on to write  his wonderful jazz song, "I Remember Clifford" as a tribute to his close friend.  This song has been recorded more than 500 times over the years since Benny wrote it. Benny Golson is so much more than a jazz tenor player.  He is multi talented and Internationally famous as a composer, arranger, lyricist and producer. 

Joining Benny at this concert, was the fabulous jazz violinist, Vitali Imererli. Vitali is one of the best jazz violinist I have ever heard. I would put him in the same class of violinist as Stephane Grappelli.  He takes no prisoners when he plays up tempo tunes, but I personally loved his approach to slow tunes and would love to hear him play some of my favorites from the "Great American Songbook'.  

The group backing up these two remarkable musicians consisted of Matt King on Piano, Rick Crane on bass and Eliot Zigmund on drums. As they like to say in the PGA commercials, these guys are really good! I would like to hear more from this trio of great musicians in the future. They provided the perfect background for Benny and Vitali and all had the chance to shine with individual solos that were well received by the audience. 

As a side note, in the audience was the great singer and supporter of the "Great American Songbook", Marlene VerPlanck.   

Steve Tyrell On The Difference Between "The Great American Songbook" and "Contemporary American Music".

Steve Tyrell has been a favorite of mine ever since he recorded his first "Standards" CD and I love everything he has recorded. In addition, he is a great supporter of the "Great American Songbook".  I recently came across a Blog called "Wentzville Patch" that published an article about Mr. Tyrell and his upcoming May 15 performance at The Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Mo. I was surprised by Mr. Tyrell's answer to the following question: "In your opinion, what is the difference between the "Great American Songbook" and "Contemporary American Music" that includes the music of Motown, Paul Simon, James Taylor and Elton John?" Mr. Tyrell answered, "The biggest difference--and I'm not knocking them in any way, shape or form--"Fire and Rain" is as good as it gets.  But you don't want to hear anybody else sing them".  "That's the difference", he said.  "I mean, I couldn't make an album of James Taylor songs, you know? Nobody would want to hear it.  Even The Beatles, you don't want to hear somebody singing The Beatles' songs.  But there's been a million versions of Cole Porter songs. Then hundreds of versions, thousands of versions, of the Gershwin songs, or Harold Arlen.  And they've been done in every genre you can think of.  And you can love 25 versions of the same song." I have heard other artists make similar statements and with all due respect to Mr. Tyrell and those other artists, I totally disagree with this opinion on the subject. Let's use The Beatles Songbook as an example.  I put together a songlist of Beatles' songs titled "The Beatles Minus The Beatles Plus Paul" that I think in many cases are at least as good or perhaps even better than the orginial Beatles' recording (My apologies to those Beatles' fans that can't deal with this possibility). My playlist has two songs sung by Paul McCartney because no one does them better than Paul! Before you reject this possibility, head to iTunes and check out these versions of Beatles' songs!

Side note to Steve Tyrell: I am absolutely sure that you could do a great new CD of songs from James Taylor and Elton John adding the Tyrell touch and style to them.  "Steve Tyrell does James Taylor and Elton John". Please give this some consideration.  I would love to see how you would approach some of the wonderful songs these great performers have recorded. I would be happy to work on a draft playlist if you had any interest.


1. Help                                                              Little Texas

2. With A Little Help From My Friends              Joe Cocker

3. Yesterday                                                      Eva Cassidy

4. Nowhere Man                                               Randy Travis

5. Can't Buy Me Love                                       Shenandoah

6. Come Together                                            Delbert McClinton

7. Something                                                    Tanya Tucker

8.The Long And Winding Road                        Ray Charles and Count Basie

9. Eleanor Rigby                                               Liz Callaway

10. Oh! Darling                                                 Huey Lewis

11. Ticket To Ride                                            Joshua Rifkin

12. Baby I Am Amazed                                    Paul McCartney

13. Lady Madonna                                           Paul McCartney

The Music Man's "Coachella Valley Live Music Hall Of Fame"

Desert Dreams

It's May and as I got ready to make the trip back to New Jersey, I began thinking about all the great musicians I enjoyed this winter in the desert.  I thought the Music Man Blog should have a "Cochella Valley Live Music Hall Of Fame". Here is the class of 2011", "listed in no particular order" to enter the Hall. I know there are a lot of other musicians I missed but I started with the marvelous performers that I have seen. If you have other personal favorites, please let me know so I can make sure to hear them next winter.

                                                                  The Class of 2011


   Trumpet: Steve Madaio
                
   Bass: Bill Saitta, Jeff Stover, Brian Nova
              
   Male Singers-First Chair: Jack Jones, Mike Costley, Frank DiSalvo,
Johnny Meza, Frankie Randall, Pat Rizzo, Derrik Lewis, Christopher Gore, Slim Man, Larry Capeloto
                
   Male Singers-Second Chair: Erich Stratmann, Ken Steele, Tom McMorris, Marc Koltun, Denny Seidenfeld, Jim Salestrom
              
   Piano/keyboard: Marty Steele, Yarak Urant, Frankie Randall, Johnny Meza, Gino Antonacci, Derrik Lewis
              
   Sax: Pat Rizzo, Mindi Abair, Euge Groove, George Young, Al Diaz, Ron Coco, Reggie Alexander, Mikole Kaar, Gary Bias, Steve Alaniz, Ted Herman
              
   Female Singers-First Chair: Ann Hampton Callaway, Liz Callaway, Lola Rossi, Beverly Jensen, Laura Hagen, Poupee Boccaccio, Carolyn Martinez,  Kristi King, Lee Hartley
    
