As an antidote to the faux-swing movement of the Nineties (led by the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, et al.), the John Pizzarelli Quartet is most effective. Who would have thought that the more satisfying interpreters of swing would come from the jazz angle rather than from rock…
As a director, Woody Allen has demonstrated infuriating narcissism and lobotomy-worthy judgment by continuing to cast himself in his own films. While the rest of his actors outdo themselves at their craft in order to fulfill his still-vital ideas, Allen insists on burdening his work with his overworn nonacting, essentially…
No two words go better together than open and bar, which is one of the things you can experience at Space this Saturday. There is a catch, but it’s more than livable: Bring a new unwrapped toy as a donation to Toys for Tots, and you’ll get free admission and…
A true jazz vocalist in the tradition of Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, Dianne Reeves unquestionably possesses the power, tone, phrasing, vibrato, and soulfulness of the classic million-dollar voice. Which is why producers called on her to supply nearly all the music for last year’s Oscar-nominated period piece Good Night,…
Genial Cuban-American four-piece Rhett y Los Borrachos Empeñados (Rhett and the Pawnshop Drunks) fills Jazid’s air with retro-Latino this week. For more than six years, the band has worked on perfecting a mix of salsa, balladry, funk, and rock that plays with the ideas of chamber music and symphonics. The…
Live hip-hop music — MCs performing alongside an actual band — is rare these days, unless you count VH1’s annual attempt with Hip-Hop Honors and the ever-present Roots crew. However, in Miami this dearth of live hip-hop is not a problem. Trailblazers such as Mayday! are paving the way for…
The Trapp Family Singers had the sound of music. The Partridges, well, they just wanted everyone to get happy. The Carpenters? More sunshiny stuff about mountains and the weather. Yep, whether real or fictional, family bands have mostly stuck in the mind for their sheer cringe-inducing factor. Still, over the…
Miami’s favorite Cuban émigré, Latin jazz luminary, professor, and Dizzy Gillespie acolyte Arturo Sandoval will lay down his scorching Cubop trumpet lines on his own time at his own place. Billed as “The Trumpet’s Journey Through Cuban Rhythms,” this show appropriately features Afro-Cuban big band and bebop but also highlights…
Journeyman French DJ Phil Weeks will be inspiring the soiling and subsequent washing of your dirty laundry at Laundry Bar when he brings it for a one-off on December 15. It’s true, too — the washing machines are available at 7:00 a.m., so if you’ve been really, really rotten, you…
In case we didn’t get you to break down and check out Jive Collective at its last Jazid show, luck is with you, because the band will be there again December 11. Bar-goers weary of the house/trance same-sameness everywhere in the city might find Jazid something of a sanctuary, even…
A year ago the New York Dolls performed at Art Loves Music, the free concert on the sand that’s part of the official opening-night festivities for Art Basel Miami Beach. They must have liked it here, because this year they’re back. Sort of. Two members of the pioneering American glam…
International salsa queen Lucrecia has made it to Miami quite a few times during her long and prolific musical career. She has consistently shown equal adeptness at calming the crowd via soothing serenades like the romantic “Declaración de Amor” and livening up shows with thumping numbers like “Despiste.” One particular…
These past few years, the term garage rock has been bandied about in the mainstream press and on music channels in a way that could make one think there’s some sort of revival going on. You know the names and the videos, but if you think a couple of Stooges…
The talents of trumpeter Wallace Roney, an alumnus of the latter-day Miles Davis group, have sometimes been obscured by the shadow of that venerable jazz giant. The three-time Grammy winner’s gifts include the fine lyricism and sensitive dynamics he brought to Me’Shell NdegéOcello’s intermittently bombastic opus “Al Falaq 113” from…
The Wagon Wheel Gang is an ever-growing, eclectic group of artists from diverse musical backgrounds with the common goal of spreading joy through re-creating their country, roots, and bluegrass originals. Six members of the Lutton family provide vocals for the Gang, which is led by Miami’s eccentric drummer and banjo…
Since its resurrection four years ago, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Miami’s jazz series has attracted some of South Florida’s most renowned jazz artists. Somewhat breaking the mold, the church has invited Miami-based singer Wendy Pedersen to perform for the third time. An award-winning jazz vocalist, she is equally at…
Over at Space, a Digweed-less Sasha will light up his Mac for the up-all-nighters, hoping to wipe the been-there off of their faces via an ever-changing mix of mantle-deep house and experimental downloads fresh off the boat. Constantly barraged by new MP3s from electro-tweaking hopefuls around the world, the superstar…
Remember that scene from Freaky Friday in which Lindsay Lohan wins the battle of the bands and her family becomes reunited and everything is great and grand? No? If you don’t know that movie, maybe you are familiar with the concept of a battle of the bands. Several groups compete…
The early 1990s belong to the silver age of the American do-it-yourself music scene. By the time the new decade dawned, the ability to record, print, and distribute a record or CD was well within the reach of practically anyone in the States, and the amount of product in stores…
For all the disaffection you might feel over being spoiled with another Paul Van Dyk performance in Miami, one look at his roots is enough to see he has had quite the struggle getting here. “At one time I only earned one deutsche mark a day,” he reminisces of the…
Zach Lewis has experienced the intense scrutiny that accompanies performing a one-man show. With a laptop and an electric guitar as his only companions onstage, he is solo act Disposable Thumbs. Auditory deception strikes listeners who have not seen Lewis strum his guitar and tap his MIDI pedal, for Disposable…
November 24 will be a busy day for the Beddy Ford Band, because the quartet will be headlining two shows in Miami. Beddy Ford employs the most phenomenal, state-of-the-art sound equipment to create its original sound, reminiscent of Nirvana-era Seattle. Though the band’s hardware is expensive, the boys dress casually,…
