Jazz review: Anthony Wilson Trio with Jim Keltner at the Blue Whale

If you happened to be walking by Pro Drum Shop on Vine Wednesday night, or maybe glanced in the percussion room at Guitar Center, chances are the skins had gone quiet throughout the city as the second night of guitarist Anthony Wilson's month-long residency at the Blue Whale kicked off with a special guest in drum titan Jim Keltner. Attention among the faithful -- even those who never sat down at the instrument -- must be paid.

Even if you don't think you're familiar with Keltner, you are. A first-call session drummer in a storied career, Keltner has recorded with George Harrison, Wings, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, the Ramones -- frankly, it's probably easier to list which music legend he hasn't recorded with at this point.

And while Keltner's track record leans toward rock, Wilson wasn't stepping outside his home genre with his choice. Keltner also contributed shape-shifting percussion to some of Bill Frisell's spacey folk-jazz recordings, as well as the jazzy twists of Steely Dan's "Aja." Plus, if there were any doubt in his abilities to slip into any genre, one drummer in the crowd answered the question succinctly: "It's Jim Keltner, man."

But it was also Anthony Wilson, who's enough of a master craftsman in his own right that there were probably no shortage of guitar lovers in the Blue Whale's packed, standing-room-only crowd as well. Wilson's "Campo Belo" was an arresting take on the music of Brazil, and the live guitar recording "Seasons" is maybe rivaled only by 1981's "Friday Night in San Francisco" by Paco DeLucia, Al DiMeola and John McLaughlin for six-string fireworks. And this doesn't even count his collaborations, which includes work with Diana Krall, Willie Nelson and, by the way, his father in bandleader Gerald Wilson.

Arts on TV: Julius Shulman; Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Ensemble

Movie: “Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman” (2008) 6 and 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sundance: Narrated by Dustin Hoffman. Photographer Julius Shulman helps bring architecture's Modernist movement to the forefront and collaborates with architect Richard Neutra and others on many important projects.

“SoCal Insider With Rick Reiff” 1 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. Friday; 11:30 a.m. Sunday, KOCE; noon Wednesday, KOCE: Opera legend Placido Domingo. 

“Exploring the Arts With Gloria Greer” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, KVCR: Jackie Autry's Private Collection.

“Open Call” 9 p.m. Thursday, KCET: Colburn School Orchestra. Hosted by mezzo-soprano opera singer Suzanna Guzman.

“Orchestra Kids 2011” 10:30 p.m. Thursday, KCET: Behind the scenes with the All Schools Elementary Honor Orchestra as it prepares for its annual concert in renowned Schoenberg Concert Hall in UCLA.

“SoCal Connected” 9 p.m. Friday; 6 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, KCET: Herbie Hancock: All That's Jazz: Correspondent Michael Okwu shares what it was like to spend time with jazz artist Herbie Hancock.

“Santa Monica On Stage” 8 p.m. Friday, City TV Channel 16, Santa Monica: Barbara Bain ("Why We Have A Body"). Writer Rex Pickett and director Amelia Mulkey ("Sideways, The Play").

“Art in the Twenty-First Century” 10 p.m. Friday, KOCE: Change: Artists Ai Weiwei, El Anatsui and Catherine Opie. (Season Premiere)

“Dudu Fisher: In Concert From Israel” 1:30 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Wednesday, KCET: Dudu Fisher performs Broadway tunes and Israeli songs. 

“Laguna Beach Live Presents: Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Ensemble With Calder Quartet” 11 p.m. Saturday, KOCE: The Jazz Chamber Ensemble is a synthesis of jazz and classical chamber music.

“My Generation” 10 p.m. Monday, KLCS: Opera singer Denyce Graves; Cheech Marin.

“Independent Lens” 11 p.m. Sunday, KOCE: When the Drum Is Beating: Haiti's past and present is explored through the music of the country's oldest and best-known band.

“Grand Canyon Serenade” 5 a.m. Tuesday, KVCR: A visual tour of the Grand Canyon is set to classical music by Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Dvorak.

