Featuring
Gaby Moreno
Cory Beers Cimbalom Band
November 30, 2023
Getty Center, Los Angeles
California, USA
By PAUL ZOLLO
Just when it seemed all hope was lost, this happens.
It was a beautifully heartfelt musical celebration featuring two of Los Angeles’ greatest attributes: the beloved maestro of multitudes, Van Dyke Parks (not a native, but a longtime Angeleno who moved here from his Hattiesburg home in 1961 and has had a profound impact on our town) – and The Getty Center, a glorious and sprawling mountaintop temple to the arts above our city.
It’s been hard for those of us who live above ground in America to remain hopeful during this time of disinformation and dissonance, especially with the phrase “sleepwalking towards tyranny” ominously repeating like a refrain on the news.
Van Dyke is tuned in to this with much intensity. But he wasn’t there to curse the darkness, as he wrote in the program. Instead he came to provide a musical sunrise. And to “ share these bright lights that are here tonight, in the joys of a multicultural reawakening.”
It was a joyful awakening.
Instead of diatribes or outrage, without words he reminded us of all that is luminous in the human heart, and its boundless capacity for expression. It was hopeful, confirming the real-time magnifience of music that is inherent in the human spirit, the unbound potential of true mastery of music, which requires a true lifetime of devotion and work.
It also confirms that humans can still work together at a level like this, to create something both passionate and perfect right before our eyes and hearts. It’s better than the magic magicians make, though that is entertaining. But here there is no trick or illusion. As Tom Petty said, it’s real magic.
After all, Van Dyke Parks is no sleeper. Nor dozer or snoozer. Although he’s written many songs which resound as sweetly as lullabies, this maestro has been thoroughly awake for eight decades now, remarkably, always tuned in and understanding the dynamics at play. He has awakened songwriters and civilians alike through these decades. And always, without fail, he has given us hope. That all we held as precious – such as much – matters still. Maybe more than ever. In this season of division, he came to celebrate the connections, as he always has, and prove with music that which is beyond words.
Because music itself – as created by humans and which stirs our souls and fortifies our spirit – is undeniable proof. Proof that humanity matters still, and even now can speak directly to the human heart with art of undeniable beauty.
If anyone could bring that truth home, it is Van Dyke Parks. There exist few greater champions of the boundless beauty of music itself, and the lifelong devotional artistry of musicians and songwriters. His ecumenical embrace of all the world’s music and the unifying force of music itself shines in all his music, and was received on this night with great love, gratitude and awe.
The most common reaction was simply awe, for which there were few words other than than a hushed, somewhat stunned “Wow.” Which said it all.
Video by Michael Changg. @officialgabymoreno
It’s the third time Van Dyke has performed here. And this time, as he told the audience, when they asked what he wanted, his first request was that Mr. Getty cover the cost of tickets, as a gift to his audience. And they said yes. And to see music of this greatness in L.A. in a venue so majestic usually costs a lot more than free.
And the bright lights chosen were especially luminous. Gaby Moreno is a remarkable singer of great purity and heartrending passion from Guatemala, with whom he made the glorious album ¡Spangled! On that album – and in their performances – was the fullness of the message. His connection with her was beautiful to behold, as was the purity and joy of the music they made.
Also the Cory Beers Cimbalom band was absolutely staggering. More below on them. It was music from Ukraine mostly that they shared and nearby, which connected beautifully with the music of Guatemala and California.
Van Dyke played the middle set of the night. Always he’s surrounded by the greatest musicians, and onstage is as funny and charming as he is serious. He’s been performing since he was a child, and is at home in front of a crowd as he is is the studio.
He’s the rare performer who seems to take more delight in championing other artists than himself. On this night he said he didn’t love the sound of his voice. Which was surprising, as it is one of the warmest and most friendly sounding voices there is, next to that of his good pal Harry Nilsson.
Like Randy Newman, Lowell George, and most people who know him, Harry loved Van Dyke. Both are beloved forever, and always shared a spirit of sweetness in their singing, like fathers singing lullabies to their kids.
