CocoGarcia

Anything Goes Live with Herb Alpert and Lani Hall

 
Last Friday night at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Lani Hall and Herb Alpert strutted their stuff with great charm and verve.  An intimate affair in a large venue somehow held together beautifully.  The hall was full to the gills with fans and friends in their Los Angeles hometown.  Even Fairfax High where Alpert attended was vocally well represented.  The instrumentals were magnificent with accompaniment from the talented Bill Cantos on piano/vocals, Hussain Jiffry on bass and Michael Shapiro on drums.  Then there was Lani.  Starting slow lest she startle us, Lani opened her voice with the evening and sang her heart out.  In Portuguese, in English, in soul.  When Herb plays his trumpet it sounds like somebody somewhere is actually singing.  When Lani sings, anything goes!  A delightful evening in Los Angeles' world class concert hall.

Michael Jackson's Fashion Comeback

This is it! If you love fashion finery don't miss Michael Jackson's lasting impression "This Is It."  Of course the pop king's music, singing and dancing are superb as one would expect.  But it's the clothes that got me.  Just a glimpse of the garment edges that would have been for the actual performance with Swarovski crystals and LED lit pieces.  The rehearsal garb was magnificent in its own right.  Sparkle and glitter juxtaposed with supremely tailored jackets, a magnificent use of color and silhouete, with a dash of Asian in baggy trousers and beautifully painted bright silk tailored shirts.  Of course, embellished jackets galore.  And those sequined socks.  The clothes make watching "This Is It" quite mesmerizing.  It is sad.  We all missed a great concert.  Michael Jackson's concert of a lifetime.  And his fashion comeback.

The Magnificent Regina Carter

We just get better with age.  We do!  Last night I had the total pleasure of attending a small concert at Pepperdine University's Smothers Theater featuring the magnificent jazz violinist Regina Carter.  She regaled the audience with her masterful violin and tunes from her upcoming CD Reverse Thread due for release in January.  A decade ago I caught Regina Carter on the fly at the now defunct Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles.  She was breathtaking then, a young woman with long flying hair in a neon orange gown, playing jazz violin so magnificently, as if someone was singing.  I wept with joy.  Her CD at the time Rhythms of the Heart remains an all-time favorite.  Last night, ten years later, a more mature and rounded woman took the stage wearing a sweeping dark brown brocade skirt and short tailored jacked, her hair cropped in a natural halo.  Beautiful.  Grounded.  Playing east African melodies with her still exquisite jazz violin, making me weep again with the sheer beauty of her performance.