ENTERTAINMENT
February 25, 2013 | By Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic
To call bassist Flea's new collaborative effort, Atoms for Peace, a departure for the versatile musician is to underestimate the scope of his talents. Over his 30-year career, he's played punk bass, slap bass, jazz bass, trance bass, arena rock bass and nearly naked tube-sock bass. On "Amok," the five-man supergroup's debut album, the artist known for his work as a nihilist in "The Big Lebowski" - oh, and as a founding member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers - provides mesmerizing doses of hypnosis bass to create some of the most groove-heavy lines of his career.
ENTERTAINMENT
June 7, 2012
JAZZ A onetime member of the New Tony Williams Lifetime and current chair of jazz studies at USC, keyboardist Alan Pasqua joins a powerful trio featuring a rhythm section comprised of fellow local favorites Darek Oles and drummer Peter Erskine, who performed with Jaco Pastorius in Weather Report as well as a variety of top-notch jazz gigs around the city. This certainly qualifies as another one of those. Vitello's, 4349 Tujunga Ave., Studio City, 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sat. $20. http://www.vitellosjazz.com
ENTERTAINMENT
May 23, 2009 | Rick Schultz
There was a heavy Taiwanese presence at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica for the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra's run-out concert Thursday night. No wonder, what with the sponsorship of the concert by the Taiwanese United Fund and the unveiling of a new Romance for Cello and Orchestra by Taiwanese composer Gordon Chin as played by cellist Felix Fan, whose parents come from Taipei. Ultimately, though, the biggest attention-getter of the night was another Fan solo vehicle, a cello concerto from the bent imagination of Austrian pianist-composer Friedrich Gulda.
ENTERTAINMENT
February 24, 2006 | Don Heckman, Special to The Times
Japanese pianist Hiromi hit the ground running in her opening set Wednesday at Catalina Bar & Grill. Playing a small keyboard synthesizer placed on top of the venue's Yamaha grand piano, she instantly kicked off a fiery rhythmic groove, as she swayed in sync with an energized flow of electronic bleeps, burps, grunts and moans.
ENTERTAINMENT
September 9, 2001 | DON HECKMAN, Don Heckman writes frequently about jazz for The Times
They're the guys who are usually grouped under a single title: the rhythm section. The guys who receive critical praise in phrases beginning with "The rhythm section propelled the rhythm forward in high gear ..." etc. Not much in the way of individual personality there. Of course, the pianists have an easy escape route.
NEWS
February 8, 2000 | MICHAEL HARRIS, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
The odd title of Mark Burnell's debut thriller refers to the human heart and lungs. A fellow trainee at a commando school in Scotland tells Stephanie Patrick: "Your heart is the drums, your breathing is the bass. . . . You can't panic when your breathing's under control and you've got your pulse in check. It's not physically possible. . . . Keep the rhythm section tight and the rest of the song plays itself."