The Jazzcat

Slide Show

 

Whenever you travel to the artistic epicenter of Los Angeles which is Leimert Park, you are bound to be rewarded with great art, good food and jazz music that are always on fire.

 

The low light and

brilliant sound always emanates from the inside of “The World Stage”.

The best $10 of enlightenment that you will ever pay for music that is

grounded in the roots of truth, reality and creativity.

 

 

Tonight John Beasley

is here and he brought with him some cats that don’t play when they

play. Richard Grant sounds so fluid on trumpet. Lovely runs reminiscent

of the sound of the 60’s. One of our prominent tenors in town Charles

Owens has once told me that “He sounds better that Clifford Brown!”

 

 

Bob Sheppard is on

hand and his tenor feels like the finest Cognac as it goes down and

disperses into the bloodstream. Jazz music that is good going down and

warms the soul! I have seen Bob around town giging for the last 20

years. He used to play quite often with Billy Childs a million and one

years ago at a place called Le Café which no longer exists and he is a

dynamite player.

 

Karan Harris just

came by to see what was happening and was instantly recruited to sit in

for the late arriving Cornell Fauler on drums. This is a young cat that

lives in the neighborhood and can play with percussive power and

control. Is there a drummer in the house? Yes, indeed. Karan goes from

walking down the street to kicking some serious ass on drums the next.

I saw Beasley peering at Karan from the other end of the stage and he

seemed to be thinking “that for a cat that just came up to sit in,

Karan is a seamless fit”!

 

 

Harish Raghavan is

a guy that I have not quite been familiar with on bass. This is my

first experience with his playing and his bass sings like a soul

singer. His solos are articulate and communicate with the passion of a

quiet brother with plenty to say!

 

 

Cornell Fauler almost

lost his gig (not really). He showed up and kicked the heat up one

notch. He was not on stage for two seconds and he immediately dove

right into the line of fire riding the symbols straight to the front

line.

 

 

John Beasley is the

fearless leader and his ship runs on bright melodies, intuition and is

the membrane that seals in the flavor. His light touches and bursts of

bluesy sunshine blanket the room with warmth, soul and astounding jazz

improvisation. Beasley or “Beas”, as I like to call him, has always been a cool, low key cat whose peaceful presence is evident in his playing.  John

over the years has played with the best and his brand new disc, “One

Night Live” is an impromptu recording of a live performance that

captures some of the most incredible creative sound that is one unto

itself. 

 

Don’t miss these cats the next time you see them playing in town or in your town. Check out more from John at Beasleymusic.com.

 

LeRoy Downs