“Who Cares?,” George Balanchine’s lively interpretation of George Gershwin’s 1920s Broadway show tunes, is a perfect accompaniment to the Sacramento Ballet’s world premiere of Ron Cunningham’s “The Great Gatsby.” “Who Cares?” opens the program with some of Balanchine’s classic moves – precision ensemble dancing, elegant extensions and intricate patterning. The ballet company’s talented cast of dancers performs extremely well, bringing energy, humor and artistry to the choreography. Standouts include Christopher Nachtrab’s “Liza,” Amanda Peet’s “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” Pett and Stefan Calka’s intimate “The Man I Love,” Alexandra Cunningham and Oliver-Paul Adams’ elegant “Embraceable You” and

The 1920s will come roaring back to life Feb. 7 to Feb. 10 when the Sacramento Ballet presents the world premiere of Ron Cunningham’s “The Great Gatsby.” Cunningham, the dance company’s co-artistic director (with his wife Carinne Binda),  created  the ballet to commemorate his 25th anniversary with the Sacramento Ballet. “I’ve wanted to do ‘Gatsby’ for a long time,” Cunningham said in a recent interview at the ballet studio. Cunningham’s choreography includes both story and  non-story ballets. He cited “Dracula,” “Hamlet” and “A Streetcar Named Desire” as other story ballets that have been quite successful. “The key is not to make a full-length, evening-long dance,” he said. “Gatsby” will

This past Second Saturday, I ventured off the midtown grid, away from the usual suspects, to a cultural hotbed at the Brickhouse Art Gallery in Oak Park. The occasion was the launch party of HAIRitage: Celebrating the Legacy of the Barber Shop with Art, Poetry and Jazz, a book full of black and white photos taken at the Master Barber Shop and Beauty Salon by local artist Gerry “GOS” Simpson, and poetry centering around the barbershop experience and its positive influence in the black community. And community is just what I found there, in spades. The exterior of Brickhouse was topped with a painting of President Obama, his smile shining like a beacon of hope and solidarity, and the atmosp

The annual Davis Jazz and Beat festival is a free intimate festival filled with poetry readings and painting improvisation set to the rhythm of live jazz. Hosted by the Cultural Action Committee, this is a unique opportunity for attendees to experience exclusive performances, a thorough collection of Beat art, and later meet firsthand with the world-renowned poets, jazz musicians, and painters of the Beat Generation. Money raised will benefit the Davis High School music programs. The Sixth Annual Davis Jazz & Beat Festival will be held Oct. 19 from 7 to 10 p.m. and Oct. 20 from noon until after midnight. The first day of the festival will be at the John Natsoulas Gallery on 521 First Stre

Music review by Gary Chew Jazz and blues vocalist Catherine Russell came into my “sonic” view late. I'm so much the richer for that now-comfortable music connection with this native New Yorker. I know that, after scrutinizing her talent, I'm the poorer for not having heard this woman sooner. But Catherine, as they say, was a late bloomer, albeit has worked with names that have blinked on marquee lights, just like her father, Luis Russell, did. Luis Russell was Louis Armstrong's music director in the mid-forties, and was a pianist, composer-arranger and big band leader. Catherine sings at Harlow's (2708 J St.) on Friday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. Swell Productions and Capital Public Radio (my

On Wednesday, Sept. 5, Fairytale Town will open its gates at 5:30 p.m. for a late summer evening concert by four local female musicians who represent not only the talent found in our area, but four generations of that talent. Parie Wood, Autumn Sky, Larisa Bryski and Valerie V will perform on the Mother Goose stage, and attendees are invited to bring chairs and blankets. The all-ages concert begins at 6 p.m. The idea for this concert began last year with Marty DeAnda of Dig Music LLC when he presented three generations of local male performers. Because of the event’s success, DeAnda “immediately began working on a female version,” and said that he’d like to make the event semi-annual wit

photographs by Barry Wisdom / At 43, Diana Krall is no longer the wunderkind who snuck up on jazz lovers in 1993, and gave them a small, wet kiss on the back of their necks in the form of her debut album, "Stepping Out." Seasoned as a pianist, singer, writer, Krall is now a wife (she's married to Elvis Costello) and mother with 12 albums to her credit, and a 13th ("Glad Rag Doll") due out Oct. 2, she is – as they say – not getting older, she's getting better. Krall, accompanied by a tight combo, showed off her still-maturing virtuosity in a romantic, sensuous set on the Thunder Valley Casino Resort Amphitheatre stage Saturday evening. The warm, late-summer breezes seemed appropriate f