-- Compiled by Ed Stockly

Photo: Billy Childs. Credit: Javiera Estrada 

Album review: Billy Hart's 'All Our Reasons'

Billy Hart, "All Our Reasons" (ECM)

An enduring, engaging presence behind the drums who has recorded with Wes Montgomery, Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis (as a hired hand on the 1972's landmark "On the Corner"), 71-year-old Billy Hart sees no reason to rest on his laurels.

Here on a lush reconvening of a band that came together on the 2006 album "Quartet," Hart leads with a steady, almost invisible hand that gives his younger, high-profile collaborators ample room to stretch.

Pianist Ethan Iverson is best known for co-leading the witty, boundary-shredding jazz group the Bad Plus, but here his playing remains in a more contemplative place, particularly on "Ohnedaruth," one of his own compositions that nods toward John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" with an insistent, multidirectional patter from Hart and an understated lead from saxophonist Mark Turner.

A notable bandleader in his own right, most recently with the trio Fly, Turner's trademark reserve is a highlight on his slow-burning composition,"Wasteland," but it's Hart who owns some of the record's most memorable turns with the knotty "Duchess" and the opener "Song for Balkis."

Esperanza Spalding, Ambrose Akinmusire lead Monterey Jazz lineup

The performers for the 55th annual Monterey Jazz Festival this fall have been announced, and as usual it's a stacked lineup that cherry-picks from across the genre.

Rising star and the festival's 2012 artist in residence Ambrose Akinmusire will appear four times over the weekend of Sept. 21-23, as will the percussion legend Jack De Johnette, who released the ambitious album "Sound Travels" earlier this year.

From there the bill features familiar names such as veterans Pat Metheny and Tony Bennett, guitarist Bill Frisell, jazz artist of the moment Esperanza Spalding and the rambunctious funk of New Orleans' Trombone Shorty.

In addition to nodding toward the blues with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, the festival also offers an intriguing collection of young jazz talent in 2012 Grammy nominee Gerald Clayton, pianist Tigran Hamasyan, bassist Ben Williams and Oakland by way of Chicago saxophonist Aram Shelton. Pianist Michael Wolff will lead a tribute to Latin jazz's Cal Tjader joined by Pete Escovedo.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Wedneday and are available on the festival's website, along with the full artist lineup, for those jazz fans looking for a way to beat L.A.'s annual Indian summer heat.

ALSO:

Ambrose Akinmusire plays it his way

McBride, Carrington lead 2012 Playboy Jazz Festival lineup

Jazz review: 2011 Angel City Jazz Festival at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre

-- Chris Barton

Photo: Ambrose Akinmusire onstage during the 2011 Newport Jazz Festival. Credit Eva Hambach / AFP/Getty Images

Smithsonian Folkways to release rare Louis Armstrong concert, recipes

Elvis Costello may soon have something else to recommend for his fans with the announcement that Smithsonian Folkways will be releasing a recording of one of the last live performances by Louis Armstrong, "Satchmo at the National Press Club: Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours." Available on CD and in digital form on April 24, the release comes in celebration of the 11th annual Jazz Appreciation Month.

Recorded in Washington, D.C., just five months before Armstrong's death in 1971, the recording features Armstrong favorites "Mack the Knife," "Rockin' Chair" and "Boy from New Orleans" from an impromptu concert. Rounding out Armstrong's five-track set is a tribute concert from the same venue after the bandleader's death and, as an added bonus for the gastronomically inclined, a selection of Armstrong's favorite recipes.

Included as part of the recording's original, vinyl-only limited release in 1972, the recipes include Armstrong's take on Louisiana caviar -- which, based on a quick Google search, could mean any number of things -- and the Sazerac, another New Orleans favorite that should prick up the ears of followers of the current vintage cocktail craze because, after all, who wouldn't want to follow in Satchmo's footsteps?

Armstrong's recordings enjoyed a welcome return to the public eye last year with Elvis Costello's advice that fans buy his "Ambassador of Jazz" box set rather than his own "The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook," which Costello viewed as overpriced. "Frankly the music is vastly superior," he wrote.