Van Dyke sang several of his classics, starting with the great “Vine Street,” written for him by Randy Newman, as well as “Opportunity for Two,” which has one of his most charming melodies. He sang one of the greatest songs he wrote with Brian Wilson, and which was recorded with the Beach Boys, the expansive “Heroes and Villains.”
When he sang “Sail Away,” and explained that it unfortunately shares a title with a Randy Newman classic. His own is entirely different, of course. It also has a joyful spirit, with his signature melodics that carry the tender sweetness of yesteryears. After singing it, he said, “I wrote that!”
He sang the greatest Brian Wilson song ever that Brian didn’t write, “Orange Crate Art,” the title song of the amazing album written by Van Dyke as a tribute to the beauty and history of this Golden State, as well as that of his friend Brian. (When I asked Brian about this song and album, he expressed awe. “That is a great, great album,” he said. “Only Van Dyke Parks could have done that. Nobody else could have done that.”
The message being that humanity, despite much everyday evidence, is still capable of creating living art which is timeless and beautiful.
Before the music started, he came out in his blue overalls – the rustic genius – evoking Will Rogers with his amiable Angeleno spirit of adventure, and warm whimsy.
He said his wife Sally “doesn’t watch the news; she is the news,” but admitted to being thoroughly glued to every “Dostoyevskyian development” in our current crisis of potential tyranny, and was worried.
To some perceived groans from the audience, he said in heated tones, “Excuse me, I’m 80! I’m not joking around here.”
Video by Michael Changg.@officlalgabymoreno
Laughter. Also surprise. As he looks no older than he has for the last four decades. His hair was snow-white from early age, which made him seem older then. But now he’s 80? That seemed impossible. Especially to one can’t do math. (“There are three kinds of people,” he explained once, “people who can count and people who can’t.”)
Always his music has been a healing balm for our battered spirits. But now more than ever it resounded was like a happy reunion of old-world spirit, and something undeniable – the genuine joy of music, especially played live by virtuosos musicians . It is absolute truth.
From that old world we remember also came good family men, and he is that. He honored his family with inclusion in this show, as he does in life.
His son Richard Parks, for the first time-ever live, played mandolin in his father’s band, beautifully “articulating the melodies on the double-strings,” as Van Dyke said. They are working on an album together.
And beautifully tender watercolor paintings by his wife Sally Rightor Parks were the shifting background for the stage.
It was an exceptional, unparalleled night of music. As is his way with all his artistic endeavors, he never lets us down. Everything musical he touches shines with his signature delight in music. Always his spirit of joy nd the loving connection between great musiciasns s, has created music so rich and heartfelt that our spirits are buoyed always, and faith restored.
What he does – and has always done – is something that can’t be faked, or rendered by robots. This is human expression – it is singularly poignant, joyful and timeless.
Gaby Moreno is a beautiful and passionate singer. With only acoustic guitar, her heart and a song, she is always inspirational. With Van Dyke. inside the songs and splendor of his brilliant arrangements she soared, and brought a beautiful clarity and calm fervor to each song.
Were they only to perform “Historia de un Amor,” and nothing else, it would have brought home the truth about humanity. Written and first performed by Panamanian songwriter Carlos Eleta Almarán, it’s one of the most translated songs ever, and with good reason. In this song is the eternal story of love with its mix of yearning, hope, bliss, and heartbreak. She sings it in Spanish. Yet even if you know only poquito Espanol, the meaning is clear. With its visceral ascending minor-key melody, she sings it with stunning purity, as if it first poured out of her heart. Until you hear her sing it, you haven’t heard the fullness of the song. Other singers simply don’t bring it to the place she does, effortlessly. It was the centerpiece of her set, as it is on the album.
She performed it, as she did her entire set, with her band of wonderful musicians including Mr. Parks himself on piano. Pepe Carlos played counterpoint to the melodies on requinto (like a gut-string guitar but smaller and higher-pitched). Also in the band is Sebastian Aymann, who is Gaby’s husband, on drums, Anthony Wilson on guitar and Kimon Kirk on bass.
