COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT // 35
AUGUST 2021
MUSIC
CVINDEPENDENT.COM/MUSIC
SUMMER JAZZ
Leanna and Miguel join The Jazz Collective to perform at the Palm Springs Cultural Center
By matt king
F
ew words are more synonymous with Palm Springs than “summer” and “jazz”—so when “summer” and “jazz” come together in Palm Springs, it’s worth taking notice. The Palm Springs Cultural Center’s new Summer Concert Series began with a performance by Leanna and The Jazz Collective on Friday, July 16, and will continue with a show on Friday, Aug. 20. Leanna Rodgers said the shows came to saved us—but the music is full-time now.” fruition after Cultural Center management Given Rodgers’ busy events schedule, plus reached out and said they wanted to add more hours of practice and planning, I asked her if music performances to the schedule. she ever felt like music was becoming more “I was referred by a friend, and I’m really of a job. excited and honored that they called me, and “I don’t feel that way about music,” Rodgers that they trusted my friend’s word on it,” said. “It’s always challenging and always Rodgers said. “I think that goes to show that changing, depending on the venue, the fans if you just keep plugging away at what you’re and the people who show up. It’s always doing, things unfold in really amazing ways. So keeping me on my toes in a good way, and it I gave the center our two booking packages— doesn’t become mundane. I never do the same we have a duo, and we have a four-piece, fiveset twice. I always change it up, so you never piece, six-piece or seven-piece band.” know what’s going to come each evening that The group performing at the Cultural Center we’re out. Some venues are more jazz- and will be a six-piece, with Rodgers on vocals, bossa nova-centric, and then some crowds Miguel Gomez on congas, Mark Massey on like dance music, so it just depends on the piano, Sam Montooth on bass, Ishmael Hunter venue. That’s how it stays fresh and doesn’t on drums and Aaron Merc on saxophone. feel like work.” “We didn’t even have a title for the event or Having performances be completely anything, so I just thought we should call it the different each night is as impressive as it is Summer Concert Series, and they were totally challenging. Yet on top of everything, Rodgers for it,” Rodgers said. “They’ve been so gracious is a mother of three. How in the world does she with allowing me to bring in my own ideas to do it all? the event.” “I find time in pockets of our day,” Rodgers While Rodgers’ shows have become fairly said. “Sometimes I’ll just change the setlist ubiquitous ever since the state began allowing while we’re driving to the venue. Some days live performances again, she said she had are busier than others, but I just found a good to reinvent herself artistically during the routine where I don’t stress about it. It can shutdowns. become stressful—like before a big show that “I was doing these large macramé tapestries, I’m producing, like our Drag Pop production because we couldn’t do any music,” Rodgers (at V Wine Lounge every first Thursday), and said. “It was just another way of supporting also this one, which we’re sort of co-producing our family, although it wasn’t even close to with the Cultural Center—but I like to let the comparing financially. Miguel, my husband universe or God or whatever flow through the and conga player, was helping me, and that’s experience, so it never becomes too stressful. what we were doing. I was just looking for “I’m very anal retentive when it comes to another creative outlet, and it took off. A lot our shows, so I want to make sure everything of our friends, followers and fans ordered is organized, from the back of the house all pieces, and then I started to get into the retail the way to the front. If I have too many hats industry, and I sold a bunch of pieces to an on, that’s when it can become too much, interior designer in Northern California. They but generally, when we’re doing our regular do staging for high-end homes, and my pieces residencies during the week, I pretty much were in their store.” have that dialed in. I have all of our songs—all “I’ve put that on the backburner, because of our various genres from the 1930s on up we’re working so much now with music that it to the 2000s—kind of organized, so I can doesn’t make sense to divide my energy and my go in and switch or move a song and bring time. After doing it for a year, it started to feel something else in. There’s the old, old adage like work instead of art, and every single piece that if you find something you love to do, it I was doing was custom-made, so it was taking doesn’t feel like work, and that’s kind of where a lot of energy. It was great, because it really I’m at in our career, which is amazing.”
Leanna and Miguel will join The Jazz Collective to perform at the Cultural Center on Aug. 20. Aaron Jay Young
While Rodgers has been busy, she’s still being COVID-conscious. “I erred on the side of caution for quite a while when the restrictions were lifted and as the tiers changed color,” said Rodgers. “I didn’t give people hugs; I would keep my distance, and when we were onstage, people would keep their distance as well. I didn’t even really post any photos, because I know that, in the beginning, people were so sensitive. … We followed all the protocols and wore our masks until we got onstage and kept our distance from the audience. “Miguel and I were both ready to return, and the shutdown really gave us an opportunity to hone in on certain things that we really didn’t have time to do before, like working on new songs, researching different genres and finding songs that fit my vocal range. There have been some songs that I didn’t think would work with my voice, and I have found a way to make them work.” Rodgers said she’s excited to be playing with the members of The Jazz Collective, as a whole, for the first time. “I’m playing with my cats from L.A., whom I’ve known for 30 years,” she said. “… This is just a dream come true for me to put this show
together and to just have the artistic license to be able to create something so magical, and really bring straight-ahead jazz to Palm Springs in a new, fun way. I resonate with all the people who used to play here—Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Nina Simone—so for me, this is really just bringing back that Palm Springs style when it comes to music, and I think that’s why the ticket sales are going so well. “The goal for this show is to really take people on a journey from the 1930s to the 1970s. It’s going to be a multi-decade jazz experience with phenomenal musicians. It’s the first time that we’re all going to be playing together. I’ve played individually with all the cats at various times, but to put all of these professional musicians together is going to be something that the audience is going to take in and really experience.” The Summer Concert Series with Leanna and The Jazz Collective continues at 7 p.m., Friday, Aug. 20, at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, 2300 E. Baristo Road, in Palm Springs. Tickets are $12 to $25. For tickets or more information, visit psculturalcenter.org. For more on Leanna Rodgers, visit leannalive.com. CVIndependent.com