Anthology: Behind the Scenes

By Katie Browning | San Diego News Room

Thursday, 08 October 2009
In her first of three performances at the Anthology Jazz Club, singer/songwriter Shawn Colvin proved she’s still got it.

Taking the stage with only her acoustic guitar and that distinctly tranquil voice, Colvin captured the crowd with hits like “Fill Me Up,” and “Polaroids.”

Born in Vermillion, South Dakota, Colvin began performing when she was 15. Since releasing her debut album Steady On in 1989, Colvin has had impressive record sales and continues to perform live over 50 times per year, proving she’s an enduring presence in American music.

With talent extending far beyond her 1997 Grammy-winning hit “Sunny Came Home”, no one seemed to mind that Colvin didn’t include the song in last night’s performance. The acoustic performances of songs like “Wichita Skyline” gave Colvin a James Taylor-esque quality.

Colvin closed the set with “Round of Blues” from her 1992 album Fat City before returning to the stage for an encore performance including her popular version of the Gnarls Barkley hit “Crazy.”

Most of the songs Colvin performed are on her newest release, Shawn Colvin: Live, recorded last year during a three-night performance at Yoshi’s jazz club in San Francisco.

Colvin applauded the beautiful atmosphere at Anthology, and with the flawless acoustics of the venue, the night felt more like a cozy living room concert than just the average club experience.

Opened in 2007 by Howard and Marsha Berkson, Anthology is both restaurant and concert venue. Some say hybrids of this kind are often lacking, but Anthology does it all well. Combining seamless service, a delicious menu inspired by local and seasonal flavors and a warm, intimate atmosphere, the venue is sure to please music enthusiasts and gourmets alike.

This week’s dinner menu includes a plate of herb gnocchi and sautéed baby summer squash, served with petite heirloom tomatoes and topped with the finest parmesan. For dessert, try the trio of profiteroles, delicious cream puffs layered with espresso and vanilla ice creams, mascarpone and brandied cherries.

While any concert at Anthology would be a treat, Shawn Colvin and a plate of gnocchi made for a wonderful night of timeless music and cuisine.

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Click here for the original article in sandiegonewsroom.com.

Guitarist Larry Carlton, pianist Bob James, bassist Nathan East, and drummer Harvey Mason. The best of the best.

Three best-selling albums after their contemporary jazz chart-topping, solid-gold debut in 1991, Fourplay has lost jazz guitar speedster Lee Ritenour to the entrepreneurial lure of his own record label. Replacing Ritenour is hand-picked cohort Larry Carlton, whose three decades’ discreet success on the periphery of musical fame include gold albums, two Grammys, an Emmy nomination (and you may remember his 1968 “With A Little Help From My Friends”). Piano man Bob James, whose “Grand Piano Canyon” led to participating players forming Fourplay, has churned out panoplies of airy jazz pop since bidding adieu to his sturdier ’60s work with Sarah Vaughan. With the pedigrees of bassist Nathan East and drummer Harvey Mason–Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, L.A. session work with Ellington, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock–one approaches Fourplay knowing that despite wallpapery compositions, their technical finesse will pull you over the top. -Mary Boles

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via SignOnSanDiego.com

By Nina Garin
Union-Tribune Staff Writer

DETAILS
Endoxi
When: Tonight, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Anthology, 1337 India St., Little Italy
Tickets: $7 to $22
Phone: (619) 595-0300
Online: myspace.com/endoxi or anthologysd.com

So maybe Chris Wilson‘s band, Endoxi, isn’t the most popular one in San Diego.

He plays a groovy, Dave Matthews-esque rock that doesn’t quite fit in the trendy nightclub circuit.

But that doesn’t matter. Wilson has other intentions for his band.

“I know one day we’re going to be playing for millions of people,” he said. “And Endoxi is focused on delivering a pure message, we’re going to give rock ‘n’ roll a new face. It’s not about doing cocaine or having a bad attitude. We stand for living the good life, being pure, bettering yourself.”

Endoxi is actually a Greek term he learned from his grandmother that means “everything in its place.”

And for Wilson, 22, Endoxi isn’t just a cool-sounding band name, but a way of life. It’s living honestly and harmoniously and being a good person — and the attitude comes through in in his eclectic music.

There’s a little bit of R&B, some reggae and hints of jazz in the young band. It’s the kind of feel-good stuff you hear at outdoor festivals on a sunny day.

The group, which also includes saxophonist Joe Cardillo, bassist Kevin Wall and drummer Sean Sepulveda, recently won a People’s Choice award at the San Diego Fair’s Musicpalooza contest.

“Our fans are just really happy people,” he said. “You’ll see, like, a therapist and a guy who just got out of jail and an East Coast guy in basketball clothes in our audience. They may all look different, but really they’re all the same person.”

The songs are catchy enough to be played on local radio stations and earn the band spots on TV news programs.

And just when momentum was building, Wilson decided to mix things up by playing a stripped-down gig at Anthology tonight.

“I want to show everyone a different side to us,” he said. “This is how we are in a raw, simple state. I want to sit down and make some beautiful music. I want the night to be so beautiful that people are laughing and crying.”

If it sounds like Wilson thinks big, it’s because he’s been pretty lucky in the music business. He really has been at the right place at the right time.

Like when he was 10 years old. His family left San Diego and relocated to Mill Valley. That’s where he happened to make friends with musicians in a Top 40 band called Mr. Big.

(Remember that Mr. Big song? I’m the one who wants to be with you, deep inside I hope you feel it too.)

They invited Wilson to play guitar and sing with them on stage. He was only 11.

But that turned into a regular thing. Before long, Wilson was getting sponsored by guitar string companies and hanging out with Andre Pessis, a man who writes songs for such people as Bonnie Raitt and Tim McGraw.