ALSO:

Book review: 'Half-Blood Blues' by Esi Edugyan

Jazz box set review: 'Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology

Elvis Costello on price of new box set: 'Either a misprint or a satire'

-- Chris Barton

Photo: Louis Armstrong studies sheet music before a 1956 performance in London. Credit: Associated Press

Album review: Chano Dominguez's 'Flamenco Sketches'

'Flamenco Sketches,' Chano Dominguez

Blue Note

More than 20 years after Miles Davis' death, it's almost bigger news when a month passes and a reissue or tribute to Davis' music isn't released. Still, this seven-track live set from 2009 led by Spanish pianist Chano Domínguez reveals there's yet more undiscovered territory in these well-worn songs, proving that it's not necessarily the tributes to the iconic trumpeter that are the problem, it's the skill and imagination going into them.

Opening with an expansive, 16-minute take on "Flamenco Sketches" from Davis' landmark "Kind of Blue" recording, Domínguez begins the album with a lush solo that accelerates into a simmering flamenco groove that develops into a hip-swiveling maze of handclaps and sparkling piano flourishes.

Songs from "Kind of Blue" do much of the heavy lifting here with a take on "Freddie Freeloader" reframing the song's breezy refrain with a percolating rhythm from bassist Mario Rossy and percussionist Israel "Paraná" Suárez, and the typically slow-burning "All Blues" gains a hotter pulse and a rhythmic hitch that twists the song into a head-bobbing dance number.

Rossy also leads a rubbery, quickened take on the familiar intro of "So What," which Domínguez quickens into a raucous stomp atop a maze of pattering percussion. It's still Miles, but it's miles away from what's already been done.

Domínguez performs live as part of the Jazz Bakery's Moveable Feast series on Saturday, March 31 at 8 p.m. Zipper Hall at the Colburn School 200 S. Grand Ave., L.A. $30 www.jazzbakery.com.

ALSO:

New CDs: 'Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe' and 'Miles Espanol'

Album review: Esperanza Spalding's 'Radio Music Society'

Robert Glasper's 'Black Radio': Is all that jazz?

-- Chris Barton

Jazz review: Keith Jarrett at Walt Disney Concert Hall

Not unlike the old joke about going to watch a fight and seeing a hockey game break out, what happens when you go to a Keith Jarrett show and a comfortable, even relaxed concert experience breaks out?

This isn't to disparage Jarrett's music on Tuesday night at Walt Disney Concert Hall, which was another of his signature, engrossing evenings of solo, in-the-moment creation that lie somewhere between mind-scrambling instrumental skill and the harnessing of pure magic. Instead this is a byproduct of Jarrett's often prickly performing persona, an unfortunate elephant in the room during his concerts, which in the past have found the mercurial pianist storming off stage at the sound of coughing or sternly scolding amateur photographers in the audience for snapping his picture, as he did during a 2010 show at Disney Hall.

And whether the result of a crowd fully aware and respectful of Jarrett's particular rules (a wave of preemptive coughing crested through the room and fell to laughter before the pianist even walked onstage) or a mellowing of Jarrett's usual sensitivities, Tuesday's concert bore far less of the best-behavior audience tension that can shade Jarrett's appearances and instead allowed even more room for the music to be the focal point.

Jazz review: Billy Childs and Kronos Quartet at Walt Disney Hall

Niceness met vision in an ambitious collision of jazz and neoclassical at Disney Hall on Sunday night. Niceness won.

Although the Grammy-winning talents of Billy Childs, Kronos Quartet and Bill Frisell packed potential for chemistry, the energies tended to dissipate.

The intensity focused mid-evening with the pointy-booted Kronos, whose stand-alone segment brought industrial aspiration to the agitated "Aheym (Homeward)," by Bryce Dessner of the art-pop group the National.

The four bows stroked and slapped with familial elasticity, bringing out the composition's snap-back power and hypnotic magnetism. Frank Gehry's airy modern hall was built for this.

