anthologysd.com

By Mikel Toombs, SDNN

When Janiva Magness makes the trip to perform Thursday at Anthology, she’ll be in her element.

“I love that venue,” the singer said by phone from her Los Angeles home. “There’s not a bad seat in the house in terms of sound or sight line. And the food is, like, off the hook.

“We often get to play songs we don’t get to play in other types of venues, because it’s such a good listening venue. And that’s going to be my San Diego birthday party. If folks want to come down and wish the old broad happy birthday, that’ll be fine with me.”

This birthday, her 53rd, isn’t the only happy occasion Janiva (pronounced JAN-iv-uh) Magness has to celebrate. She’s the reigning B.B. King Entertainer of the Year (Koko Taylor is the only other female to ever win) and Best Contemporary Blues Female Artist, as determined in last May’s Blues Music Awards. And she’s putting the finishing touches on the follow-up to “What Love Will Do” (Alligator Records). Like the critically acclaimed BMA-nominated album, Magness is co-producing with Dave Darling.

A longtime local favorite who last month headlined a benefit for non-commercial radio station KSDS (”Those guys have played my records pretty much as long as I’ve been making them,” she said), Magness sparkles in her live shows. She matches passionate vocals with a high-heeled strut that recalls another celebrated “old broad,” Tina Turner.

“I love Tina Turner,” Magness said, surprised by the compliment. “Well, Tina is a survivor. And I guess in that regard that puts us in the same category: as Etta James so aptly coined the phrase, ‘rage to survive.’”

While her “rage” has softened over the years, Magness’ survival is the stuff of legend, or at least of an especially memorable blues song.

Musically, she’s overcome being dismissed, almost three decades ago, as being over the hill. An MCA Records vice president told Magness, then 25, “that I was talented but I was too old,” she said. “I tell that story today, and every word of it is true. I tell that on the bandstand because it is so ridiculous.”

Magness, who discovered the blues after she hitchhiked to an Otis Rush concert in Minneapolis at a young age, already had a life story that was ridiculous, although in this case horrifically so. Born in Detroit, she ended up homeless or bouncing from one foster family to another, 12 in two years, after both her parents committed suicide.

Today, she remembers that period by volunteering for the Casey Family Programs.

“I’m really grateful to be able to stand as a spokesperson for National Foster Care Month, which is a cause we celebrate all year long,” Magness said. “I was pretty much dead-heading for a really bad ending. And really, really and truly because a small handful of people within that framework stood up for me, it changed everything.

“I’m interested in testifying to that. I’m interested in encouraging and inspiring other people to step forward for youth at risk in this country. I’m interested in inspiring and encouraging those kids to not give up on themselves, for that textbook predictable thing. It doesn’t have to be that way.”

Magness found her experience sadly relevant during a 2008 tour of Iraq, and she’s clearly moved when, whether on stage or in an interview, she discusses her time there.

“It was deeply personal for me,” she said. “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is suffered by kids in the foster system at twice the rate as combat vets. We have it twice as much as they do. That’s really horrifying.

“So, you know how it is when you have a certain thing and you recognize your own kind? It was like that. And I saw it a lot. I had the opportunity to talk to some of them about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Because I’m always going to have that. It’s never going to go away, I’m never going to ‘get over it.’”

“It’s part of my landscape. But I don’t live in that, day after day after day, anymore. They live in it now, day after day after night after day. They live in it.

“I don’t live in that anymore. It’s taken a tremendous amount of very hard work, but most days I’m not in that night. Every once in a while, it crops up. Every once in a while a series of events will happen and I will have an extraordinarily tough time.

“But mostly, I don’t have that issue. What a huge blessing, what a huge healing, to stand there on an airstrip outside of Baghdad and tell a soldier that, smack in the center of that shit, and have him really know what I’m talking about.”

Event info
What: Janiva Magness
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28
Where: Anthology, 1337 India St., downtown/Little Italy
Tickets: $18 BUY TICKETS

More: www.anthologysd.com

Mikel Toombs writes regularly for SDNN’s Music page.

–

Via SDNN.com

“San Diego is starving for Bruce,” says KPRI co-owner and show host Robert Hughes. “Bruce and the E Street band last played San Diego 28 years ago. No matter what we do, they just won’t come here. So we decided it’s time to act.”

