Cathy is a 30-year veteran teacher-composer-producer-performer. Critic Zan Stewart of the Los Angeles Times summed up her talent: "In Control: Jazz singer Segal-Garcia's style leans toward heavily melodic vehicles that show off her flowing, at-ease, rhythmic sense ? A voice that's soft and warm as cashmere." Visit her website: www.cathysegalgarcia.com
Live music makes you feel better. It wakes you up. Gets you out of depression. Inspires you. Makes you want to do things.
Ah…..LIVE MUSIC in Los Angeles! We are experiencing some of the best live, modern jazz that we have had here in the last 35 years…. We have several venues that have been supporting it! Vitello's, The Blue Whale, The Metropole, The M Club, The (Moveable Feast) Jazz Bakery, The Los Angeles County Art Museum, Catalina's, Hotel Angelino….
Tonight I heard and experienced a most incredible quartet. Vocalist Joon Lee, Bevan Manson on piano, Tom Rizzo on guitar and Brad Dutz on percussion, at downtown's Blue Whale. I have been following these musicians around, because I've noticed they've stumbled onto each other and found themselves in a an amazing situation; a real and substantial group of people who live in the same universe of music, who play incredibly together, and are developing into a really brilliant event!
All the musicians are heavy-weight composers, all the performers are arrangers. Talk to each one about how mind-blowing it is, and each one suggests and acknowledges that it's one of the other guys that makes it happen. They take standards and jazz compositions, sometimes originals … and leap off the scary edge with them…dipping into time changes, phrasing freedoms, rhythmic playing, tonal timbres, varying dynamics, emotional (from funny to bitter sweet) upheavals, and always beautiful!
Most singers especially, are too afraid to go off this edge. Not so with Joon Lee (owner of The Blue Whale, by the way). Joon is originally from Korea, came to the U.S. originally to study architecture, but had been lured by jazz. Coming to Los Angeles, and actually happened to look me up, through the Musicians Institute in Hollywood. I became his teacher and friend through some number of years. When he arrived at my doorstep, he was already what a jazz vocal teacher would consider good….could phrase and scat…he needed some direction and fine-tuning. Over the years he was an adventurous soul, always looking for situations in which he could develop his singing. Well, I couldn't be more proud and happy listening to him tonight! He showed taste, adventure, musical understanding, leadership, working as a part of the band….he is a great singer, and is going all the way in jazz!
I've written about Bevan and Tom and Brad before…so I will say simply that they really do fit the word "brilliant." The three guys are not only top players, they are truly nice people as well…and maybe that is really part of the reason the whole thing comes together like it does. What is amazing to observe is that they are spontaneous, at the same moment, and what comes out is music that cuts through mundane life. I know this sounds a bit over the top, right? But how else does one verbalize the result? Improvisation… spontaneous improvisation, done in the same moment by everybody involved, coming out like it was written compositionally … because it's too beautiful, too funny, uses space too perfectly, is so damn creative … to be just created on that spot, in that moment! That you search for a way to tell people about it … this is the only frustration! And I find myself saying things like "it cuts through mundane life." Well that's what Art does, right? That's why it's so valuable. Because it CAN cut through mundane life, which most of us deal with for varying parts of our lives. And we need to cut through, and to remember who we are, and where we came from…the Spiritual universe…not the material one!
And so, you Los Angelinos! You really need to come out to hear what's happening in Los Angeles these days! Live music makes you feel better. It wakes you up. Gets you out of depression. Inspires you. Makes you want to do things. Live it up! Bring a friend! Make new ones! Get out of your house, and come hear some of the best musicians IN THE WORLD! Los Angeles has 'em!
Let this be my epitaph: The only proof he needed for the existence of God was music.
– Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Q: What do a violin and a lawsuit have in common?
A: Everyone is relieved when the case is closed.
