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The Ensemble
The SFJAZZ Collective is an all-star jazz ensemble comprising eight of the finest performer/composers at work in jazz today. Launched in 2004 by SFJAZZ—the West Coast’s largest nonprofit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival—the Collective has quickly become one of the most exciting and acclaimed groups on the American and international jazz scenes. As The New York Times hailed the Collective upon its debut: “A serious jazz band rises in San Francisco.”

In addition to its outstanding line-up, the SFJAZZ Collective has been praised for its innovative approach to repertoire. Each year, the ensemble performs an entirely new list of compositions by a modern jazz master and new pieces by the Collective members (commissioned by SFJAZZ). Through this pioneering approach, simultaneously honoring jazz’s recent history while championing the music’s up-to-the-minute directions, the Collective embodies SFJAZZ’s organizational commitment to jazz as a living, ever-relevant art form.

To cultivate its distinctive sound, the SFJAZZ Collective convenes in San Francisco each spring for a multi-week residency. Throughout this extended rehearsal period—a rarity in today’s jazz—the octet workshops the season’s new repertoire and interacts with the Bay Area community through SFJAZZ’s education programs for youth and adults. The Collective then takes to the performance stage, including home season concerts under the auspices of the SFJAZZ Spring Season and a national and international tour, with stops in a number of the world’s most prominent concert halls.

After exploring the work of Ornette Coleman (2004), John Coltrane (2005), Herbie Hancock (2006), Thelonious Monk (2007), Wayne Shorter (2008), and McCoy Tyner (2009), the Collective takes on hard-bop composer and pianist Horace Silver for its 2010 season. The co-founder of the Jazz Messengers (with Art Blakey), and the leader on countless classic Blue Note sessions, Silver stands as one of the singular voices in jazz history.

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  "Fierce and elegant, precise and loose-limbed, artfully balancing intricate ensembles and blazing solos." —San Francisco Chronicle
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  "The SFJAZZ Collective is an egalitarian wonder, equally concerned with where the music has been and where it’s going... Every track is a discovery and you will not find a weak link in the ensemble.” —JazzTimes
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  "The standard, in terms of solo firepower, could hardly be higher.” —The New York Times
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  "The best overall live jazz set this writer has heard in the New Millennium.” —AllAboutJazz.com