Tag: John Kelly

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Arts Culture

Sound Choices: Honoring family and following jazz

Angela Garcia

Cha Cha Palace
(Spacebomb Records)

Angelica Garcia has that “it” factor. Listen across a series of loops, echoes, and howls, and her performances stop you dead in your tracks. They make you feel something. There are times when a solid live performance doesn’t translate in the studio, but that’s not the case on Cha Cha Palace. The album presents a sharp but welcome turn from her 2016 debut, Medicine for Birds.

Garcia grew up in a musical family in east L.A., and relocated to Richmond, Virginia, when she was 17, where she soon missed the cultural touchstones of her daily life. Although Garcia found kinship within RVA’s arts community, she grappled with the feeling of being an outsider. Much of Cha Cha Palace channels this dichotomy—and while the album is a tribute to L.A., it came to fruition with the help of her Virginia cohort.

Standout track “Jicama” is an exploration of duality (it made Barack Obama’s list of favorite songs of 2019). “I see you but you don’t see me,” Garcia sings of her identity as a self-proclaimed “Salva-Mex-American.” Elsewhere, songs like “Guadalupe,” “La Llorona,” and “Agua De Rosa,” are a direct nod to her heritage. Across a vast sonic platform Cha Cha Palace both celebrates Garcia’s Latinx roots and highlights the complexities of biculturalism, and it is a triumph (released 2/28).

John Kelly

In Between (Possible Sky)

It’s been upwards of 20 years since John Kelly’s last full-length release—so he’s making this one count. Before moving to Charlottesville, Kelly spent time in singer-songwriter circles in New York City and his home state of Connecticut, and teamed up with Grammy nominated producer Rob Mathes (Sting, Bruce Springsteen) for his debut album, Brighter Days.

Over the past two decades, he’s honed his skills in central Virginia, making a lot of friends along the way. When it came time to make In Between, these friends showed up. The two-year effort is recorded and mixed by James McLaughlin, produced by Rusty Speidel, and includes Michael Clem (Eddie From Ohio) on bass, Nate Leath (Love Canon) on fiddle, Paul Rosner (Trees on Fire) on drums, and Michael Lille (The Sherpas) on guitar and banjo.

The result is a well-rounded mix of Americana, folk, and straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll with something to say. “Freedom’s Song” recounts the Charlottesville tragedy on August 12, 2017, when the violent Unite the Right rally resulted in many injuries and the death of Heather Heyer. (Heyer’s mom, Susan Bro, greenlit the track.) “Bronze and Stone” can be heard as a companion piece, centering on Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue. “Let the Children Sing” is a dedication to the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, whose activism in the wake of a school shooting in 2018 was an inspiration.

Kelly’s wife and children contribute backing vocals to “Let the Children Sing,” and their presence is felt throughout. The album’s namesake, “Beginning, End and In Between,” is an ode to his wife, Angela, while “Good One There” honors his father, who passed away in 2013. In Between is a celebration of friendship, family, and social justice, that focuses on what we can accomplish when we work together, instead of in opposition (released 6/26).

Choose Your Own Adventure

Roos In Space
(self-released)

Multi-instrumentalist Gina Sobel’s musical lineage is rooted in jazz. Inspired by her father, a guitarist in a jazz trio, the first instrument she picked up was the flute—and she’s dabbled in experimentation ever since. Sobel harnessed these instincts to form Choose Your Own Adventure. Consisting of Sobel (vocals, flute, electric guitar), Andrew Hollifield (bass), Pat Hayes (drums), and Ryan Lee (electric guitar), the jazz-funk collective utilizes improvisation and a create-as-you-go mentality. After forming in 2014, the group released two EPs in 2018, and are back with another: Roos In Space. Lead track “Hooloo” is an instrumental pick-me-up, while the single “Matches” provides a much-needed spark for today’s landscape (release date 8/14).
—Desiré Moses

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Arts

Jazzed up: Swing Into Spring is a show across generations

An all-star lineup of local musicians will perform along with students at the Albemarle High School Jazz Ensemble benefit on Sunday. Photo by Gloria Londono

During his decades-long career as a National Geographic photographer, Bill Allard traveled the world and documented everything from India’s Untouchables and residents of the Marais in Paris to Montana cowboys and Easter week traditions in Peru. But for all of Allard’s adventures, there’s something the octogenarian, who’s also an accomplished musician, still longs to do: sing with a large jazz band.

