Posts Tagged ‘Billie Holiday’

Capturing the magic of the jazz age can’t have been too hard.  From Duke Ellington at the piano to Frank Sinatra on stage, cigarette firmly in hand, it’s easy to see the je ne sais quoi that was ubiquitous in the days of bow ties and soul singers.  To read articles about jazz legends, to listen to their music, and to see photographs of their personal moments, we can catch a glimpse of the spirit of the music; the pain and the passion that made the jazz age so spectacular.

Not that you’ve ever needed a new reason to fall in love with Frank Sinatra or Billie Holiday, but on view now at Fahey/Klein Gallery are two exhibits by legendary photographers who got a chance to capture musical icons from jazz greats like Miles Davis to rock stars like Mick Jagger.  In the big gallery space, you’ll find a plethora of black and white images that make you wish you’d worn your white gloves and perhaps a broach.  One image that stands out among the rest is the one above, of Frank Sinatra in silhouette on stage in a smoky room – the photo is large and the effect washes over you.

In the smaller room, find brightly colored, bold, and fantastical images of Jimi Hendrix on his knees on stage, the Allman Brothers sitting with their equipment outside a venue, and a young Santana in his element.  The photos in this room look like stories in and of themselves; if they were taken during indifferent moments, they surely created stories after having been captured.  The represented jazz photographers are such household names as Herman Leonard, William Gottlieb, and William Claxton with rock and roll photographs hailing from the lens of Jim Marshall.

If you’ve ever wondered what getting someone under your skin or what Billie’s “Stormy Blues” actually looks like, this exhibit is for you.  Walking through the exhibit, you may spontaneously feel like you hear a saxophone playing faintly or Ella Fitzgerald’s sultry voice.  You may wish the room suddenly became darker or filled with smoke and whispered stories about the scene at Musso and Frank’s or the old Dominick’s.  Good thing this exhibit’s a little easier to get into.

“Legends of Jazz Photography” and Jim Marshall’s “Trust” are on view at Fahey/Klein Gallery now through May 15, 2010.  For more information, please call (323) 934-2250 or click here.

You’re met with fishnet stockings held up by a garter belt.  As your eyes pan upwards, you see a nude corset with black hooks and a jet-black wig.  As you take in the whole picture, you see a dancer/singer performing a rendition of Billie Holiday’s “You’ve Changed,” with swaying hips before an elaborate set.  Then you realize that this chanteuse is not like the others – not exactly that throaty singer you daydream about.  Potentially because… he’s a man…in drag.

His name is Joey Arias and he’s bringing his friend Basil Twist to REDCAT to perform their show Arias with a Twist.  From Wednesday, November 18 through December 13, you will be met with a feverish, fabulous theatrical extravaganza.  Arias will perform live a selection of songs from a host of different genres – from Billie Holiday to a Busby Berkeley-esque finale, you’ll be thoroughly entertained once you pick your jaw up from the floor.  We promise there will be costume changes and shocking showstoppers abound.  Telling you about them all would only ruin the effect.

Basil Twist, on the other hand, will be behind a team of puppeteers with vintage marionettes and “anatomically correct puppets.”  Known well for his underwater rendition of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, Twist has a wild imagination for creative, interactive set design and choreographed feats of puppeteering.  Originally hailing from New York’s downtown art scene, Arias and Twist have an underground street cred that’s making its way around the world and across the US – so far this year, they’ve toured through Paris, Brussels, Stockholm and now, Los Angeles.

What better way to kick off the holiday season than with a show that heightens your senses and shocks your sensibilities with familiar songs, wild costumes, spectacular set design, and good ol’ fashioned drag.  Just keep in mind that the more you drink, the better he starts to look.

Arias with a Twist will be on at REDCAT from November 18 through December 13.  For more information, please call or click here.