Niia
Blue Note Los Angeles1492 Ivar Avenue, Los Angeles 90028
Niia brings her band to Blue Note Los Angeles for a live set. The available information does not specify the players or a fixed lineup, but it places the Los Angeles vocalist, pianist and composer in the live, jazz-rooted setting that informs her recent work. Her album V pairs electronic textures and experimental-pop imagination with the interplay of musicians playing together, suggesting a set built to leave room for both songcraft and ensemble response.
Niia Bertino grew up in the Boston area and is now based in Los Angeles. She is known for a genre-blurring approach to jazz and songs that explore “love’s complexities” with “both humor and heartrending pathos.” Blue Note calls her voice “impossibly expressive”; another supplied description points to its “rich, complex texture” and “startling technical command.” For V, she worked with co-producers Spencer Zahn and Lawrence Rothman. Her live work has also included music director Dennis Hamm, a Thundercat collaborator, though the personnel for this performance has not been announced.
A small, dimly lit basement club tucked into a Hollywood corner, Blue Note Los Angeles is a dedicated jazz and live music space with a long-standing reputation for intimate, high-quality performances. The room is modest, with a few rows of seats facing a stage where the music is the focus. It's a place to listen, not to socialize, with the audience often quiet, absorbed in the musicians. Drinks are available, but the atmosphere is centered on the music. Shows are ticketed, with multiple sets each night, and the evening unfolds with a steady rhythm of live music, not casual conversation.