PERFORMANCE SPACE
A Nonprofit Organization
Tax ID # 95-4340905
Los Angeles's favorite
A-list non-profit
jazz venue!
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Until the JB opens in its new home, follow us on our "Movable Feast" adventure as we present thrilling artists in various wonderful venues throughout the Los Angeles area.
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Ruth's Blog
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Check out this recent email from a fan of the Jazz Bakery |
Hi Ruth,
Hope you find a new place soon, the Jazz Scene in LA hasn't been the same since the Jazz Bakery closed, this was the only place where you could hear the best musicians in the world 7 days a week. Looking forward to when you find a new home.
Good Luck,
Dean |
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Billy Childs Ensemble@Redcat/Disney 06.10.10 |
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By George W. Harris (Reprinted from jazzweekly.com)
 As part of the Jazz Bakery’s "moveable feast," or as Nathan Detroit used to call “longest established permanent floating crap game in LA” Ruth Price has now started using Disney’s acoustically perfect Redcat Theatre to host her musical presentations. This evening, she sponsored LA’s own Billy Childs, who has put together a uniquely successful chamber jazz ensemble that mixes the best of classical and modern sounds.
The core sextet of Childs leading the impressive congregants Larry Koonse/g, “Smitty” Smith/dr, Bob Sheppard/reeds, Hamilton Price/b and Carol Robbins/harp delivered music from Childs latest flowing and panoramic album Autumn: In Moving Pictures. The band graced “Waltz For Debby,” by emphasizing colors and dynamics that brought intriguing insights to this chestnut. The duo of Childs with the gentle and romantic guitar of Koonse delivered an exquisitely impressionistic “Red Wheel Barrow” that felt like a conversation between long term friends.
The Eclipse String Quartet joined the stage for the remainder of the set, adding a touch of Late Beethoven and early Bartok to to tunes like the panoramic and pulsating “The Man Chasing The Horizon” and the funky and flowing “The Path Among The Trees.” The former had the trio of Childs, Smith and Price weave in and out of the ferocious string quartet, with Sheppard’s soprano adding penetrating light through the forest of sound. The latter had Smith’s impeccably nimble drumming bring the band up and down like a collection of crashing waves, splashing as they’d hit the Malibu shore, with Childs’ boogie boarding piano riding the crest like a Hawaiian vet. The thrilling mix of ensemble energy and virtuosic soloing made the whole audience wish for more, and wish even more for Ms. Price to find a permanent home for her music and its fans. |
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These are Ruth's dogs: Alfy, Possom and Porkchop. They are very bored, and miss welcoming you from their customary perch on the Jazz Bakery ticket counter. Read the photographer's blog: Three Dog Morning
TO VIEW LARGER, CLICK ON THE IMAGE.
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MetalJazz
Words About Music by Greg Burk and Friends
Review: Antonio Sanchez Quartet at Musicians Institute, March 27.
Ruth Price continues to take smart chances with the Jazz Bakery's "Movable Feast" series while she looks for a new permanent home for the Bakery.
For this gig, the Jazz Bakery was trying out the Muscians Institute's 500-seat concert room, not known to the general public as a regular destination. Result: The Hollywood location, though on a side street (quite close to Catalina's), is findable; there's medium-priced parking nearby; the modern, semicircle-seated venue has good sight lines, augmented by big video screens on each side of the stage; the sound is crisp.... No food or drinks, but plenty of restaurants in walking range; we went to the airy Café des Artistes.
The Jazz Bakery was inaugurating the theater as a "Movable Feast" venue with the quartet of Antonio Sanchez, whose instrument (drums) and musical direction (acoustic jazz) would gain little automatic linkage with the more fusion- and metal-oriented Musicians Institute, founded in 1977 as the Guitar Institute of Technology. It worked out fine.
The quartet struck a nice balance of heart and intellect. The handsome Sanchez made for a smoldering presence, relaxed behind his kit but whisking his sticks around the drums in a continuous roll, not so much keeping time as breezing the music forward. The method was similar to Elvin Jones', but with more of a Latin influence; if Sanchez had racked up a few timbales and cowbells instead of toms and cymbals, he would have sounded like a salsero.
Bass baldie Scott Colley, too, staked out nontraditional territory with decisively placed low thumps and high flurries, often emphasizing the off-beat. No walking from this dude.
The sax pairing at the left made a visual impression: compact Dave Binney on alto interlocking with bespectacled beanpole undergraduate Donny McCaslin on tenor. Both had full, rounded tones and could bend real nice. Binney's solos hit with more bluesiness and rhythmic pugnacity; McCaslin's ran to lengthier, more fluid phrasing. Sometimes they'd play extended fast unisons that you'd hardly believe they could execute so precisely; sometimes they'd peck away at funky harmonies that pushed thrillingly against the rhythmic grain. It was kind of like Gerry Mulligan meets Average White Band, but very Now.
The performance comprised three long tunes. For the middle one, "81st Street" (where Sanchez's girlfriend lives, he said), Sanchez pulled out the fuzzy mallets and slowed things down to the point of microscopy. Spaces opened up; meditation began. It was a great idea and a great challenge.
Overall, the quartet showed originality and staggering skill....
The Jazz Bakery's next Movable Feast is at this very same venue on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 with the fine quintet of Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko.
Posted on April 3, 2010 1:22 PM | Permalink |
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"Keeping the Jazz Bakery cooking" |
"Keeping the Jazz Bakery cooking"
By Greg Burk. Click Here to read the LA Times article.
