Louis Armstrong

They conduct classical, but they love pop and rock too

2013-01-05 05:00:00

Ever wonder what longhairs listen to when they let their hair down? Once upon a time, when conductors were regarded as remote intellectual titans, no one would have thought to ask. Marin Alsop, music director of the Baltimore Symphony, once described...

TSA warns Super Bowl fans to leave mining tools, air horns at home

2013-02-01 17:40:00

Football fans flying to New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII will be packing a lot of enthusiasm, but they'd better not haul pickaxes, air horns or flasks of booze. And if you're bringing a live raven, check with out your airline's pet policy before getting...

Rare artist interviews now streaming at Library of Congress site

2012-11-28 12:26:00

Want to hear Mick Jagger talk about the Beatles? Tony Bennett laud the genius of Louis Armstrong? B.B. King express his blues over the future of the blues? Audio interviews with those and dozens more of the biggest names in rock, pop, jazz, blues,...

Conductors pick their pop favorites: Prince? Yes. Elvis? Both.

2013-01-05 14:26:00

Asking some of the finest classical conductors in the world what pop, jazz or rock music they listen to seemed like a quixotic idea. Even if they had favorites, what were the chances conductors would take time out from their busy schedules to respond?...

Dave Brubeck dies at 91; jazz legend

2012-12-05 16:33:00

In the strait-laced Eisenhower 1950s, Dave Brubeck seemed, on one hand, deeply conventional. He didn't drink, smoke or take drugs. He favored expressions like "baloney!" and "you bet" over ruder alternatives. He had a prodigious work ethic that had been...

Los Angeles bands swing into an old-school music revival

2012-12-09 06:00:00

A nine-piece band replete with tuba, washboard, accordion, fiddle, mandolin, trumpet and guitar joyously pumped out early 20th century standards such as "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," Muddy Waters' deep blues and original tunes that would...

From the archives: Dave Brubeck at 90: 'I'm very fortunate'

2012-12-05 11:28:00

Two years before Dave Brubeck died, the Los Angeles Times published an interview with the great jazzman on the occasion of his 90th birthday. With Brubeck's death at 92, we share our visit to his home in this profile from Dec. 5, 2010. WILTON, Conn --...

The funky beat of musical New Orleans

2012-09-30 00:00:00

NEW ORLEANS — The cab careened past Washington Square and onto Frenchmen Street. It was close to 10 p.m., and the neighborhood was filled with locals adorned with tattoos, piercings and lots of ragged black accessories. "The cab drivers call this...

Review: A fascinating education in 'The Jazz Standards'

2012-07-22 00:00:00

-------------------- The Jazz Standards A Guide to the Repertoire Ted Gioia Oxford University Press: 528 pp., $39.95 -------------------- I like jazz but I don't know much about it. Or perhaps I should say that I know what I like. Duke Ellington,...

Lady Liberty

2012-06-01 16:39:50

Disneyland princesses moving into new Fantasy Faire village in 2013

2011-08-23 18:31:00

Breaking a wicked stepmother's curse, Disneyland's fairytale princesses will be whisked away from their crowded one-room temporary home in 2013 and magically transported to a spacious new storybook village more befitting of their royal lineage. Blame...

His Excellency, Ambassador Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

2012-03-23 21:36:10

A portrait of Louis Armstrong by New Orleans folk artist Nilo Lanza can be seen from the kitchen. Katherine LaNasa chose not to open up the kitchen because she likes the separation. "I don't want to walk in to my kitchen when I walk in to my house," she said.

2013-01-21 09:44:18

"I've listened to classical since I was a child - Dvorak's Cello Concerto with Rostopovich was a favorite. Now it very much depends on my mood - when I first moved to Los Angeles, I was introduced to salsa music, which I love for its energy. Now when I'm in L.A.

2012-12-28 00:00:00

Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, made when he was based in Chicago during the mid-1920s, represent one of two templates for defining early jazz (the other being Jelly Roll Morton's releases with his Red Hot Peppers).

2012-12-07 11:14:00