   Female Singers-Second Chair: Missoni Lanza, Jeanie Stanhope, Carole Hampton, Anita Gardner
            
   Drums: Andy Fraga, Steve Neilen, Jay Lewis, Julio Cesare, Jack Pina, Sal Frisura

   Flute: Tom Kennlyside, Pat Rizzo, Al Lopex, Steve Alaniz
            
   Trombone: John Leys
              
   Guitar: Brian Nova, Dan Papaila, Jeff Golub, Frank DiSalvo, John Pagels
            
   Vibs: Gino Antonacci

   Bandleaders: Ted Herman, Guy Lake
            

                            The Great Restaurants Supporting Live Music

       Arnold Palmers, Desert Sage, The Sandbar, Backstreet Bistro, Cafe des Beaux-Arts,  Le Paon, Cafe' Italia,  Indian Wells Resort Hotel, The Nest, Vicky's of Santa Fe, Tormes', Trinidads, Blue Ember, IW Club, Tropicale, Escena Lounge & Grill,  Miramonte Resort & Spa

                                      Businesses Supporting Live Music


      Pete Carlson's Golf & Tennis

The Big Band Sound Is Alive And Living At Dinks Thanks To The Ted Herman Band

Ted Herman

On Tuesday night, April 19, I went to Dink's Restaurant in Palm Springs to see the Ted Herman Orchestra.  One of my favorite singers in the Desert, Beverly Jensen had told me that this 14 piece band was producing some great sounds and I wanted to hear the band for myself.  As soon as the band started to played it's first song, "All of Me" I knew I was in for a treat.  Under Ted Herman's direction, the band played beautifully, swinging this great evergreen firmly but softly.  

Larry Capeloto

Larry Capeloto

Ted has two singers with his band.  We first heard, Larry Capeloto sing and swing with the band. His style and voice fit perfectly with the band.  I only heard two songs from Larry but would like to hear more from him in the near future. 

Next we heard from the beautiful Lee Hartley.  I had not heard Lee before but she was right at home singing in the middle of the band.  She has a strong voice and good range, perfect for singing with a big band.  Can't wait to hear more from Lee.  I understand that both Larry and Lee are currently working on new CDs.  As soon as they released, look for a review on my blog.

Lee Hartley

Lee Hartley

 I had another surprise at Dink's this evening.  I learned that about once per month, Ted invites a local high school jazz band to play for the first hour of his show.  This night, the impressive jazz band from Palm Desert High School performed.  I have to say they sounded a whole lot better than the Jazz band I played in when I was in high school.  It is very satisfying to see these young high school adults playing big band music and playing it well.  The director of the band was Guy Lake, and he deserves lots of credit for the job he has done.  After they finished, Ted invited two members of the Palm Desert High School Band to sit in with his band, Amelia Sullivan on Trumpet and Bennett Robinson on Alto Sax. What a thrill for these young adults and what a thrill for me watching and listening in the audience!

Amelia Sullivan

Bennett Robinson

 If you have not been to Dink's on Tuesday night, put it on your "To Do" list.  You can have dinner and dance to a 14 piece orchestra with no cover charge or music charge! What are you waiting for?

Guy Lake

My thanks to Beverly Jensen and trombone player, John Leys for telling me about this great venue and orchestra.

John Leys

Beverly Jensen

Jackson Garrett and Friends Put On A Jazzfest at Annenberg

The Jackson Garrett Jazz Band

On Sunday, April 17, I went to see the highly regarded Jackson Garrett Jazz Band. The Jackson Garrett Band has been doing yearly performances for the last several years.  The bank was formed by Christopher Gore in 2003.  It was at this time, Christopher met Marty Steele and from that point on, The Jackson Garrett Band became a product of both of their talents.  Chris writes the great music and lyrics and then Marty gets to apply his arranging magic to these great songs.  The last ingredient in the Jackson Garrett formula is the outstanding group of musicians that join Chris and Marty to complete the final musical product.  The show at Annenberg Theater was very entertaining especially for anyone who likes the Big  Jazz Band Sound. The lovely and talented Laura Hagen hosted and also sang several original songs for us. The list of superb musicians that appeared was like the "Who's Who" of live jazz music in the desert.  In addition, there were some guest performers that added greatly to the overall program.  First, we heard the great sax man who has played with Earth, Wind and Fire for the past 25 years, Gary Bias. Gary was really in his groove when he played "Sweet Love". Gary co-wrote this song that was performed by Anita Baker and won a Grammy Award. 

Gary Bias

The next guest performer was the singer/songwriter, Slim Man.  I was not familiar with Slim's work but he turned out to be quite a treat.  His signing style is very unique, his voice is deep and rich and his songs and lyrics were first class by any measure.    

Slim Man

The last guest was an Oregon-based singer, Kristi King who has performed in the Palm Springs area many times.  She performed, "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" that was co-written by Marty Steele along with Chris Gore.

Kristi King

The balance of the performers in the Jackson Garrett Band could all be headliners in their own right and in fact most of them are.  I would have to write a book to properly cover their extensive resumes', but I would like to single out a few that performed exceptional this night.

Marty Steele

Marty Steele continues to impress audiences not only with his skillful keyboard performance but also with his song writing and his great arrangement talents. Chris Gore one of the best composers writing today for the wonderful array of songs and lyrics for tonight's program. Steve Madaio who performed some great solos and never fails to impress audiences throughout the country. Because every single player and singer was so talented, I have posted some pictures.  I am sure that everyone will recognize them because they all perform in many venues in the Coachella Valley. 

Christopher Gore

Steve Madaio

Laura Hagen

Jeff Stover

John Pagels

Steve Alaniz, Steve Madaio, John Leys