On March 10, he will get his chance. Allard, who says “music has been a driving force for my entire life,” is one of several local musicians who will perform with the Albemarle High School Jazz Ensemble during the second annual Swing Into Spring benefit concert. The show will help pay for the band’s April trip to Swing Central Jazz, a three-day workshop and competition that’s part of the Savannah Music Festival.

For Allard, the evening is also a family affair. He’ll take the Jefferson Theater stage with his daughter, Terri, a singer-songwriter and host of public TV’s “Charlottesville Inside Out,” and grandson, Will Evans, a trumpeter in the AHS band.

“It’s always a joy to play music with both of them,” says Will of his mother and grandfather. “We have this connection, and I know where they’re going to go with things musically. I just try not to step on their toes and complement what they’re doing. I love it; it’s one of my favorite things.”

Terri says she’s always “thrilled” when she has an opportunity to perform with Will and her father. “They’re each so passionate about music, and both of them have greatly influenced my growth as a musician and music-lover.” When she was growing up, Terri says her dad, who’s sat in with her band for years, filled their house with music, and introduced her to the work of musicians who still remain some of her favorites. As for her son, she says Will’s “passion and respect for jazz and for music in general is contagious. I feel fortunate to be his mom and to follow him along his musical path.”

But the Allards aren’t the only family act on Sunday night’s bill. John Kelly has decades of experience as an acoustic singer-songwriter, and says he rarely gets nervous before a gig. Except, that is, when he performs with his daughter, Sam, a saxophonist and singer in the Albemarle jazz band. “I have enormous respect for her talent and for her musicianship,” Kelly says. “She is someone who is completely in command of what she is doing on stage.”

And like Will Evans, Sam Kelly has music in her blood: Her grandfather played saxophone and flute in the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and her mother, Angela, is a musician and music teacher. “I’ve spent my entire life watching my parents perform, and they have both inspired me to pursue and have a passion for music,” Sam says.

In addition to the Kellys and the Allards, the evening of jazz standards and pop and R&B hits will feature performances by Adar, John D’earth, Charles Owens, Stephanie Nakasian, Barbara Edwards, Madeline Holly-Sales, Berto Sales, Danny Barrale, Davina Jackson, Taylor Barnett, Ryan Lee, Lydie Omesiette, Moasia Jackson, and Michael Elswick.

“When we had the idea to do this last year, we thought it would be a great platform for this community to see and hear just how talented these kids are, and the kind of program a once-in-a-lifetime educator like Greg Thomas has built at AHS,” says John Kelly. “Those of us who were there last year, whether on stage or in the audience, learned that it was much more than that. It was an evening of first-class music. Period.”

Doors for Swing Into Spring open at 6pm, and the music starts at 7. Tickets for the March 10 event are $15-25 in advance ($80 for a table for four), and $18-28 at the door. For tickets and more information, go to jeffersontheater.com. 

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Arts

ARTS Pick: Six Pack Songwriter Showcase

Susan Munson performs along with a group of musicians playing to benefit the area’s homeless at the Six Pack Songwriter Showcase on Sunday. Publicity photo

Area singer-songwriters are taking the problem of homelessness into their own hands at the Six Pack Songwriter Showcase to benefit PACEM, an organization that provides meals, shelter and companionship to those in need. Organizer Jason Burke brings together Peyton Tochterman, Will Overman, Mark Roebuck, Susan Munson, John Kelly and Debra Guy for a promising night with local benefits. Burke says he chose PACEM because, “I wanted to refocus my personal energy away from what the parks are named and wanted very much to challenge myself and others to focus on the people who essentially live there.”

Sunday, September 10. $12-15, 5pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.