Hughes and a group of fellow musicians formed Thunder Road, a Springsteen tribute, in the fall of 2008 and after some grueling session work, the band debuted on February 28, 2009 at Anthology in San Diego’s Little Italy. The eight man line up of Thunder Road closely emulates the core sound of the legendary E Street Band. According to Hughes: “We play a selection of Bruce’s best songs from the richest period of his music, plus some of his newer material. This music needs to be heard live. If Bruce won’t come here and play his stuff - we will.”

The project is the brainchild of Barry Rosenbaum, keyboard player and lifetime Springsteen fan. According to Rosenbaum: “Robert and I met years ago and started playing these songs for our own entertainment. We quickly realized that Bruce was the best show in rock & roll and a worthy role model. We’re not Bruce, of course, but we intend to do justice to these songs.” The band draws from a deep catalog of Boss tunes ranging from his early E Street days (Tenth Avenue Freezeout, Born to Run, Spirit in the Night) to his radio days in the 80’s (Dancin’ in the Dark, Cover Me, Fire) to some of his more current material (The Rising, Girls in Their Summer Clothes) to some of his show-closing covers (Quarter to Three, Devil With a Blue Dress medley). From stripped down rock tunes (Pink Cadillac) to the orchestral (Jungleland), Thunder Road has something for every Bruce fan, from the casual to the fanatic.

Start your new year right and plan to join Thunder Road at Anthology on January 23 for shows at 7:30 and 9:30PM. If you haven’t been there before, don’t miss this opportunty to experience perhaps the best music venue in San Diego. For directions, tickets and other info, go to: www.anthologysd.com

–

Via KPRIfm.com

by T. Loper | NBC Sound Diego blog
Longtime Count Basie colleague and trombonist Bill Hughes will bring the swing to Anthology for a two-night stand January 29-30.

For those who aren’t already familiar with the Legendary Count Basie Orchestra, flash back to Kansas City, Mo., in 1935: An understated man from south Jersey who had always dreamed of life on the road started a band. One year later, William “Count” Basie, now leader of “the swingingest band in all the land,” had forever changed the face of what many call America’s only art form. Basie would go on to see the world many times over.

A lot of talented musicians have come and gone since then — the Count himself passed away in 1984 — but that doesn’t mean his band can’t still swing like it’s 1935. They’ve won 17 Grammys and 20 Downbeat and JazzTimes polls, more than any other big band in jazz, and they’re about to celebrate their 75th anniversary. Past members include some of jazz’s true greats, including Lester Young, Joe Williams, Buck Clayton and many others.

Bill Hughes, trombonist and director of the Legendary Count Basie Orchestra, was born in Dallas in 1930. He joined the orchestra in 1953 and assumed its leadership after the 2003 passing of Grover Mitchell, who had directed the band since 1995. Evidently, directing Basie’s band is like a Supreme Court appointment — you’re there for life if you want to be.

Hughes is a self-styled rarity in jazz, having eschewed numerous opportunities to gain personal celebrity in favor of a career dedicated largely to the Count Basie Orchestra. His only deviation from that path has been to spend time with his family, so the band is clearly in his blood. Someone who has been there so long is bound to interpret Basie’s vision in just the right way, and — just as important — keep things lively.

…

Read the full article on the NBC Sound Diego blog.

Mavis Staples may be seventy years old but this soul and gospel icon, who also happens to be an inductee to the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, still has it all going on. This is her fifty ninth year in the business and the fact she blew into San Diego for two nights at Anthology on dates that coincided with the birthday of Martin Luther King made this, for her, a very personal performance. After opening the set with Stephen Still’s ‘For What Its Worth’ (which was a hit for the Staples Singers as far back as 1967) she asked the audience to respect the victims of Haiti with a few seconds silence before sharing with them some of her memories of being on the road with the Staple Singers and of meeting Dr King along the way.

Mavis came to Anthology with a message of hope and the music of inspiration that, given the power of its delivery, was almost tangible. Of course there appeared to be few ‘born again’ Christians in the crowd and the way expensive wine flowed like rivers made it unlikely that many were there to be converted. However, this not withstanding, her potently soulful music found huge favor throughout.