On Saturday, Aug. 18, Grammy award winner Lee Ritenour will perform in the second scheduled Sunrise at Night concert at the Sunrise Mall. Ritenour’s new album, “Rhythm Sessions,” will be released on Sept. 25. The new album, featuring the rhythm section, provided Ritenour the opportunity to play with many talented musicians and to explore the music more deeply, running the gamut, as Ritenour said, “from funky to classical.” Among the musicians on the new album are Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea, Dave Grusin and Tal Wakefield. Additionally, Ritenour’s new album features the winners of the 2012 6 String Theory International Rhythm Section Competition performing Dave Grusin’s “Punta Del Sol.”

Sacramento's most incredible natural resource is the American River. Sacramento's most incredible untapped resource is local music. If you put the two together you get "River City music videos," which is a new feature you'll find on SacTV.com. It's a new series of local music videos set to local music. It's a way to promote the beauty of Sacramento to the rest of the world and another way to promote local artists to Sacramento, and maybe even the rest of the world.  I spent most of Saturday (June 30)  thinking up the idea and most of Sunday (July 1) making videos of the idea for SacTV. On Saturday I produced a video of the American River with my own music just to get the idea rolling. It'

The Sacramento Music Festival began its Memorial Day weekend run on Friday afternoon in Old Sacramento. Previously known as the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee and Festival, the Sacramento Music Festival has broadened its musical lineup to include additional genres of music. Traditional jazz enthusiasts, fear not - you still have plenty of music to choose from. Fifteen traditional jazz bands comprise the nearly 100 bands that will perform at over 20 venues for the next four days. Some of the venues are free to the public, and many require an admission badge to enter. Various ticket plans are available. For more information, check out the Sacramento Music Festival website.   Photos by Laura and

Previously known as the Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, the 39th anual Sacramento Music Festival descends on Old Sacramento from Friday through Monday, bringing family-friendly music for all ages. According to the event website, all of Old Saramento and the surrounding hotel ballrooms will be "pulsing with the rhythms of jazz, swing, blues, zydeco, rockabilly, bluegrass, Latin music and more." The event started as a bunch of jazz enthusiasts playing in Old Sacramento and evolved into one of the biggest jazz festivals in the world, Greg Willett, a spokesman for the festival, told The Sacramento Press last year. New bands for 2012 include Big Sam's Funky Nation, Briefcase Full of Stars and Lucky

Coinciding with the 39th Annual Sacramento Music Festival happening over Memorial Day weekend in Old Sacramento, the California State Railroad Museum will offer jazz musicians performing inside the Museum, aboard popular weekend excursion train rides and even complimentary admission to event badge holders. With several music venues located in close proximity to the Railroad Museum and a special free Children’s Stage and activity area just outside the Museum in the “1849 Scene,” a visit to the Railroad Museum extends the weekend enjoyment for all ages. Inside the Museum, visitors will be treated to live entertainment in the Roundhouse performed by various banjo musicians all four days as f

The April 1 concert by Celtic music group Colcannon closed the 59th season of shows presented by Sacramento Community Concert Association. Many thought the season would never take place -- some in the organization had even urged a hiatus the year before -- but not only did Season 59 come off, it was so successful that Season 60 was announced at that concert. SCCA president Elaine Myer, a former board member who assumed the presidency two years ago, was proved right when she said the organization could survive -- and thrive again -- if it faced the new economic reality of arts presentation. For all of its first half-century, SCCA was a full-season-subscription-only concert promoter. The sho

