Tag archives: musician
Santa Barbara physician, musician, and author James Kahn will read from Matamoros, his Civil War romance that has received strong reviews, at Chaucer’s Bookstore at 7 pm on Wednesday, March 18. The book takes place in 1862, when the Union Army had blockaded all Confederate ports. Just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas, Matamoros […]
We caught up with Glen Phillips, the lead singer-songwriter of Toad the Wet Sprocket, coincidentally just a few days after the death of Terry Jones, one of the stars of the seminal comedy group Monty Python. The Santa Barbara-born alternative rock band took its name from one of the troupe’s skits back when Phillips was […]
If violinist-violist Sara Bashore hadn’t been craving cookies as a kid, she might never have made it to Montenegro. At least that’s what Bashore remembered about her first exposure to the violin at age five. “My parents took me to an orchestra concert and asked me if I was interested in any of the instruments,” […]
Hanzhi Wang wasn’t born an accordion player. But it was only a few years later at age six that the young Chinese girl fell in love with the instrument when she overheard it on the soundtrack of an Italian movie. “My father was watching it and I heard the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard […]
Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman, who has appeared in Santa Barbara many times over the years for CAMA and UCSB Arts & Lectures, celebrated this 75th birthday at the sold-out Granada for Stories of His Life and Career, accompanied by pianist Rohan de Silva. The charming two-hour A&L retrospective, which traced his career from a 13-year-old […]
World-renowned cellist, composer, and curator Joshua Roman is an alumnus of the Music Academy of the West (MAW) since 2002. He sent out letters of inquiry around the U.S. to secure a space undisturbed for composing a 16-minute piece for the Cleveland Orchestra. Scott Reed, President and CEO of MAW, reached out to Ashley Woods […]
Way back in the spring of 2016, we wrote about the upcoming release of Songs in the Key of Double Bass, an exciting album debut from local singer-songwriter Danny Briere’s new acoustic project featuring two brilliant bassists who call Santa Barbara home: the decades-long veteran James Connolly, who has had a hand in innumerable musical […]
Jim Brickman’s new album is a Christmas record – what else? – the seventh in his career that actually name checks the holiday in its title. Christmas Celebration is just that, a joyous journey through the carols, both classic and composed by the modern romantic piano sensation, pretty much like most of its predecessors. “I […]
In a candid interview conducted by our town’s favorite literary author Pico Iyer, 82-year-old Philip Glass talked about his parents, becoming a musician-composer and still being stimulated by life to write and play the music he hears. The October 4 event was part of Pico’s talk series for UCSB Arts & Lectures, sponsored by Martha […]
The Lobero Theatre Associates had their latest event to benefit the Lobero Theatre with “An Evening with Steve Tyrell.” It began in the tent-covered courtyard with a reception featuring unique pizzas from Oppi’Z. There was an unusual cheesecake that was savory instead of sweet topped with smoked salmon as well as the usual sweet ones. […]
Korean-American Richard O’Neill, longtime violist for Adrian Spence‘s Camerata Pacifica, is joining the internationally acclaimed lineup of the 45-year old Takacs Quartet. He will replace Geraldine Walther, who is retiring after 15 years in May. Richard, 41, joins founding member, cellist Andras Jejer, English first violinist Edward Dusinberre and American second violinist Harumi Rhodes, in […]
Sometimes becoming a parent is how you find a rebirth of your current career; that was certainly the case for Montecito Mom Renee Stahl. Stahl was already well regarded in the mainstream music world for rich melodies on solo records like Hopeful Romantic as well as on the debut by her duo, Paper Flowers. But […]
Where were you when you first heard Bob Dylan? Arguably one of the greatest poets and musical artists of our generation, Bob Dylan has been covered and worshiped by fans and artists of all walks of life. Born as Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, the musician has been in the game for sixty years, […]
The Great American Songbook has captivated singers from Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra to modern pop stars such as Rod Stewart and Linda Ronstadt. But rarely has success with the timeless tunes from the 1930s-50s come so surprisingly as with Steve Tyrell. A throaty crooner with roots in Houston’s gritty Italian neighborhood whose first love […]
Guitarist Al Di Meola was merely fantasizing when he told a friend back in 1974 that he’d “give anything” to be able to play in Chick Corea’s Return To Forever jazz fusion band. After all, the Jersey City-bred Di Meola was only 19 and still studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston. But the […]
It’s taken a while, but audiences have finally stopped coming to Creed Bratton’s concerts expecting to hang out with his self-named character from The Office. “I’d be talking or singing and they’d shout out my lines from the show,” he explained over the phone from his Los Angeles home recently. “So I’d just stop and […]
Melissa Manchester’s career began at an early age, including studying piano and harpsichord at the Manhattan School of Music, singing commercial jingles at 15, and serving as a staff writer for Chappell Music while still attending Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts. After serving as a member of the Harlettes, Bette Midler’s back-up singers, Manchester […]
Despite the fact that she is Kenny Loggins’ youngest daughter, and half-sister to Crosby Loggins, once a stalwart on the Santa Barbara music scene who was the winner of MTV’s Rock the Cradle back in 2008, it wasn’t pre-ordained that Hana Aluna would become a professional musician. Sure, Kenny wrote and recorded the lullaby with […]
On a personal note, I remember Geoffrey Rutkowski, former principal cellist of the Santa Barbara Symphony, who has died aged 78. A charming, gentle and enormously talented individual, Geoffrey joined the music faculty at UCSB in 1968 until his retirement in 2013 as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus. He played all over the world, including two […]
Watching David Crosby: Remember My Name at a SBIFF screening at a sold-out Lobero Theatre back on Super Bowl Sunday last February 3 was a thrilling but almost excruciating experience, made even more so knowing that the aging Santa Barbara-raised rock star was seated just a few rows away, watching himself sing, and squirm, on […]
