The men tend to hog the spotlight when it comes to guitar lore, but it’s good to be reminded that the shredder’s hall of fame is not exclusively a boys’ club. That reminder this week is roots music icon Carolyn Wonderland, who’s coming to town to hold court for two performances in a single night.
In terms of chops, this Texan six-string slinger can melt butter with her ace guitar work. She was the only female lead guitarist in the storied history of John Mayall’s band — which, by the way, was a mythical hotbed that included legends like Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor, and Fleetwood Mac’s John McVie and Mick Fleetwood.
Unlike some of her self-indulgent male peers, Wonderland doesn’t let her virtuosity overshadow the music. As a songwriter, her progressive blues sound blends certified tradition with stylistic adventurism. She also happens to pack a smoldering voice and notable skills in lap steel, mandolin, piano, accordion and trumpet as well. So bow down, bros.
Renowned bass guitarist, producer, vocalist and all-around artist Mohini Dey is strutting into the Dr. Phillips Center with tunes in tow.
From Mumbai, Dey has over time carved out a name for herself by blending multicultural jazz fusion with South Indian vocal styles, funk, rock and something all her own. Her debut self-titled album came out in 2023 and garnered her plenty of critical praise, plus features on The Tonight Show and NPR’s Tiny Desk series.
She was one of Forbes India’s “Most Successful Musicians Under 30” and the only woman to rank on MusicRadar’s “Top 10 Bassists in the 21st Century.” Now, she’s bringing the music to Orlando for a two-night stand.
Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 3-4, Judson’s Live, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., drphillipscenter.org, $41-$58.
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Orlando actress, singer and artist Tymisha Harris brings her Cabaret of Legends revue back home for a two-night run to close out the year.
All by her lonesome, Harris channels the iconic likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Beyoncé, Nina Simone and Tina Turner. Between show-stopping readings of these songs, Harris weaves in personal stories and memories, laying bare how these songs and performers influenced her own vibrant work and life.
And it’s in the intimate Judson’s room, to emphasize the personal nature of these performances even more.
Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 27-28, Judson’s Live, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., drphillipscenter.org, $29-$52.
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“I think, honestly, very few people are truly bigots. I think most people are just really ignorant. There are some true bigots, and fuck them. They have no Christmas, Santa’s watching them, and they’re fucked. But in general, most people, I think, who have their bigoted ideas that they stay contracted around, especially older generations, it’s because it makes them feel safe.”
Getting into the holiday spirit is easy for some. For others, it’s something more of an ordeal. When it comes to the season, many can attest to messy family dynamics, racist uncles and homophobic jokes at the dinner table. But instead of encouraging fans to ignore these seasonal downsides in search of fabricated joy, Storm Large, lead singer of internationally loved loungers Pink Martini, is throwing it all on the table. Back for yet another year is Large’s solo show “Holiday Ordeal,” where punk meets Christmas, at Judson’s Live on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 16-17.
Large says she selfishly started her holiday set after realizing how dark today’s world has become. And in our current culture, with so much pressure placed on everyone to be perfect and “morally pure,” she says it’s not about being politically correct, it’s about “not being a dick.” As we’re all fallible and inevitably “careening down this timeline together,” she figures, why not lighten up and have some fun?
“I take my job very seriously, but I don’t take myself very seriously, and that’s probably why I’ve managed to do this job for so long. But I’m just kind of a cut-up. I’ve been a cut-up forever, and I love Christmas. I love the holidays. I wasn’t raised religious or anything, but there’s just a sense of magic in the whole … Solstice and Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah. There’s just sort of like the end of the year, the beginning of the year, the darkest night ever, you know. So I just kind of liked to celebrate with humans in real life, which nowadays seems like a radical act of optimism, but in a live music setting. Make people laugh, make people feel good, sing Christmassy songs, but also sing songs that are evocative of just sort of the holiday spirit, of giving, of rebelliousness, of silliness, of love, of togetherness, hope, all that corny shit.”
Helping the crowd find ways to be jolly often involves a broad gesture to everything that’s transpired throughout the year, with Large first greeting the audience, “Holy shit, you guys.”
Growing up as the black sheep of her family, Large is all too familiar with complex family dynamics. She says she gets plenty of eye-rolls when she wonders, “Can’t humans just human?” But she’s firm in her belief that you can’t change the way someone sees something, in the same way that they can’t change the way you see it.
