Musichead Gallery is proud to present a new exhibition Gina Schock: The Rhythm of Art.
In collaboration with visual art team SceneFour, Gina Schock created each work in the collection using motion-capture drumsticks that translate her rhythmic patterns into visual art on canvas. Bridging the gap between performance and conceptual art, the artworks in the collection express Schock’s signature sound with color and light. Works in the series are limited edition and hand signed by the artist. Also on display will be a curated selection of photographs from Schock’s behind the scenes archive of The Go-Go’s early years on tour.
Gina Schock is responsible for some of the most recognizable rhythms in rock history. As the legendary drummer of The Go-Go's, Schock has influenced the beat of countless drummers with her creative vision and timeless performances. The Go-Go's were inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. Beyond The Go-Go's, Schock is an accomplished songwriter, having written for artists like Miley Cyrus, Alanis Morissette, Selena Gomez, and Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips. She is also an acclaimed author and photographer. Currently, she is working with her new band House of Schock, as well as building visual artwork in this extraordinary new medium of rhythmic expressionism.
Advance purchase of any art print or photograph entitles you to an hour with legendary drummer Gina Schock from 7 - 8 pm before doors open to the public.
VIP Meet & Greet: Thursday, October 26, 2023 from 7-8 pm
Artist Reception: Thursday, October 26, 2023 from 8-10 pm
The event will include:
Musichead Gallery is proud to present May Pang's Los Angeles premiere photography exhibition, The Lost Weekend: The Photography of May Pang. Hosted by Chris Carter of Breakfast With The Beatles, the photo display will feature over 25 prints of Pang’s intimate portraits of John Lennon during his West Coast sojourn that became known as The Lost Weekend.
During her 18-month relationship with John Lennon, Pang was a part of his most productive period post-Beatles. This period included the release of albums such as Mind Games, Walls and Bridges, collaborations with David Bowie, and Elton John, as well as the reunion of John Lennon with his son Julian Lennon. Her photos were often taken in informal situations, showing Lennon at his most relaxed and upbeat.
Meet May Pang and immerse yourself in a curated selection of photographs. This exhibition will take place the weekend leading up to Lennon’s birthday and a week prior to the Briarcliff Entertainment digital and blu-ray release of the documentary The Lost Weekend: A Love Story.
On display from Saturday, October 7- Sunday, October 8, 2023.
The event will include:
Musichead Gallery is proud to present Hugh Syme's Los Angeles premiere exhibition, Imagine This: A Visual Retrospective. A curated selection of music and creative work from the award-winning album designer will be on display from June 1st through July 5th. The exhibition of more than 30 signed prints will include some of his best-known album covers, as well as iconic and unseen works from his portfolio.
Hugh Syme has spent 50 years creating timeless works of art. In Hugh’s own words he lives the realm of improbable reality. His creations combine his talents in Photography, Illustration, and Graphic Design. The accolades for Syme’s inspired work in music include numerous JUNO awards — the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys — and an induction into the Album Cover Hall of Fame.
Over the decades Syme has created timeless album artwork for some of the most successful albums in history. He is best known for his amazing artwork and cover concepts for world famous musicians and bands including Dream Theater, Whitesnake, Kiss, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Joe Bonamassa, Tesla, and many more.
Syme has had a long-time partnership with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Rush since 1975 with the creation of artwork for the album “Caress of Steel” and also includes the band’s iconic Starman logo. He has designed every album cover for them since then. In recent years Syme has continued creating artwork for Rush with extensive 40th anniversary limited edition box sets.
Meet the artist, sip on a signature cocktail, and enjoy an extraordinary visual experience. A special collection of 4 limited edition prints will also be made available at entry level pricing.
Just Jazz Presents Mark Turner, Damion Reid, and Eric Revis @ Musichead Gallery
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On November 17, 2022, Musichead Gallery will be hosting a book event for JIMI alongside authors Janie Hendrix and John McDermott. Billy Gibbons will also be in attendance, along with Jimi Hendrix's flying V guitar, on loan from Hard Rock Cafe. The night will include a curated Jimi Hendrix photo & poster display, refreshments and valet parking.
