'Night in Rio' concert really rocks University of La Verne
audience  Guitarist Michael Ryan and his friends skillfully
showed how real and great music sounds when acoustically played
by masters.  The "Night In Rio" concert held Nov. 17 in the
University of La Verne's Morgan Auditorium featured an
aggregation brilliantly blending the rhythms, melodies and
spirituality of Brazil's unique music.  Flutist, percussionist
and tenor saxophonist Adam Kaplan, pianist Reed Gratz,
flutist/singer Hai Muradian, guitarist Ken Soderlund,
percussionist Ben Moss, bassist/singer Garrett Wolfe and
vocalists Catherine Lombardo and Emily Lopez - led by
concertmaster Ryan - perfectly presented an evening of music
with emotional intensity and technical prowess.  There were no
bad moments, but there were certainly several surpassing any
expectation on stage and in the audience, and done so well they
defied definition.  Heading the magical list was Wolfe's slow,
provocative solo introduction to Luis Bonfa's classic
composition "Black