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Chris Becker

Arts/Entertainment

Chris Becker is a composer and freelance writer who has contributed to CultureMap in the past.

 

 

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All articles by this author.  65 Results. Showing 1 to 20
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Rare Birds

Mozart & Miles Davis: Ebène Quartet relies on classical training to put a new spin on jazz

By Chris Becker

11.08.12 | 9:49 am

On Friday, Houston Friends of Chamber Music presents the Ebène Quartet, a string quartet all the way from France that performs onstage with a drummer, at McGonigel's Mucky ...


Rare Birds

Best of both worlds: Queen of the Blues Shemekia Copeland returns to her Texas roots

By Chris Becker

10.24.12 | 10:01 am

"The blues is American music, you know?" says singer and currently annoited "Queen of the Blues" Shemekia Copeland, who performs Thursday at Dosey Doe. "It's unfortunate that in America ...


Rare Birds

With Another Country, Cassandra Wilson continues to expand the boundaries of jazz

By Chris Becker

10.19.12 | 1:51 pm

"Is that a trick question?" says singer Cassandra Wilson when I ask her if her latest album Another Country is a "jazz" album. Recorded in Florence, Italy, with co-producer and ...


Rare Birds

An Australian jazz goddess finds that Houston best fits her groove: Alisha Pattillo needn't wander

By Chris Becker

09.28.12 | 7:03 am

"An airplane," tenor saxophonist Alisha Pattillo says dryly when I ask her what brought her all the way from Australia, the country where she was born, to Houston. Well, ask ...


Rare Birds

Duets: Pianist Joe LoCascio & saxophonist Woody Witt make beautiful (jazz) music together

By Chris Becker

09.20.12 | 9:41 am

"The goal of an improvising musician is to fuse their total inner self to their musical self in conjunction with their external and ethereal experiences, to join the essence of ...


Rare Birds

Kickstarter millionaire Amanda Palmer gets a lot of Houston love in raw & rockin' performance

By Chris Becker

09.19.12 | 9:27 am

Former Hüsker Dü front man Bob Mould writes in his autobiography See A Little Light, "Indie rock culture wasn't invented on the Internet, or in Williamsburg, Brooklyn." Back ...


Rare Birds

Houston's own mini Harry Connick Jr. chick magnet: Henry Darragh sets new sweet standards

By Chris Becker

08.24.12 | 5:37 pm

"It's important for singers to write songs about what's happening in their lives. It's great to sing a standard . . . but it's so much more important for ...


Rare Birds

It's safe to dance! Groundbreaking hardcore electronic punk band finds love in an age of war

By Chris Becker

08.05.12 | 5:17 pm

"My son found out about us through the Disney channel," says Men Without Hats lead singer and conceptualist Ivan Doroschuk. "That's how he found out who I was!" For ...


Rare Birds

Joe Jackson discovers originality of simple things in distinctive Duke Ellington tribute album

By Chris Becker

07.22.12 | 3:33 pm

"I am an optimist," the great American composer Duke Ellington is quoted as saying. "Music is mostly all right, or at least in a healthy state for the future. In ...


At Texas Southern

Jazz keeps history alive: Tuskegee Airman who survived a German prison camp honored with music

By Chris Becker

07.20.12 | 11:57 am

Update: Organizers have canceled both events at the last minute. They will be rescheduled at a later time. For refunds, email POW 44 Legacy at gdgsports@yahoo.com. --------- Jazz for ...


Rare Birds

Step inside the Steel Lounge Underground: CAMH gets wild and daring

By Chris Becker

07.13.12 | 6:49 am

"This Neo-Dada, which they call New Realism, Pop Art, Assemblage, etc. is an easy way out . . . In Neo-Dada they have taken my readymades and found aesthetic beauty in them. I ...


Rare Birds

Superwoman to the rescue! Jade Simmons defies classical music convention, plays with fire

By Chris Becker

07.05.12 | 10:38 am

Jade Simmons is one busy woman. The Houston-based classical pianist's newest EP, Playing With Fire drops in September. On Tuesday, the track "Boss's Nova" from the EP was ...


Rare Birds

Sweet dreams are made of this: The lengths we go to — and things we avoid — for a good night's sleep

By Chris Becker

06.24.12 | 5:00 pm

One of my favorite comic book writers, Cleveland-born Harvey Pekar, who passed away in July 2010, lifts a direct quote from author George Orwell's autobiographical novel Down and Out ...


Rare Birds

Brave New Waves series showcases Houston's experimental electronic music scene

By Chris Becker

05.26.12 | 9:00 am

Brave New Waves, a monthly music series of electronic and electro-acoustic music, debuts with an inaugural concert Sunday at 7 p.m. at 14 Pews. Masterminded by composer Paul Connolly ...


Rare Birds

Music that's out of this galaxy: Jeff Lorber Fusion shakes the bad rap of an innovative sound

By Chris Becker

05.17.12 | 10:39 am

Houston, we have Jeff Lorber Fusion. The band will be playing two sets this Saturday at the Red Cat Jazz Café, which is right back in the heart of downtown ...


Rare Birds

She looks like a star now: Idol snubbed Kat Edmonson reveals all in an exclusive interview

By Chris Becker

04.30.12 | 12:48 pm

I've been really digging this track by Texas-born singer Kat Edmonson, "Lucky," from her new album Way Down Low. Listen to it if you can with headphones, and see ...


Rare Birds

Haunting photographs that are true to the eye: See Houston artist Mark Chen's revolutionary work

By Chris Becker

04.11.12 | 12:57 pm

Houston photographer Mark Chen took some time out of his schedule to give me an informal walk through of his current show, The World: Landscapes and Cityscapes, now showing through ...


Rare birds

Oompah! Jimmy Brosch remembers 20 legendary Czech polka bands (listen to the music)

By Chris Becker

03.27.12 | 5:31 pm

On a day trip with friends to Schulenberg to visit its painted churches, I stumbled across the Texas Polka Music Museum. Before our visit, I thought I had a slight ...


Rare Birds

School superheroes: Branford Marsalis & Joey Calderazzo make sure music does good in H-Town

By Chris Becker

03.22.12 | 1:34 pm

Music and the arts in pre-college education are the first things to go due to state deficits and blowhard politicking. Several music and arts organizations in Houston with strong educational ...


Rare Birds

Lady sings the blues: Dee Dee Bridgewater brings it on for Billie Holiday at Wortham Center

By Chris Becker

03.15.12 | 4:56 pm

When we turn on the radio and acknowledge with a smile a song's lyric as it is sung by contemporary artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson or Lalah ...


All articles by this author.  65 Results. Showing 1 to 20
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