HERRERA PLAYS HOLLYWOOD When: 8 p.m. Fri.
-Sat.
Where: Dakota Jazz Club, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls.
Here's a foolproof way to get that Christmas soundtrack out of your head: Replace it with music from the movies.
Pianist Nachito Herrera is paying tribute to Hollywood in a two-part concert Friday and Saturday nights at the Dakota. From "West Side Story" to "Saturday Night Fever" to "Titanic," the shows feature 24 familiar tunes (12 each night) from several decades. All year Herrera has been paying homage to different artists and themes, including Earth Wind and Fire and Duke Ellington.
For this show, the inherent uplift in much movie music seemed to fit the season. "This time in December, for a lot of people it's party time in the United States. I was thinking of closing the year with some happy, nice music," said Herrera, who has made his mark as a Latin-jazz pianist in the Twin Cities and beyond.
As a musician, he says, he sometimes pays more attention to the score than the story, and he decided to play the original arrangements in part to preserve the audience's emotional connection to the songs. Paring down the choices, however, turned out to be a formidable task for Herrera. He chose the mix carefully, from more classically oriented selections such as "The Godfather" to tunes meant to get the crowd on its feet -- because it is, after all, party time.
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