Childs' all-star quartet glowed with a Californian spirituality, the pianist's "Aaron's Song" and "Hope in the Face of Despair" owing as much to film music as to jazz. Despite the klezmer plaint of Steve Wilson's saxophones, the latter piece would have seemed little more than pondering puzzlement if Childs hadn't credited its inspiration to "Maus," Art Spiegelman's dark comix biography of his Auschwitz-survivor father.

Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell mixes it up with Floratone project

Recording an album is generally a pretty straightforward process -- you gather musicians in a room and capture what comes out. Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell switched things up with his project Floratone, a multilayered mix of improvisation and editing with drummer Matt Chamberlain and two of Frisell’s longtime collaborators in producers Lee Townsend and Tucker Martine.

Also featuring L.A.’s Jon Brion and trumpeter Ron Miles, the group just released its second album in "Floratone II." An shadowy, immersive listen, the album can sound funky, driving or atmospheric, and as many surprises as it may have for the listener, it can be just as surprising for Frisell, who handed off much of its construction to Townsend and Martine.

In 30 years of recording, Frisell has freely incorporated electronics, rustic folk, country and global sounds into diverse albums such as "Nashville," "The Intercontinentals" and "Lágrimas Mexicanas," a pairing with Brazil's Vinicius Cantuaria that was one of three albums Frisell released in 2011. Opening a line-up that also features the Billy Childs and Kronos quartets, Frisell will appear Sunday at Disney Hall with his Beautiful Dreamers ensemble, a trio with violist Eyvind Kang and drummer Rudy Royston.

Speaking by phone from Tokyo earlier this week while touring with Cantuaria, Frisell talks about his new album and his eclectic approach to music.

Arts on TV: Placido Domingo; Oscar Hammerstein; Il Volo; 'Phantom'

"Open Call" 9 p.m. Thursday, KCET: Kenny Burrell 

"SoCal Insider With Rick Reiff" 7:30 p.m. Friday, 11:30 a.m., Sunday, KOCE: "Greatest Living Tenor": Interview with opera legend Placido Domingo.

"The World's Greatest Musical Prodigies" 8 p.m. Friday, KLCS: Alexander meets and auditions four pianists age 8 to 12.

"Great Performances" 8:30 p.m. Friday; 12:30 p.m. Sunday; 7 p.m., Wednesday, KOCE: "The Phantom of the Opera" at the Royal Albert Hall : Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess star in a fully-staged production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," from London's Royal Albert Hall.

"Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" 12:37 a.m. Friday, NBC: Actor Paul Rudd; actress Gabrielle Union; performance from "Sister Act."

"The Voice" 4 p.m. Saturday, E!: The Blind Auditions, Part 5 : More vocalists audition for the judges. (Part 5 of 5)

"Il Volo Takes Flight" 5:30 p.m. Saturday, KOCE: The Italian teen vocal group performs classical and traditional Italian songs at the Detroit Opera House.

"The Artist Toolbox" 8:30 p.m. Saturday, KLCS: American Ballet Theatre principal dancers Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky discuss the rigors of being a professional dancer.

"Yanni -- Live at El Morro" 9 p.m. Saturday, KOCE: Yanni performs with his 15-piece orchestra at El Morro, a 16th-century citadel in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"Oscar Hammerstein II -- Out of My Dreams" 7 p.m. Sunday, KOCE; 8:30 p.m. Sunday, KVCR: Lyricist and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II worked in theater for more than 40 years, writing lyrics to more than 1,000 songs and the books of 45 operettas and musicals.

"Idina Menzel Live -- Barefoot at the Symphony" 8:30 p.m. Sunday, KOCE: Menzel performs Broadway classics, her own selections and contemporary songs with Taye Diggs and composer Marvin Hamlisch.

RELATED:

"Oscar Hammerstein II: Out of My Dreams" details Broadway pioneer

-- Compiled by Ed Stockly

Photo: "The Phantom of the Opera" stars Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom. Credit: Alastair Muir