The astounding accordionist J.R. Kaufman, who played first with the Cory Beers band and also with Van Dyke, also played in Gaby’s band. The man is an absolute virtuoso on accordion, which is not an easy instrument to play at all, and certainly not at his level. While pumping it and fleetly playing the fast left-hand bass notes, he played chords and melody and more all with his right hand, often at lightning speed – during which he never looked at the instrument, or any sheet music. The man is one with his accordion.
Van Dyke seemed euphoric at the keys of the grand piano, tenderly reveling in every chord change and melodic leap.
Embraced and empowered by Van Dyke’s inspired arrangements and signature pianistic flourishes, she sang with unbridled joy, even on the sad songs, inhabiting each with tenderness and aching purity. So much so that the message of love and faith was undeniable. Merge that spirit with the arrangement and orchestration of Van Dyke – live and/or on this record – and it resounds like the ultimate love song, which it is.
It was a highlight of her set, and of ¡Spangled! itself, the great album that she made with Van Dyke.
Cory Beers is an absolute virtuoso of the Cimbalom, a hybrid of hammered dulcimer and grand piano which he plays like a wizard. He was the opening act, and a remarkable one. He opened his set solo – yet solo when played by him sounds like a group – as he is playing chords against which he is hammering melodies in fast tempos. It is virtuoso playing of the highest order, as it is unfathomable and beautiful at the same time.
Then that dynamic expanded, as he brought in the other musicians – including J.R. Kaufman’s miracle playing on accordion, plus the soulful trumpet of Charles DiCastro and violin of Adam Ross, anchored by stand-up bass by Eliana Athayde.
Written by David Rudder
¡Spangled!, the album, is a wonderful collaboration between Gaby and Van Dyke, released in 2019 on Nonesuch. They produced it together, and Van Dyke did the arrangements. On the album they brought in some of his old friends, who are also rather luminary: Ry Cooder on guitar, Jim Keltner on drums, Grant Geissman on guitar. And singing a vocal duet on “Across The Borderline,” written by Ry Cooder, John Hiatt and James Dickenson, is Jackson Browne. Plus two more legends: the late great Al Schmitt, who mixed it at his home studio – Capitol, on Vine Street – and Bernie Grundman, who mastered it. Not only does Van Dyke always bring the fullness of his spirit to everything musical that he makes, he calls his legendary friends.
“We wanted to imagine an album that could unite both hemispheres of the Americas,” Gaby said to the writer Steve Hochman. “It’s not just Latin American music, but music that crosses borders, can make us all celebrate the diversity and richness and culture that exists. It’s the whole continent. I think of it as all one America: North, Central and South. It’s a beautiful thing we should all be proud of.”
That album, and this concert. combined or taken separately, are each potent antidotes for the pervasive “nothing matters anymore” epidemic. The proof is in the music.
And in the musicians always who make the music. To whom we are grateful always.
It was music that mattered, and it helped. It was, as Van Dyke wrote, “a panorama of music that matters in context and currency. Front-page. Above the fold.”
VAN DYKE PARKS AT THE GETTY
NOVEMBER 30, 2023
FEATURING:
CORY BEERS CIMBALOM band
Cory Beers, cimbalom
Adam Moss, violin
Eliana Athayde, bass
Charles De Castro, trumpet
J.R. Kaufman, accordion
VAN DYKE PARKS band
Van Dyke Parks, lead vocals, piano
Richard Hill Parks III, mandolin
J.R. Kaufman, accordion
Kimon Kirk, bass
Wally Ingram, percussion
GABY MORENO band
Gaby Moreno, lead vocals, guitar
Sebastian Aymanns, drums
Pepe Carlos, raquinto
Anthony Wilson, guitar
Kimon Kirk, bass
J.R. Kaufman, accordion
Van Dyke Parks, piano
WATERCOLORS
Sally Rightor Parks
bluerailroad 