Mixing her gospel passion with soul from the heart, and during a set that lasted around seventy five minutes, she was grandly supported by vocals from Donny Gerrard, Chavonne Morris and Yvonne Staples. Not only that, with the tight instrumental backing of Stephen Hodges on drums, Jeff Turmes on bass and, most notably, Rick Holstrom on guitar the quality of the music remained, for the whole time, consistently high. In fact, for a fifteen minute break during which Mavis took an off stage rest, Holstrom, Turmes and Hodge provided an instrumental interlude that proved to be as delightful as it was varied. However the show was all about the legend that is Mavis Staples and she did a particularly good job with her hearty rendition of the classic ‘Wade In The Water’. Equally pleasing was her take on another Staples Singers blockbuster, The Bands ‘The Weight’, and talking of Staples Singers hits she reserved the best to the very last. Although her turbocharged rendering of ‘Respect Yourself’ seemed unbeatable she topped it and then some by the magnificent play out tune ‘I’ll Take You There’ that brought the audience to its feet.

As time goes on the opportunities to observe the very best of what, for R & B, was a golden age become ever more limited. As such Mavis Staples at Anthology was a show to be remembered and, more than that, cherished.

–

Via Smooth Jazz Therapy

By George Varga | SignOnSanDiego.com

Can an expatriate Russian Jewish jazz singer, who immigrated to Israel as a child with her family and now lives in Canada, find happiness by mixing vintage swing, bop and Brazilian-tinged music with jazzy versions of classics by Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt and Paul Simon?

Absolutely, in the case of Sophie Milman, who performs here Wednesday at downtown’s all-ages Anthology. Now 28 (or 33, depending on the source) and recently married, Milman sounds equally inviting whether she’s caressing a ballad, riding on top of a sultry samba beat or saluting and building on the rich vocal traditions of some of her idols, which include Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Dianne Reeves.

Her fifth and latest album, “Take Love Easy,” finds her singing with increased assuredness and maturity. Rather than over-emote or launch into empty technical displays, as many young musicians tend to do by nature, she lets each note she performs breathe and resonate for maximum effect.

Milman is still rooted in the Great American Songbook, as she demonstrates on her new album with loving renditions of chestnuts by Duke Ellington and Cole Porter. But she also offers ingeniously fresh takes on such disparate songs as Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” (the latter having never been covered by any jazz artist I can recall).

By virtue of her ravishing, movie-star looks, Milman was initially lumped into the so-called “jazz babes” movement that followed in the wake of Diana Krall’s rise to stardom. Happily, she is much more than just another pretty face with jazzy pretensions and minimal vocal abilities. A star in the making, Sophie Milman does her music and her country — or is that countries? — proud.

* Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
* Anthology
* $10 - $33
* Buy Tickets

–

Via SignOnSanDiego.com

Here are the Grammy Nominees for 2010 that have graced the Anthology stage:

Alison Brown – Best Country Instrumental Performance

BeauSoleil Avec Michael Doucet (playing 4/1/10) – Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album

Chick Corea (w/John McLaughlin Five Piece Band) – Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group

Chucho Valdés – Best Latin Jazz Album (w/ Bebo Valdes)

Death Cab for Cutie – Best Alternative Music Album

Geoffrey Keezer – Best Latin Jazz Album

Herb Alpert – Best Pop Instrumental Performance

Hiroshima – Best Pop Instrumental Album

India.Arie – Best R&B Album; Best Urban/Alternative Album (w/ Dobet Gnahore); Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group w/ Vocals (w/ Musiq Soulchild)

Jake Shimabukuro – Best Classical Crossover Album (w/ Yo-Yo Ma & Friends)

Jason Mraz – Best Male Pop Vocal Performance; Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (w/ Cobie Caillat)

John Oates (w/ Daryl Hall) – Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals

Jonny Lang – Best Gospel Performance (w/ Fisk Jubilee Singers)

Lalah Hathaway – Best Female R&B Vocal Performance

Kurt Elling – Best Vocal Jazz Album; Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) (w/ Laurence Hobgood)

Marcus Miller – Best Pop Instrumental Performance

Mavis Staples – Best Contemporary Blues Album

Melody Gardot – Best Engineered Album (w/ Helik Hadar & Al Schmitt); Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (for Larry Klein)

Michael Buble (playing 2/4/10) – Best Traditional Pop Album

Mike Stern – Best Contemporary Jazz Album

Pat Metheny (w/ Gary Burton, Steve Swallow, & Antonio Sanchez) – Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group

Ruthie Foster – Best Contemporary Blues Album

Shawn Colvin – Best Contemporary Folk Album

Spyro Gyra (playing 5/14/10) – Best Pop Instrumental Album

Terence Blanchard – Best Improvised Jazz Solo

Tierney Sutton – Best Jazz Vocal Album

–
Good luck to you all!
–

Click here for the complete list of 2010 Grammy Award Nominees.