“I was 14 and Andre was 60-something,” said Wilson. “But we were like brothers, we had this awesome chemistry.”

When Wilson’s family moved back to San Diego, he took all that experience and knew he had to form his own band.

At first, it was called Chris Wilson’s Endoxi but that name didn’t stick for long. “The music I write is way bigger than Chris Wilson will ever be,” he said. “Endoxi is an ideal that can’t just be represented by one person.”

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Union-Tribune
Nina Garin: (619) 293-1284

SHE’S GOT THE CHOPS (AND THE PACKAGE IS NOT BAD EITHER)
You can’t judge an album by its cover.

Case in point: The color photo that adorns Melissa Morgan’s “Until I Met You,” which shows her in a form-fitting purple dress and high heels. The angle of the photo shows off her shapely legs as she prepares to get out of a vintage Porsche convertible.

The knee-jerk response would be to assume this New York native is yet another talent-free, wannabe pop-soul diva whose assets don’t include her singing or more than a shred of musical ability. The reality is quite different.

Morgan, who performs Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Anthology (anthologysd.com), is a gifted, classically trained jazz and blues singer who can seduce and captivate with her voice alone. At 28, she combines the poise and maturity of a seasoned veteran with the infectious verve of a fresh new talent.

Produced by young trumpet phenom Christian Scott, who also performs on four tracks, “Until I Met You” is one of the most assured and enjoyable debut albums by any jazz singer in recent memory. Morgan has clearly been inspired by such greats as Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Nancy Wilson, but she’s savvy enough to build upon her musical influences, not just mimic them.

Witness how deftly she puts her stamp on such disparate songs as “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby,” a 1944 hit for saxophonist (and unsung proto-rock pioneer) Louis Jordan, and Etta Jones’ oh-so-sly 1962 gem “Cool Cool Daddy.” Then there’s Cecil Gant’s blues-drenched 1944 breakthrough hit “I Wonder,” which finds Morgan assuming a come-hither tone that’s both playful and sultry, and the Count Basie instrumental romp “Corner Pocket,” which she reshapes into “Until I Met You’s” alluring title track by slowing down the tempo and adding lyrics.

Yet, while Morgan has a strong, flexible voice, she wisely refrains from showboating (a welcome display of restraint other singers would do well to emulate). I haven’t yet heard her perform live with her quartet, which includes young pianist Gerald Clayton, but “Until I Met You” suggests she is destined for bigger things.

‘SHE HAS AN INCREDIBLE HEART AND IS SO SOULFUL’
Diane Moser only lived in San Diego from 1977 to 1979, but that was more than enough time for this unusually eclectic pianist and composer to make an indelible impression on her fellow musicians here.
That’s why so many notable jazz artists, including saxophonists Charles McPherson and Daniel Jackson, are banding together on her behalf Tuesday at 7 p.m. at downtown’s all-ages Dizzy’s (dizzysjazz.com).

The lineup also includes violinist Yale Strom, former Ray Charles trumpeter Mitch Manker, drummer Duncan Moore, saxophonist Tripp Sprague, multi-instrumentalist Dave Millard, singer Elizabeth Schwartz, the versatile Miles Davis tribute band ESP and bassists Mark Dresser, Rob Thorsen and Gunnar Biggs.

Their goal: To raise funds to help cover the medical expenses of the New York-based Moser, who requires expensive daily medications as she recovers from the removal of a gastrointestinal tumor.

“She’ll be on this medication for about six months, at $100 a day,” said Dresser, who befriended Moser here in the late 1970s. “She has an incredible heart and is so soulful. She embodies the real spirit of jazz – fun, humor, adventure, entertainment, swing and taking chances.”

Moser came to San Diego in 1977 from Iowa City as part of a musical migration that also included Manker, Moore, singer Ella Ruth Piggee, ESP pianist Lynn Willard and ex-ESP drummer Will Parsons.

An unusually versatile pianist and composer, Moser has also collaborated with such diverse artists as Diamanda Galas, Bert Turetzky, Jeannie Cheatham, Andrew Cyrille, Marty Ehrlich and former Jimi Hendrix percussionist Juma Santos. She is as comfortable leading her acclaimed Jazz Composers Big Band, which she founded in 1997, as she is recording in an intimate, piano-and-bass setting with Dresser on their upcoming CIMP Records album, “Duetto.”

“Very few musicians have much in the way of medical coverage,” Dresser said. “We just want to make sure Diane gets the treatment she needs.”

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Who made you God?
By George Varga
POP MUSIC CRITIC
2:00 a.m. May 7, 2009
San Diego Union-Tribune
Click here for the original article

Please click here if you can’t watch the video below.

Arturo Sandoval performs again tonight as Anthology. Don’t miss this show!

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It started with a spark of an idea from a twenty-something named Philip Gilpin, who quit his corporate job and banked it all on changing the world.

Please click here if you have trouble watching the video below.

Music Legends Storm San Diego

Multi-Grammy winner Tom Scott and the critically acclaimed vocalist Paulette McWilliams get musical in the NBC 7/39 studios before their show at Anthology on Friday night.

Click here if you can’t watch the video above.

Don’t miss Tom Scott and Paulette McWilliams performing tonight at Anthology!

I love Anthology! I’ve played jazz clubs all over the world, really – London, Asia, everywhere – and I think this is the nicest one I’ve ever played in! – Steve Tyrell

CLICK HERE to watch the video.

Don’t miss Steve Tyrell performing two nights at Anthology!

Friday, April 3, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $42. buy tickets
Saturday, April 4, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $42. buy tickets
Saturday, April 4, 9:30 p.m. Tickets: $36. buy tickets