I’ll admit that I didn’t go out to the Blue Whale to see Bob Reynolds because I knew who he was, because I was familiar with his music, or because I knew he’d been playing with John Mayer. In fact, prior to last week, I’ll admit that I knew very little about him at all [...]
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This Saturday I’ll be heading out to the Blue Whale, a jazz bar relatively nearby in Little Tokyo (which also means that I’ll be checking one off the bucket list) to hear some live jazz from saxophonist Bob Reynolds, joined by Lemar Carter on drums, Calvin Turner on bass, and Dennis Hamm on keys. Considering [...]
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Yesterday marked the end of the first CAP semester at CalArts — a program that I’m waiting to elaborate on until its final concert at CalArt’s relatively new outdoor theater, the Wild Beast. In a nutshell, the program unites CalArts students with younger students of their own in their respective areas of study. In my [...]
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There’s a multitude of things that I’m inclined to write about — our jazz band’s concert yesterday night, the strange connotations of the word hipster, the CAP program at CalArts. But for now, I’d like to show you some things that have been helping me get through that treacherous hike towards finals and other such [...]
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During my second week at the Idyllwild Jazz Summer Workshop, Matt Harris (professor at CSUN) challenged us to identify chords and intervals that he played on the piano solely based on what we heard — a form of ear training that I’m sure many of you are familiar with. We sat in a circle of [...]
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Ever since I began preparing for recording college music supplements, I’ve noticed that much of the music I’ve been listening to lately was recorded long before I was born. But as addicting as this music is for me, I remember the last time I went out on a limb and shared it with a not-so-much-of-a-jazz-fanatic [...]
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Last night I had the privilege of meeting bass player Kaveh Rastegar and drummer Jaydon Bean (as well as my teacher, Mark Nilan Jr.) at the Watermark on Main in Ventura. Let me tell you, it was quite the experience just watching the three musicians set up in such a tiny venue — a small [...]
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I was at a neighbor’s house Sunday night for a light get-together and a hearty barbecue — the same neighbor, Richard, who was the first to toss some jazz classics in my direction. Throughout the night, several names were thrown about and excitedly discussed — Toots Thielemans, George Benson, and Rod Piazza, to name a [...]
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I know it’s somewhat of a huge problem when even my jazz band director asks me why I haven’t been posting lately. You see, there’s this lovely thing that many of us do at the end of the school year: AP (Advanced Placement) Testing, a series of separate four-hour tests that help me earn credits [...]
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Being a teenage musician in a place like Los Angeles has got its perks. I’ve got access to the Hollywood Bowl, the Baked Potato, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and the California Institute of the Arts — not to mention access to thousands of musicians associated with LA-based music organizations. Nevertheless, it’s still exciting to meet [...]
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