John Payne

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The Passion of Anne Frank

John Payne
Now in its fifth year, Voices Within is the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s valuable music-education program promoting collaboration among L.A.’s middle- and high-school students in the creation and presentation of original choral works. The Passion of Anne Frank features the music, lyrics and performances of 125 students from downtown’s Ramón......
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Dwight Trible

John Payne
“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” Martin Luther King Jr. said that, and he might have been referring to someone like L.A.’s homegrown Dwight Trible, the great jazz vocalist, who has bucked all trends and forged ahead with a uniquely shaped, spiritually healing singing style......
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Green Umbrella: Theater of the Outrageous

John Payne
In Green Umbrella: Theater of the Outrageous, L.A. Phil’s creative chair, John Adams, will lead the orchestra in works pushing creative boundaries till they just about snap. John Zorn’s short chamber symphony For Your Eyes Only ranges from bristling orchestral cacophony to jazzy horn patches and keening wind pieces. Austrian......
Cattle Decapitation will tear it up at Los Globos on Monday.; Credit: Photo by Matthew Zinke

Cattle Decapitation

John Payne
“A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat”: If nothing else, San Diego metal extremists Cattle Decapitation can boast some of the best song titles in the grindcore business. This band needs titles like that to convey its outrage and disgust at all the hypocrisy and corruption with which this wicked......
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Dustbowl Revival

John Payne
There’s a dang good reason that Dustbowl Revival was declared L.A. Weekly’s 2013 Best Live Band, a critical nod for a raging stage act from Venice that features a super-tasty mash of bluegrass, gospel, pre-war blues and hot, hot swing of New Orleans. As ripped out by some of the......
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Pink Martini

John Payne
Get more New Year’s bang for your buck with a zip-zappin’, toe-tappin’ party hosted by retro-kitsch “little orchestra” Pink Martini, whose classy cornucopia of ’30s Cuban mambo, Brazilian samba, French chansons and Japanese gangster-flick sounds is a round-the-world ticket to a dozen or more times and terrains. An L.A. favorite,......
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Flosstradamus

John Payne
Chi-Town DJ duo Flosstradamus is all over the map right about now, including recent top spots at Coachella, HARD and Lollapalooza. Their madly mashed-up style jumps straight outta trap into the mosh pit, with an ultra-tweaked hodgepodge of hip-hop, Euro-dance, humpin’ house and buzzsaw techno. The Floss fellas’ infamous live......
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Arturo Sandoval

John Payne
A protégé of jazz giant Dizzy Gillespie, the Havana, Cuba–born Arturo Sandoval gained renown for his athletic trumpet-blowing as a member of Irakere, an innovative jazz/classical/rock/traditional Cuban ensemble. A fine pianist and singer as well, Sandoval has offered his many talents in various jazz, pop and classical musical spheres, and......
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The Klezmatics

John Payne
You don’t have to be Jewish to feel the joyful sound of the Klezmatics’ hotpot of ye olde klezmer peppered with Eastern European, Latin, Celtic, Afro-Caribbean and other influences. The New York–based ensemble’s punked-up variations on trad klezmer have made them cultural ambassadors for a revival of the clarinet-wailing, hyper-thumping......
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The Brian Setzer Orchestra

John Payne
Ex–Stray Cat Brian Setzer has found life after rockabilly by stepping forward into the past with a dazzling big band that rips up the roots of swing, jazz and early rock & roll. A warmly kitschy vibe pervades the Setzer crew’s annual Christmas really-big-show, which sees the nattily dressed guitarist-singer......