Welcome to the Artistic Director's Guide

I joined the Tower of Power party late. I had heard about them for years, but for whatever reason hadn't checked them out. Once I did, I was hooked. Their high-energy funk, soul and R&B recordings were impossible to resist. When I finally saw them live in Detroit in 2010, I was floored - they sounded even better in person.

The Soul Rebels Brass Band is the real deal. When they talk about carrying on the marching band and New Orleans Brass Band traditions, they mean it - each of the eight members was born in New Orleans, and each spent years training in high school, university and professional marching and brass bands. So when they get on stage, they bring the choreography, calibre and energy of the best brass bands around. Check out this teaser:

I've mused in past Artistic Director's Guide entries on the concept of swing, and how it's difficult to explain - it's really more of a feeling. Or, in the case of the Count Basie Orchestra, it's everything that happens between the beginning and ending of every performance of every tune.

I admit it - when I thought about Los Lobos, I immediately thought about that one song. You know, from that movie. (More on that later.) But Los Lobos, who has been together for nearly 40 years - with the same personnel for more nearly three decades - is so much more than a one-hit wonder. They have earned international acclaim (not to mention multiple Grammy awards) for their hybrid of traditional regional Mexican folk music, rock and roll, blues, R&B and country (among others!).