Still going strong: Some singers have voices that are simply unmistakable, and Mavis Staples is one of them. She’s been using that voice for more than 50 years—mostly as a lead singer for her family’s gospel group, The Staples Singers, known for crossover hits “I’ll Take You There” and the completely awesome “Respect Yourself”—and it still resonates the same way: powerhouse. Needless to say, an opportunity to see her live is one not to miss. Lucky for us, Staples will be at Anthology (1337 India St.) on two nights: Friday, Jan. 15, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 16, at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Tickets from $7 to $59. www.anthologysd.com.

–

Via San Diego CityBeat

By Dave Good | San Diego Reader

Like a modern-day John Lee Hooker, Otis Taylor can make an entire song from a single riff. Hooker conjured powerful emotions with little more than a guitar and a somnolent mumble. Taylor, a multi-instrumentalist and blues singer, broke out in 2001 with his White African, a CD that did much justice to the Hooker blues tradition, but with modern tools. He built a new music from simple chords and dressed it in layers of studio reverb and gritty distortion that made his songs shimmer like broken bottles on pavement. But, unlike Hooker, Otis Taylor shied away from making party songs. On White African he relived some of the darkest days in American history. “Well, the white man pointed his finger and said what he always says/ They didn’t bother to hang me, they just shot me on the spot.” You go to Otis Taylor for bleak.

On the phone from his home in Boulder, I ask if he is in general a dark and moody guy. “Do I sound depressed?” he asks in a baritone that is just above a whisper. No, he does not, but I didn’t know what to expect. “Everybody says that,” he laughs. “What you have a talent for doesn’t necessarily mean that’s who you are. I’m just good at dark.”

White African has been called a masterwork; I wonder if it has been hard for him to live up to his own success.

“It’s like gambling. If I go out on a limb, will I make it this time? For me, so far, I’ve made it. And every time I make it, people go, ‘He can’t do that again.’ That’s part of the excitement for me of making a record, is to see if I can survive.” He laughs again, which coming from him is a sound both unsettling and relieving. “Maybe I should do Bob Dylan covers. That’d be different.”
The Otis Taylor Band

* Friday, January 15, 2010, 9:30 p.m.
* Anthology
* $15 - $18

Click here for the original article in the San Diego Reader.

San Diego, CA (January 11, 2010) — Last November, Luscious Noise - the new
multi-media production based on making live classical music more accessible to
general audiences, made its popular debut at the avant garde Anthology supper club
in Little Italy.

This January, Luscious Noise will delve into the realm of fantasy. Featured artists
will include members of the San Diego Symphony and launching their national
Sounding Off tour, cellist Johannes Moser and toy pianist Phyllis Chen.
Luscious Noise Producer/Conductor John Stubbs encourages audiences to come as
they would to a night club - to eat, drink, and mingle while they watch an
extraordinary show. All ages are welcome.

Music selections will include:
• “Air and Rigaudon” from the “Holberg Suite” by Grieg
• Bach’s “Brandenburg” No. 3
• Mozart’s “Divertimento” in F
• Tchaikovsky’s “Élégie: Larghetto elegiaco” from “Serenade” in C

Visual excerpts will include:
• Jean Cocteau’s 1946 classic “La Belle et La Bete”
• Ingmar Bergman’s “The Magic Flute”
• The Royal Ballet School’s “Peter and the Wolf”

Luscious Noise · January 17, 2010 at 7:30pm
Anthology · 1337 India Street · San Diego, CA 92101
Tickets $10 - $20 · Call 619.595.0300 or visit AnthologySD.com
# # #
Mina Communications is a consulting business for the arts, established by Jasmine Rios in January 2007. Rios is also a freelance writer for Dancer Magazine, ExploreDance.com, SanDiegoRestaurants.com,
SanFranciscoRestaurants.com, LasVegasRestaurants.com, and the American Chronicle.
Mina Communications · 6204 Caminito Marcial · San Diego, CA 92111· 619.851.3920 PST ·
minacommunications.com

Click here if you have trouble watching the video above.

–

Squirrel Nut Zippers performs tonight as Anthology. Two shows: 7:30 & 9:30pm! $10 V-tix available for the 9:30pm show!

BUY TICKETS