Although she doesn’t get explicitly political during her shows, Large says that she doesn’t have to. Describing herself as one of a different tribe, she believes her fans understand that she has love for all people. It’s because of this that her show also doubles as a safe space for all the other outcasts and weirdos during the holiday season.
“I think as a performer, people trust me. They know that I am a loving person and that we all feel differently, we all pray differently, we all love differently. We come from very different places. And there are people who are trying to make all of that difference into a negative column. But you can’t fight the positive column of our melange of difference. It is our superpower,” she says. “And in a Christmas Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, rock & roll, punk rock, silly, dorky show sung by a giant, slutty-looking rock & roll person, you know it’s a safe place to be. People want to feel seen. They want to belong somewhere. And I was so lonely as a child that I’m like, ‘I’ll never let anyone feel like that.’ And you can feel that in the show, and everybody can feel that in the show.”
Throughout an incredibly diverse career, which has taken her from culinary school to America’s Got Talent, Large says that music has become a way to help people in a larger sense. She says that she nearly quit music in the wake of 9/11, feeling that she needed to “do something a little more important than just make noise with my face and tell my silly jokes.”
But when Large eventually started playing music again, she realized that she was able to make more of an impact socially and emotionally with her singing.
“As a musician and as a personality, I’m given the opportunity to travel so much and meet so many people, I can make an actual hands-on impact to more people,” Large says, “because music is sneaky. Music gets into you, and it really can fuck with the controls and change your polarity. It can really alter things in a positive way.”
So if you’re in dire need of some cheeky holiday cheer, with notes of nostalgia and a perhaps little mischief, Storm Large’s two-night Holiday Ordeal at Judson’s Live on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 16-17, promises the perfect mix of heart and holiday magic.
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Alicia Witt brings holiday spirit to the stage with a festive evening of Christmas music, featuring songs from her 2024 Christmas album I Think I’m Spending Christmas With You.
Witt made her film debut in the 1984 film Dune at the age of 7 after being discovered by David Lynch. Her career has spanned four decades — taking in Vanilla Sky, John Waters’ Cecil B. Demented and even Longlegs, with a lucrative side hustle as a Hallmark Christmas movie staple.
She is bringing that wholesome spirit to Orlando with a performance that blends her original holiday songs with classic favorites for a cozy seasonal set.
12:30 p.m. & 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30, Judson’s Live, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., drphillipscenter.org, $50-$60
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Bleeding-edge pianist and jazz composer Robert Glasper comes to Florida this weekend for what is certain to be a mind-melting three-night stand at Judson’s Live.
The prolific, Grammy-winning musician has released four albums over the last couple of years — including, because why not, a Christmas album, In December, which we hope he plays a number or two from — that redefine and yet respect the artform of jazz. And fresh off a residency at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club, you’d better believe Glasper will show up fighting-fit.
If you have the coin, binge-attend all the gigs, Grateful Dead-style.
7 & 9 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 20-22, Judson’s Live, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., drphillipscenter.org, $82-$117.
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Expect lights, music, movies and cozy magic on the lawn
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Tatiana Eva-Marie lands in Orlando for two nights of gypsy jazz sounds
Everyone’s absolutely agog about Judson’s Live right now for good reason. But, while the Dr. Phillips Center’s newest, most intimate and most accessible listening room has been hopping with many acts, perhaps none so far are as ideally suited to this spot’s supper-club concept than Tatiana Eva-Marie.
Although she’s NYC-based right now, this bright young songbird’s pedigree has both French and Balkan roots, so the heritage of Gypsy jazz is in her actual blood. She exhales vintage allure with revivalist jazz-manouche stylings that will quantum-leap you right back to the swinging club scene of 1930s Paris, tout de suite. So tip that bottle and pass the Gauloises, mes amours. (Well, maybe save that last part for outside after the show.)
Eva-Marie has been a regular feature at premier NYC jazz joints like Birdland, Blue Note and Dizzy’s. Now, see her classic glow fully unleash the spirit that Judson’s Live was painstakingly designed to embody.
OW: A two-night stand allows you more freedom; do you have anything special planned for these shows?
TEM: We are going to play some selections from my upcoming album Djangology, a tribute to Django Reinhardt which will be released on June 7 on GroundUP Music, but I am also going to add some Parisian and Gypsy jazz classics to the repertoire. I might even take up the guitar myself and sing you an old Gypsy folk song in the Rromanes language.
When did Django Reinhardt’s music really start to resonate with you?