Just Jazz Concert Series Presents Jonathan Pinson's Boom Clap at Mr Musichead Gallery
]]>Musichead Gallery is proud to present Steve Rapport's US premiere photography exhibition, Here Comes the Rain Again: Photographs from the Second British Invasion. Rapport’s career began when he found himself in the epicenter of London’s 1980s music scene. His archive is a reflection of the genres that came to prominence during that time, from punk rock to new wave to indie rock, to electronic and synth pop. Whether it’s an image of Joe Strummer running the London marathon or Annie Lennox piercing into the camera, Rapport’s expert use of lighting and composition brought any subject he photographed to life.
Rapport was born in Stepney, the heart of London’s old East End, and his early photography career spanned the years 1981 to 1995, during which he captured the explosive music scene in London.
On display from October 27th - November 12th, 2022.
]]>Join us an afternoon of insider-stories with Rolling Stones historian Bill German. His book, Under Their Thumb, chronicles his unlikely friendship with the Stones, forged when he was just a teenager. He traveled the world with them, stayed at their homes, witnessed their private jam sessions, decadent parties, and interpersonal struggles.
He'll share his fascinating and humorous stories with us on Saturday, October 15th, from 1pm - 3 pm. Each ticket purchase comes with an autographed copy of the book.
The event will include:
- Live talk with author Bill GermanAll photos courtesy of Bill German.
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Just Jazz Presents Grammy Winner Sam Barsh @ Mr Musichead Gallery with Sam Barsh (piano and keyboards) , Kaveh Rastergar (acoustic and electric bass), Damion Reid (drums) and Allakoi Peete (percussion) and a very, very Special Guest!
Doors open at 7pm. Concert starts at 7:30pm. There will be a short artist interview prior to the live performance. Bar area will be open on the outdoor patio. Two drinks included with ticket purchase.
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Just Jazz Concert Series Presents Michael Wolff + Friends @ Mr Musichead Gallery
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Chris Cuffaro's photography career is as defined by his love for music asit is by his artistry. Growing up in Northern California, Cuffaro first shot local rock shows, and then quickly graduated to headlining acts, eventually moving to Los Angeles in the early 1980s, where he worked with some of the biggest names in music and entertainment. The explosive Los Angeles music scene in the late eighties led Cuffaro to Jane's Addiction, first seeing them play at UC Santa Barbara in 1989. Struck by the energy, charisma, and musicianship of the quartet, Cuffaro went on to document the band on the road, backstage and behind-the-scenes until their dissolution in 1991.
Greatest Hits: Jane's Addiction, brings us to Cuffaro's first shoot with lead singer Perry Farrell for Exposure Magazine in 1989. This shoot entailed the now-infamous photo of Perry Farrell posing as Jesus Christ in bed, which the publication declined at the time. This led to a re-shoot, where Cuffaro suggested painting Farrell silver, which resulted in glistening photos of the lead singer that are now ubiquitously associated with the band.
"I will always be grateful for the trust they gave me so that I could get the best photos ever. They let me shoot whatever I wanted and never put any restrictions on me. The best part of this time was the music & all the experiences that I had. I'm so lucky I got these photos to remember it all." - Chris Cuffaro
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The impact of Tom Waits's songwriting on American culture and popular music is immeasurable, and we're celebrating his legacy with a book signing of Song Noir: Tom Waits and the Spirit of Los Angeles by Alex Harvey.
The event will include:
On August 18th, Musichead Gallery will open Elliott Landy’s Woodstock: An Aquarian Photo Exposition. The exhibit brings us to the artistic enclave of Woodstock, New York, where Landy took intimate portraits of Bob Dylan and his family in 1968. Hearing of Dylan’s residency in the area, The Band moved up soon after, and Landy shot images of the group before they even had a name. When a concert producer from Florida named Michael Lang moved to the area, he asked Landy if he was interested in photographing a festival he was putting on in the town. What resulted are images from the most historic music festival of the 20th century, Woodstock.
Elliott Landy’s Woodstock: An Aquarian Photo Exposition will be on display from August 18th-20th.
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Just Jazz Presents a Special Friday Night "One Night Only" Concert with Latin Grammy Nominee Claudia Acuna @ Mr Musichead Gallery featuring Pablo Vergara on Piano
Just Jazz Presents Rodolfo Zuniga + Surfaces @ Mr Musichead Gallery with Rodolfo Zuniga (drums), Jeff Ellwood (sax), Josh Nelson (piano), Eric England (bass).
