Amazing Weekend of Music

The last weekend in September was an amazing series of concerts by SF Jazz.  Friday the 28th was the Brecker Brothers reunion (sadly of course without Michael).  Randy, his wife Ada Rovatti on tenor, George Whitty on keys, Neil Jason on bass, Dave Weckl on drums, AND Mike Stern on guitar.  Weckl and Mike soared up to heaven!  Fond memories of listening to the Brecker Brothers and many others at their club Seventh Avenue South in the late seventies and early eighties.

The next night was Miles Smiles with Wallace Roney, Bill Evans, Joey DeFrancesco, Omar Hakim, Victor Bailey fortuitously filling in for Daryl Jones, AND Robben Ford!  I always knew that the great electric period of Miles (and Ornette) would one day be recognized and celebrated.  And with the ascent of Christian Scott, incorporated into a new generation of improvisors.  As with the night before, the interplay between drums and guitar was amazing.  Omar was the premier drummer in the world in the early 80's, and he's just as spectacular.  And Robben, well , he's my favorite guitar player.  At the end of one solo he quoted Some Enchanted Evening. They say Miles cried when he left.  I had the privilege of seeing them quite a few times for the short time Robben was in the band.

And Sunday night was Sonny Rollins at Davies Hall.  A collosus, indeed.  In his eighties, white haired and his huge frame starting to hunch over, he is every bit as powerful and inventive as he was 40 years ago. My dear friend Baron Shul has said that Sonny's universal appeal is that he either plays standards (Once in a While) or blues, or calypso.  And about 80% of his soloing is inside, but about 20% is outside - 12 tone- so he always sounds fresh, and adventurous.  With:
Clifton Anderson trombone
Saul Rubin guitar
Bob Cranshaw bass
Kobie Watkins drums
Sammy Figueroa percussion

Amazing!

December 27, 2011

I often write about influnces and lineage in music.  The last two concerts I saw a couple of weeks ago were marvelous examples.  Friday December 9 at Yoshi's Oakland was Mike Stern, with Richard Bono, Dave Weckl, and Bob Franceschini.  Mike of course played with Miles Davis, Weckl with Chick Corea, and Richard Bono with Joe Zawinul.  So the Miles influence looms beautiful and large.  The next night at Herbst in San Francisco, was Ahmad Jamal, who influenced Miles!  With him was Manolo Badrena, who played with Weather Report.  Like all great artists, Ahmad, who is 81, now incorporates musicians who were influenced by musicians he influenced!  Happy Holidays!