Saturday, November 2 | Jacques Lesure Quartet | Sam First Bar (LAX)
Guitarist Jacques Lesure swings like classic straight-ahead players such as Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, and Kenny Burrell. I only recently learned about Lesure when I received his CD When She Smiles . I loved it as soon as I heard it. Click HERE for tickets and information.
Wednesday, November 6 and Saturday, November 9 | Farruquito Flamenco | Segerstrom Concert Hall (Orange County) and The Soraya (Northridge)
Farruquito (b. Juan Manuel Fern á ndez Montoya) is the current heir to Spain’s most renowned flamenco dance dynasties. If you want to experience the powerful elixir of genuine flamenco, this show from a legendary dancer is worth the trip to Orange County. Click HERE for tickets and more information about the Segerstrom show on the 6th. Click HERE for tickets and information about the Soraya show on the 9th.
An intimate look at Farruquito in a juerga, a small flamenco party:
Thursday & Friday, November 7-8 | Dudamel & Yuja Wang | Walt Disney Concert Hall (DTLA)
This show’s lineup consists of a wonderful mix of works—Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera ’s Variaciones Concertantes (a personal favorite), Stravinsky ’s ever-powerful Rite of Spring, and John Adams ’s third piano concerto, Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? , written for and featuring the spectacular pianist Yuja Wang . Gustavo Dudamel conducts the LA Philharmonic. Click HERE for tickets and more information.
Listen to this program’s playlist on Spotify:
Sunday, November 10 | Dhrupad Sisters | The Music Circle (Pasadena)
This Indian trio performs one of the oldest and most cherished Indian musical forms. The Dhrupad Sisters are also the first all-female Dhrupad ensemble (vocal duo and pakhawaj) to perform in the U.S. Click HERE for tickets and more information.
Sunday, November 10 | GIMS | The Novo (DTLA)
Congolese/French singer Maître Gims (b. Gandhi Bilel Djuna) has sold millions of albums in Europe and recently performed at the 70,000-seat Stade de France stadium. He is a powerful and wonderful artist who has worked with Sting and reggae star Shaggy. My question is, how come we don’t know more about him here? Well, I think that’s about to change as he brings his Fuego tour to the U.S. Click HERE for tickets.
Check out this cool collaboration with Sting—I love Gim’s voice:
Saturday, November 16 | Carminho | The Broad Stage (Santa Monica)
I love fado, Portugal’s musical gift to the world. Like flamenco, fado’s roots go back hundreds of years to Moorish times. It’s music that is both sweet and sad, popularized by Amália Rodrigues (the “queen of fado”) as well as a newer generation—Ana Moura and Mariza are two fado singers who have become widely known outside of Portugal. Carminho is the latest to break through, with a new album titled Maria and a U.S. tour. Her first album, Fado, went platinum in 2009, and now she has set out to conquer the world. The Broad Stage with its great sound is perfect for fado’s intimate feel. Click HERE for tickets and more information.
Saturday, November 16 | Alex De Grassi | McCabe’s Guitar Shop (Santa Monica)
Windham Hill was a big label in the 1980’s, and while I found many of their releases tepid and lacking, some really stood out as wonderful and timeless. Guitarist Alex De Grassi was one of them. McCabe’s is the perfect venue for his fretwork wizardry. Click HERE for tickets.
In this video, De Grassi plays a song remembering the late Michael Hedges, who was also part of Windham Hill’s roster of fingerpicking guitarists:
Sunday, November 17 | Ricardo Silveira | bluewhale (DTLA)
Ricardo Silveira is a top Brazilian guitarist who first became famous in the 1980’s with a string of wonderful releases, at a time when we were discovering Brazilian musical wonders like Milton Nascimento, Djavan, and Caetano Veloso. He plays more electric guitar and jazz than, say, 7-string Brazilian guitarists like Fabiano do Nascimento, who follow the Baden Powell style. Click HERE for tickets and more information.
Watch Silveira play a solo guitar piece at a concert in Fortaleza, Brazil. He plays the electric guitar without a pick, which is in his mouth probably for the next ensemble song.