Just Jazz Presents Brandon Coleman @ Mr Musichead Gallery with Brandon Coleman (piano, keys, vocals), Ian Martin (bass), Oscar Seaton (drums), Samir El mehdaoui (guitar), Keyon Harrold (trumpet) and a very Special Guest on Saxophone!
Just Jazz Presents Kali Rodriguez Peńa Group @ Mr Musichead Gallery with Kali Rodrigues-Peña Trumpet, Kazemde George - Saxophone, Gabriel Chakarji - Piano, Raúl Reyes - Bass and Alejandro Enriquez Drums
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Just Jazz Presents Julieta Euginio Group @ Mr Musichead Gallery featuring Julieta Euginio (sax), Max Gerl (bass), Jonathan Pinson (drums) and Andrew Renfroe (guitar).
Just Jazz Presents Javier Santiago @ Mr Musichead Gallery featuring Javier Santiago (piano/keys), band TBA
Doors open at 7pm. Concert starts at 7:30pm. There will be a short artist interview prior to the live performance. Bar area will be open on the outdoor patio. Two drinks included with ticket purchase.
Sara Gazarek
Graced with an “impeccable” voice (Winnipeg Free Press) and hailed as an artist that “may well turn out to be the next important jazz singer” by the LA Times, Sara Gazarek has been one of the leading lights of an impressive generation of jazz vocalists since her brilliant emergence at age 20. From the outside, her subsequent career has been the picture of success: five acclaimed albums, an ardent fanbase, enthusiastic reviews, and opportunities that have taken her around the world and led to thrilling collaborations with some of her most respected and celebrated peers.
In recent years, however, that picture has seemed increasingly incomplete; the light, breezy Sara that greeted audiences with a laugh and a song has seemed further and further removed from an ever more complicated reality. On her latest album, Thirsty Ghost, Gazarek finally brings her musical expression stunningly into phase with her emotional maturity.
The “exquisite taste, bright wit and creative vitality” hailed by WNPR remain, but those qualities are potently shaded by a rich undercurrent of complex feeling and turbulent realities. From her wide-ranging choice of repertoire to her nuanced approach to each carefully-chosen lyric, it’s with the double GRAMMY® nominated album “Thirsty Ghost” that Gazarek has crafted her most confessional and poignant album to date.
Given the personal and professional turmoil Gazarek has endured since her last solo release, the playful Blossom Dearie tribute Blossom & Bee, it would be surprising if she had emerged unchanged. Both her marriage and a long-term musical partnership dissolved, followed by a tumultuous romantic relationship rife with doubts, deception, and infidelity. Most shocking of all was the near-fatal car accident suffered by Gazarek’s mother, suddenly confronting the singer with the very real possibility of losing a loved one.
Thirsty Ghost reflects on those experiences, lacing the dazzling light that’s always been present in her music with a deep vein of heart-rending darkness. The portrait that Gazarek paints suggest that she’s lived something of a Picture of Dorian Gray in reverse: on the outside she’s remained the smiling girl in a sundress from a long-ago album cover, while hidden away are the life-altering upheavals that make the greatest artists so profoundly moving. Such a drastic change is easier dreamed of than embarked upon, and it took a push from one of Gazarek’s most revered mentors to jolt her into action. Following one of her performances, the GRAMMY®-winning jazz vocalist Kurt Elling – a musical idol turned personal friend – offered some vital advice. “Don’t be afraid to walk away from what you think people want from you,” he urged, “and to step into all of the depth, darkness, and radiance of who you really are. That’s what we are thirsty for. The honest, messy, beautiful YOU.”
That honest, messy, beautiful Sara Gazarek emerges in all her multi-hued radiance on Thirsty Ghost, though the ascendance itself was far from smooth. The journey that eventually arrived at this transformative moment was a long and winding one, stretching out over three years full of new collaborations, musical explorations, and courageous risk-taking. Tellingly, the title of the album itself, drawn from the lyrics she penned for “Distant Storm” (a vocal rendition of Brad Mehldau’s “When It Rains”) is a haunting self-portrait of a spectral being starving in a dry, barren wasteland, dreading but finally embracing the looming storm and reaping the life that is able to flourish in its aftermath.