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Alfy, Possum, Porkchop
January 17, 2010 11:10:09 AM PST
First time attending a hosted event by The Jazz Bakery--even though I've been on your mailing list for quite a few years. My husband has loved Jazz from his teens----old style jazz which is not easy to understand for someone not musically inclined :(
While searching for an event to take my husband to I ran across the name of Mose Allison - an artist that I knew my husband appreciated-thus came Saturday night which was so enjoyable. Over the years and when he was well we sat through many a set at various places - food, drinking, noise,etc..... I most definitely appreciate reading your comments (now-more so than ever) as to providing an atmosphere where the music is number ONE and not the profit from drinks and such...THANK YOU! The atmosphere that it appears you seek, Ruth compliments those that may be physically challenged or distracted too easily based upon their challenges. My husband had a wonderful evening and I know that the atmosphere you seek was every part of it...see you soon!!
Respectfully,
Berta & Purvis Webber
January 14, 2010 9:17:46 PM PST
Hi Ruth, Thank you for your reply. Thanks also for all the joy you have brought to me and so many other jazz fans over the years through your stellar bookings at the Bakery. My wife and I have spent many wonderful evenings there enjoying so many superb musicians who all clearly relished the great vibe you created for both musician and audience. We're looking forward to when you find a new home for the Jazz Bakery, and in the meantime will be looking forward to the Movable Feast shows!
Thanks again for the happiness and memories you have helped create!
Best regards,
Rich Elbaum |
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CURRENT ARTIST PRESS REVIEWS |
Alfy, Possum, Porkchop
Live Jazz: Mose Allison at a Jazz Bakery Movable Feast
January 18, 2010 — irom
By Michael Katz
Stop this world/Let me off/There’s too many pigs/At the same trough.
Has there ever been a better time for Mose Allison? Quasi-repentant bankers being hauled before Congress while California and New York go broke, health care parsed and bartered into a thousand call-me-in-2014 pages. For those of us Mose-a-holics, his lyrics pop into our heads these days like thought bubbles. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert may be getting most of the media buzz, but Mose has been doing this for decades....
See the full review: http://irom.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/live-jazz-mose-allison-at-a-jazz-bakery-movable-feast/
City of the Angels.com PodcastWe caught up with Ruth Price at the Mose Allison concert and talk to her about the Jazz Bakery, Mose Allison, Tessa Souter and other sundry things.
Hear the full interview: http://www.avantradio.com/cotamusic2/story.shtml
January 18, 2010 | 12:14 pm
Mose Allison fans couldn’t have asked for a more ideal environment for the second performance of his two-night stand at Largo at the Coronet on Sunday night. The first winter storm of 2010 snarled traffic and might have taken a bite out of the evening’s attendance, but there were few talents better suited to a rainy evening than the 82-year-old piano master....
See the full review: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/01/live-review-mose-allison-at-largo-at-the-coronet.html
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The Jazz Bakery "Movable Feasts" |
Alfy, Possum, Porkchop
Well…. Happy to report the Jazz Bakery "Movable Feasts" are trucking right along. The four we’ve done have been a testimony to the heart-warming loyalty of the artists and the audiences.
The first two were at the state-of-the-art “Grammy Museum Sound Stage” in LA Live downtown, followed by a great evening at the “Largo/Coronet Theater,” and a collaborative fundraiser with UCLA Friends of Jazz at the "Fowler Museum" (for info on participating artists, please go to Prior "Movable Feasts" on our homepage).
All locations used for our “feast” will be theaters, which allows us to preserve our basic model of music in concert format. Until we re-open in our new home, this interim approach is exciting, but very demanding, since it requires balancing the availability of venues with the tour dates of artists. I’m getting the swing of it, and each return engagement is easier (I’m looking forward to being back at the Largo/Coronet Theater, with Mose Allison on January 16 and 17, 2010).
In the near future, we’ll extend our "Movable Feast" travels to include the beautiful Boston Court Theater in Pasadena, the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, the Actors Gang space in the Ivory Substation in Culver City, the Japanese-American Theater and who knows where else?! No matter where, the same fine level of artists who define our very core will continue to represent what the name "Jazz Bakery" stands for.
The only downside is that Alfy, Possum & Pork Chop don’t get to greet people on the ticket counter! But they know they’ll be back on duty as soon as we re-open, and I’ve promised them everything will be the same as before. We will, of course, continue as a non-profit organization and maintain our 501(c)3 status. Click here to see the many TAX DEDUCTIBLE ways you can help the Jazz Bakery stay alive! Meanwhile, I’m really grateful for your support during this transition, so let’s all hang in there until the big new incarnation of the Jazz Bakery….
Love, Ruth, Alfy, Possum & Pork Chop |
A Note from Ruth Price, Artistic Director & President:
Alfy, Possum, Porkchop
The Jazz Bakery has been displaced by a furniture store, we are now IN HOT PURSUIT OF A NEW HOME. We've had very little time to prepare for the funding necessary to accomplish this major move, so while we search for the perfect location, the Jazz Bakery will present individual FUNDRAISING EVENTS. The first event scheduled will be SUNDAY, JULY 19TH at the state-of-the-art GRAMMY Museum Sound Stage. There will be many more exciting evenings to come, so, above all, please keep up with our website for artist and reservation information.
Of course, as always, we will continue as a non-profit organization and maintain our 501(c)3 status. Click here to see the many TAX DEDUCTIBLE ways you can help the Jazz Bakery stay alive!
The same fine level of artists who define our very core will continue to represent what the name "Jazz Bakery" stands for.
We're counting on your support to make sure the Jazz Bakery continues ONWARD AND UPWARD!
RUTH PRICE
President & Artistic Director
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