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"Monk & Coltrane: Carnegie Hall Concert Revisited"
Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride and Brian Blade
Friday, May 4 • 7pm & 9:30pm SOLD OUT*
$75
$55
$40
$25
An SFJAZZ Exclusive!
Program Notes
Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane worked together for just over a year, from April, 1957 to September 1958. Their joint discography included only a handful of titles, including an all-too-brief live session recorded during their legendary run at New York's Five Spot Cafe. Then, in 2005, Larry Appelbaum, a recording engineer and jazz specialist at the Library of Congress, happened upon a stack of acetates while doing a routine digitization of the Library's archives. It was a never-broadcast Voice of America recording of Monk and Coltrane at Carnegie Hall. All About Jazz described this "musical grail" as "so well performed, so well recorded, and so essential that its discovery and release is tantamount to the 2005 discovery of a draft score for Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue for Piano-Four Hands, at the Palmer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia."
Tonight's Monk Project event features Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau reuniting with the all-star rhythm section of Christian McBride and Brian Blade in homage to this historic recording. The four musicians originally recorded two albums together in the early ’90s, Joshua Redman's Moodswings and Captured Live. Since going their separate ways, all four have continued to work at the forefront of modern jazz. Redman created his electric Elastic band, featured most recently on Momentum, and serves as the artistic director of the SFJAZZ Collective. He will debut his new acoustic trio this Spring Season. Brad Mehldau has worked almost exclusively with his trio, a unit that has become one of the most acclaimed working units in jazz with a taste for mixing classical technique and pop song craft.
As for McBride and Blade, a quick flip through any music store racks will reveal they are among the most in-demand players today. In addition to leading his own band, Philadelphia native McBride has lent his prodigious bass talent to recordings by Roy Hargrove, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, and Freddie Hubbard, as well as pop recordings by Sting, James Taylor, and Carly Simon. His rhythmic partner Blade leads the Brian Blade Fellowship, was the SFJAZZ Collective’s drummer in its inaugural year, and has worked with such far-reaching artists as Bob Dylan, Wayne Shorter, Kenny Garrett, and Joni Mitchell.
Personnel:
- Joshua Redman, tenor saxophone
- Brad Mehldau, piano
- Christian McBride, bass
- Brian Blade, drums
Peter C. Gotcher
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