I actually discovered Django through Stéphane Grappelli, because my mother is a violinist and obviously a big fan; it was always playing at home when I was a kid. When I moved to Paris as a teenager, I discovered a swarm of guitarists: Gypsy jazz (jazz manouche in French) was everywhere, on every street corner, in every café. To me, it became the soundtrack of the city. It’s such a distinct sound, which somehow is not at all stuck in time.
Would you talk a little bit about the science of Djangology (we’re not joking!)?
You think you’re joking, but there is an academic side to my personality I keep secret! The aim of this project is to celebrate Django “the composer.” Everyone is so blown away by his guitar wizardry that we too often forget what an interesting and unusual com- poser he was, influenced not only by American popular music and French musette, but also classical music of his time.
Another important influence was the folk music of the Manouche people, descendants of Rromani tribes who left India about 1,000 years ago, living nomadically then settling in various regions in Europe, integrating local cultures into their own.
All of this is so rich, full of rhythms and musical colors, so inspiring for me as a singer reimagining Django’s instrumental music as stories I can tell, with original lyrics and new arrangements. I try to showcase all of these different influences in my homage, onstage and on the album. And this is just the first chapter of a “Django songbook” I will keep adding to!
7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, April 5-6, Judson’s Live.
The Za-Boo-Zays will perform at the first Judson’s Live brunch.
New Dr. Phillips Center venue Judson’s Live is about to get into the brunch business, with a hearty helping of live music.
Starting in late April, the theater hosts a Sunday brunch series that combines local music — kicking off with all-star folk trio the Za-Boo-Zays — with a themed brunch menu devised by the Dr. Phil’s executive chef, Jason Klingensmith.
“We want this new brunch series to transport guests to a place where the room’s music meets its savory counterparts,” said Klingensmith in a press statement.
The lineup so far includes:
Sunday, April 21 Southern Brunch: The Za-Boo-Zays
Sunday, May 19 New Orleans Brunch: Brown Bag Brass Band
Sunday, June 16 Blues Brunch
Sunday, July 21 R&B and Soul Brunch
Sunday, Aug. 18 Latin Brunch
The brunch concerts start at 10:30 a.m. each Sunday. Tickets are available for the first of the Judson’s Live brunch events through the Dr. Phillips Center.
Christian McBride plays Orlando for three nights this week
The brilliant and busy Christian McBride comes our way with a few sets at Judson’s Live this week.
Apart from his duties as one of the most prominent jazz bassists working today, McBride seemingly does it all (with the Grammys to show for it): broadcasting his long-running series “Jazz Night in America,” curating festivals, working as an educator, and playing with a whirlwind mix of who’s who and who’s new. The maestro and his band arrive for a three-day residency from Thursday-Saturday, March 14-16.
These performances catch him at the crossroads of recent output and a new release, the beautifully intense Prime and the soulful new-grass counterpoint of But Who’s Gonna Play the Melody with fellow bassist Edgar Meyer.
Which leaves the question, “What are we going to hear when he’s here?” A phone call later …
Christian McBride: The record with Edgar, it’s funny, the president of Mack Avenue Records [where we released] it, called me to tell me it has received the most amount of pre-orders since your Conversations With Christian album. He’s excited and so am I. I think so many people are so curious about an album with two bass players who don’t play the same kind of music. Like, “What’s going on?!?” Sounds like people are really excited about this.
Orlando Weekly: We’re excited, knowing your sound and Meyer’s — more on the classical and bluegrass side — but like you he stays busy working with a wide array of artists. He’s another person who has a lot of different projects going on. He’s got his thing with Bela Fleck, and his thing with Zakir Hussein, or he’s debuting some orchestral work somewhere. We both knock around playing a lot of stuff.
One of the two tracks available on Bandcamp, “Barnyard Disturbance,” has these great bluesy melodies floating around like two different wind currents moving the same leaf around. One is Meyer and the other is you. That is not inaccurate. (laughs) Thank you.
Are we going to hear some of this during your stay? No. When I come to Orlando I’m bringing my current band: Nicole Glover, Ely Perlman, Mike King and Savannah Harris. Not a totally new band but we still have that “new car smell” and my first all-millennial band. Neither material from my latest releases.
We’ve been following all of those players for awhile, all of them are dynamite. What we will be playing will be a whole different thing. I’m going to be releasing a 7″ of this band soon, on my label Brother Mister. So what’s the music like … that’s such a broad question because people hear music so differently. If I give references it can tie the listeners with what to expect.
