Bentley’s Bandstand: January 2018

Ella Fitzgerald, Ella at Zardi’s. As part of the centennial celebrating Ella Fitzgerald’s birth, the lady’s record label went all out with reissues of every stripe and selection. Quite possibly they saved the best for last, when this live album (recorded in a Hollywood nightclub in 1956) was released in December. Oddly enough, it has never been out before, likely...

Album Reviews: Arthur Lee & Love – Complete Forever Changes Live, Plus Raven and Red, Dinosaur Eyelids, and More

Though live material from Arthur Lee’s brilliant rock band Love was in short supply for decades, the situation has changed in recent years. You’ll still have trouble finding much from the lineup that issued Love’s classic quartet of early albums between 1966 and 1969; but the good news is that group prime mover Arthur Lee—who died of cancer in 2006—performed...

Bentley’s Bandstand: December 2017

Peter Bernstein, Signs LIVE! At the end of a long and discombobulating year, what could be better than a sheer blowing session by what is surely one of the most knocked-out jazz aggregations on earth. Guitarist Peter Bernstein, pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Gregory Hutchinson need no introduction whatsoever. They just happen to be among the very...

Blu-ray Review: War for the Planet of the Apes

Maybe these new Planet of the Apes movies, including the new-to-Blu-ray War for the Planet of the Apes are for people who just can’t get past the rubber masks of the original series. The 1968 adaptation of Pierre Boulle that started it all is a multi-layered science fiction masterpiece laced with humor, much of it quite dark. The subsequent series...

Music Blu-ray and CD Review: Jeff Beck – Live at the Hollywood Bowl

Jeff Beck’s new Live at the Hollywood Bowl is a straightforward, no-frills concert movie that offers the opportunity to see the guitar master do what he’s been doing for over 50 years. Joined by a number of guest vocalists, Beck runs his impeccable band through 21 tunes spanning his entire career. The film keeps the focus firmly on the music,...

DVD Review: Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland

Lifetime has a reputation for having produced some pretty terrible music biopics, among them Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B, Whitney, and Britney Ever After. Let it be known here and now: Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland breaks the trend with an engrossing depiction of the final three years in the life of its subject. Director Dianne Houston and screenwriter Elizabeth...

Book Review: Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years 1926-1966 by Kenneth Womack

Kenneth Womack has plenty of credibility as a Beatles scholar. Having previously authored several books about the band (among them The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four and Long and Winding Roads: The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles), Womack has most recently tackled a subject surprisingly shortchanged over the years. While always covered as part of the Beatles’ overall story arc,...

Album Reviews: Barbez with Velina Brown – For Those Who Came After: Songs of Resistance from the Spanish Civil War – Plus Jerry Yester, Ryan Koenig, May Erlewine

Wars don’t produce a heck of a lot of good but one positive thing they have delivered is music. Conflicts ranging from the American Civil War to World War II have resulted in a ton of memorable songs; even the Vietnam disaster gave us Country Joe’s “I Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag.”  And then there was the Spanish Civil War, which began in...

Music Blu-ray Review: Madonna – Rebel Heart Tour

From Eagle Vision comes a must for Madonna fans, Rebel Heart Tour—a live concert film documenting the controversial 2015-2016 tour seen by over a million attendees. The show features most of the songs found on Madonna’s most recent album, Rebel Heart, so don’t expect a ‘greatest hits’-style show. That said, don’t fret if you’re not familiar with her new work...

DVD Review: Designated Survivor – The Complete First Season

Disney-ABC Domestic Television’s political thriller series Designated Survivor got off to a slightly uneven start in its first season. The premise brims with potential: an act of terrorism destroys the U.S. Capitol Building during a State of the Union address, wiping out the President and the majority of his cabinet, leaving the “designated survivor” to be sworn in as Acting...