The resulting collection is stylistically diverse, powerfully affecting, and starkly confessional. Gazarek worked closely on new compositions and inventive arrangements with such renowned jazz minds as Stu Mindeman (Elling’s regular pianist and collaborator), Geoffrey Keezer (David Sanborn, Wayne Shorter), Larry Goldings (James Taylor, Herbie Hancock), Josh Johnson (Esperanza Spalding, Leon Bridges), and Alan Ferber (Paul Simon, Harry Connick Jr.). Whether singing familiar jazz standards; contemporary pop covers by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, and Sam Smith; or her own original material, Gazarek tells her story with each song, through words or interpretation conjuring a vivid autobiographical sketch.
That can often mean undermining the intention of a lyric, which Gazarek does with wry cleverness. Thus Frank Loesser’s “Never Will I Marry” is insistent but less than convincing, while Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe When I Fall in Love” is more delusional than declarative, its “forever” a sometimes transparent attempt by the singer to convince herself of an uncertain future. Björk’s “Cocoon,” on the other hand, offers a brilliant celebration of newfound and entirely unexpected love, a happy ending to Gazarek’s wry “Easy Love,” the first step to opening up to the possibility of romance after another heartbreak.
Gazarek’s clever “Gaslight District” sculpts the idea of “gaslighting” – the psychological manipulation that takes place in many an unhealthy relationship – into a physical reality, drawing evocative parallels with San Diego’s Gaslamp District. Her heart-wrenching lyric for “Distant Storm,” which features an inspired appearance by Kurt Elling, captures the theme of the album in miniature. Its tempestuous imagery depicts the ominous clouds on the horizon but also the inevitable passing of the storm, leaving behind a chaotic but refreshed landscape where growth and life can finally thrive.
Gazarek’s experience began in the overcast light of Seattle, where she was originally drawn to musical theater and dance but fell in love with the jazz choir during high school. She went on to study at the University of Southern California, where she’s now been a member of the faculty for 8 years. Teaching is, of course, always a learning experience, and her connections with students have indeed let Gazarek to this transformative point.
While the changes she’s undergone recently have seemed seismic, audiences have marveled at Gazarek’s evolution on illustrious stages around the world, where she’s headlined and worked with such modern jazz greats as Billy Childs, Fred Hersch, and Helen Sung. The seeds of her fully-developed sound were sowed through each of those performances after being planted on her acclaimed earlier albums and the mentors and collaborators who’ve helped to guide and inspire her: Gazarek’s 2005 debut, Yours, was produced by the influential bassist John Clayton Jr., as were 2006’s Live at the Jazz Bakery and 2007’s Return To You, the latter of which featured trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and saxophonist Seamus Blake. Larry Goldings produced and played on Blossom & Bee, a tribute to the late, idiosyncratic vocalist Blossom Dearie. In 2016, Gazarek re-teamed with pianist Josh Nelson for the duo session Dream in the Blue, before venturing into startling new directions with Thirsty Ghost.
Of course, it’s easier to look back on a transformative experience than to be living through it, but Gazarek now views the volatile past few years as “a beautifully orchestrated ballet that finally brought me to the place I’d long desired to be – even if I didn’t know it.” The double GRAMMY® nominated album, Thirsty Ghost, explores that “honest, messy, beautiful’ place of hunger, thirst, and wanting more – more connection, more transparency, a more whole-hearted experience that occurs when we address the lessons that come with taking a deep look at adulthood. My hope is that my audience will see their own whole-hearted experiences reflected in this music – the light AND the dark.”
Just Jazz Presents Danny Janklow @ Mr Musichead Gallery featuring Danny Janklow (sax), Javier Santiago, (piano), Luca Alemanno, (bass), Andrew Renfroe, guitar and Anthony Fung, (drums) + Special Guest ???
Just Jazz Presents Jane Bunnett and Maqueque @ Mr Musichead Gallery featuring Jane Bunnett, (left to right): Joanna Tendai Majoko, Yissy García, Jane Bunnett, Tailin Marrero Zamora, Dánae Olano, MaryPaz Fernández.
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Just Jazz Presents Jalen Baker Group @ Mr Musichead Gallery with Jalen Baker (vibes), Sam Reid (piano), Gabriel Godoy (bass) and Gavin Moolchan (drums).
Just Jazz Presents Nick Mancini Collective @ Mr Musichead Gallery. Nick Mancini (vibes), Danny Janklow (sax), Adam Ledbetter (piano), Eric England (bass), and Jonathan Pinson (drums).
Doors open at 7pm. Concert starts at 7:30pm. There will be a short artist interview prior to the live performance. Bar area will be open on the outdoor patio. Two drinks included with ticket purchase.