a nonprofit presenter of jazz artistic and education programs

Badi Assad, solo

Saturday, October 21 • 2pm

Florence Gould Theatre, Legion of Honor
  • venue info
  • $30 GA
    • "Her fingers flew across the frets and nylon strings, stretching out to construct improbably expansive chords or play lightning-fast arpeggios."
    —Washington Post

     

    Program Notes

    The last time Badi Assad graced the San Francisco Jazz Festival, with her “Three Guitars” cohorts Larry Coryell and John Abercrombie, she astonished audiences with her virtuosic fretboard skills. This afternoon’s return to the Festival is an intimate solo concert featuring songs from her 2006 album Wonderland, an eclectic mix of tunes by Tori Amos, the Eurythmics, and her own compositions, all tied together by Assad’s unique, sensational talent.

     

    Assad showed early promise on the guitar, winning prestigious national competitions in her teens, but what the young Brazilian from São João de Boa Vista wanted most was to be a dancer. She stuck with the family tradition of stringed instruments (her brothers Sérgio and Odair are renowned guitarists; her father a mandolinist), releasing her U.S. debut album, Solo, in 1994. Soon Guitar Player magazine was handing her accolades as one of the top ten most revolutionary talents of the ‘90s and as 1995’s “Best Acoustic Fingerstyle Player.”

     

    Though she performs alone today, “solo” is a misleading label for an artist whose musical palette is as expansive as Assad’s. Her unique performance style incorporates mouth and body percussion and “startling vocal sounds: pops, clicks, wails, shrieks, and occasional growls [that affirm her] singular musical vision”(Los Angeles Times).

    Personnel:
    • Badi Assad, guitar