Pat Martino at Yoshi's SF

The legendary Pat Martino played Yoshi's SF last Saturday as an organ trio with Pat Bianchi on organ and Carmen Intorre on drums.  Bianchi and Intorre play with a musicality and fire that belies
their youth.  I've had the privilege of seeing Pat Martino for many, many years, and I don't think I've ever heard him in better form.  He started out playing in organ trios with Brother Jack McDuff,  (with whom I've also had the prvilege of playing) and has returned to this format occasionally in the last few years.  He started the set with the Charlie Christian tune Seven Come Eleven.  It's hard to imagine the influence Charlie had on bebop; he was the Jimi Hendrix of his day.  From stating the melody onward Pat dove deep into postbop upper extensions and polyrythmic lines.  In fact the entire set was an exercise in making jazz standards that are forty to seventy years old vibrant, modern and even edgey.  The set included Full House, by Wes Montgomery, All Blues by Miles, and Footprints by Wayne Shorter.  All are tunes I still love to play.

June 16, 2012 Jean Paul Gaultier Show

I've been working on a new recording the last few weeks, and haven't had a chance to post for a while.  The Gaultier show at The De Young Museum is a must see:  http://deyoung.famsf.org/deyoung/exhibitions/fashion-world-jean-paul-gaultier-sidewalk-catwalk
Like many musicians I'm influenced and inspired by many art forms.  Gaultier is simply a genius.  He re-defines fashion, eroticism, gender, and culture.  Co-incidentally MTV was playing Madonna's Truth or Dare documentary this morning.  I hadn't seen it in years.  Many of the costumes from that tour and the Blonde Ambition tour are at the De Young show.  I've always admired Madonna's message for young women:  Your body belongs to you, not your parents, not your church, not the state.  Bravo (and Brava) Gaultier and Madonna!