Classic program today: Bob Malone keyboard wizard. ARI, magician of many realms

Bob Malone has toured the world as a solo artist for two decades and has played keyboards with rock legend John Fogerty since 2011. His sound is a one of-a-kind hybrid of rock, blues, and New Orleans R&B, delivered with high-energy piano virtuosity and a voice all his own. Currently based in Los Angeles, he still plays with Fogerty’s band  plus an average of 100 solo shows a year.  Malone has shared stages with Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Rickie Lee Jones, The Neville Brothers, Rev. Al Green, among others.

Toronto-born, LA-based ARI finds healing and her unapologetic voice in music. Her education is in psychology but her art is music that deftly dances in and out of genre lines, moving from entrancing alternative pop to gritty hip-hop production under a cover of electronic elegance. At the same time, the visceral lyrics transmit messages of hope as often as they ponder tragedy. Her sound comes to life in the middle. “There’s dark and light inside all of us,” she says. “Every opposite is a complement. You can’t have beauty without pain. You can’t have success without failure. You can’t have the ying without the yang. You accept yourself amidst those demons.”  Her album Tunnel Vision plays by its own rules, reflecting the meaning of her name – “eagle “ in Nordic and “lion” in Hebrew.  Together they make for one of the most interesting artists in the current music scene.