The barbershop. In the African-American community it’s the unofficial “town square”. As Cedric the Entertainer (as Eddie) in the movie “Barbershop” described it, ”it’s the cornerstone of the neighborhood.” What better gathering place, then, to kick-off the Stockton Boulevard Partnership’s Old Hwy 99 Festival Concert Series than the Master Barber & Beauty Shop? (4340 Stockton Boulevard) On May 12, 2012, from 1pm to 4pm, guests will be treated to the music of opening band Harley White Jr. Orchestra and headlining band McNasty. This FREE concert, presented by the Stockton Boulevard Partnership, was created to promote the neighborhood and the vitality of the Stockton Boulevard business cor

People of all ages are invited to enter the world of jazz during the kick off pre-festival event at Midtown Village Cafe on Friday at 8 p.m. for Sacramento's fifth annual In the Flow Festival. The preview show will give audiences a taste of the types of music they can expect when attending the In the Flow Festival, which will be held May 9 to the 14th. "(The preview show is) not only for the media, but for fans to wet their appetite. We have local and Oakland based bands coming in to get people excited. It's also an opportunity to meet and greet folks who are coming to some or all of the festival," Publicist Mindy Giles said. A $6 cover charge per person at the door will give fans and m

St. Mark’s third annual Bravo Bach! Festival continues with three concerts this weekend. The first and the third feature local pianists with burgeoning careers. The middle show, on Saturday, features a jazz cabaret with the Joe Gilman Trio riffing on Baroque themes. That popular concert sold out last year. The festival, which presented three concerts last weekend, continues at 7:30 p.m. today with pianist Anyssa Neumann playing keyboard music of Bach, Handel and Couperin. Neumann grew up in Sacramento, studied at Sac State, and performed at the first Bravo Bach! Festival. She performs nationally and internationally and is noted for her “deep connection to the Bach repertoire.” In addition

The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society (STJS) is the organization behind the annual Memorial Day Weekend Jazz Festival, which is reinventing itself this year as the “Sacramento Music Festival.” Executive Director of STJS, Vivian Abraham, explains that the event has gone through many name changes over the course of its 39 year run. Beginning as the Dixieland Jubilee, it morphed into the Jazz Jubilee, and then to the Jazz Festival. Despite these changes, Abraham says, “We still found people telling us they did not attend our Festival ‘because I don't like that kind of music.’” And so, last year, the decision was made to change the Festival’s name, reflecting a focus on multiple genres of m

The third annual St. Mark’s Bravo Bach! Festival opened Friday with an evening of music by . . . Handel. The six-concert series, which continues today and Sunday and April 27, 28 and 29, is -- like the more-famous Carmel Bach Festival -- a celebration of Baroque music in general, with an emphasis on “the music of the immortals, J.S. Bach and G. F. Handel.” A 19-piece orchestra and 28-voice chorus under the direction of festival artistic director Jack D. Miller performed Handel’s “Messiah parts II and III” and, as was the custom in his day, an organ concerto, this one the concerto in F Major, opus V, no. 5. The “Messiah” is Handel’s most popular work, but it’s usually Part I that’s perform

What do Septime Webre, Darrell Grand Moultrie and Edwaard Liang have in common? Each is one of the best, most in-demand contemporary choreographers in the country, and each will have a dance performed by the Sacramento Ballet this week on its "Modern Masters" program. Webre's "Fluctuating Hemlines" is among the most popular dances in the ballet company's repertory. An engaging work that begins with the dancers in fun Sixties attire, the women sporting beehive hairdos, the dance reveals surprising depth. The dancer strip to their underware to reveal their true selves, ambitious, angry, frustrated. It underscores the difference between appearances and reality. The dance will be performed to

The Bravo Bach Festival is almost a month away, but already one of the event's concerts is on its way to selling out. The Baroque Jazz Cabaret, scheduled at 7:30 p.m. April 28, is a perennial festival favorite. "Last year, we had to turn away people at the door," said Jack D. Miller, artistic and musical director of St. Mark's United Methodist Church, which presents the festival.  The cabaret features the Joe Gilman Jazz Ensemble performing improvizations on Baroque themes and melodies. "Bach himself was an improviser. I think he'd be quite comfortable with what Joe Gilman's doing," said Miller, who has two music degrees from the University of Southern California. Gilman's concert is pre