Upcoming Festival Pays Tribute to Jazz’s Roots
Blues has a singular place in the hearts of jazz fans. Its rhythms and
improvisational vibe served as bedrock for the imaginations of
early jazz artists, and it continues to be an endless well of inspiration.
This year’s
24th Annual San
Francisco Jazz Festival pays tribute to this proud lineage
with a set of shows that draw heavily on the blues.
Boyhood
friends, musical collaborators, and Blues Hall of Fame members James
Cotton and Hubert Sumlin (10/21) have a lot in common. Both
honed their blues chops in the juke joints and nightclubs around
Memphis, Tennessee before being drawn to Chicago by two legendary
blues masters: Muddy Waters picked Cotton as his harp man; and
Sumlin starred as lead guitarist in Howlin’ Wolf’s
band. The two men, now blues legends in their own right, reunite
for this special Festival performance, which will draw from the
fruits of over half a century as blues pioneers.
Dr.
Lonnie Smith’s (11/3) trademark turban
locks in a bubbling cauldron of wicked organ licks. At every turn
this master of the B-3 organ has a knack for energizing a crowd
with the freshest, most rambunctious organ grooves, a skill showcased
on his latest album, Jungle
Soul.
Joined by longtime James Brown sideman, trombonist, and arranger
Fred
Wesley, Smith is sure to lead a funky good time well into
the evening. Opening the double bill is James
Carter, a Detroit
native paying tribute to his hometown’s
long tradition as a soul-jazz mecca with his simmering organ trio.
 Jump
blues and swing stalwarts Lavay
Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers always
give music fans what they want, and then some. This year Bay
Area favorites Lavay and the boys are featured in two Festival
performances: the ever-popular “Swingin’ on
the Bay Bruch Cruise” (10/22) with
fellow Bay Area swingsters Steve Lucky and the Rhumba Bums; and
the multimedia "Toons & Tunes"
event (11/9), with
cartoon vamp Betty Boop giving Lavay a run for her money.
Those interested in an international cousin of the blues should check out Ana
Moura (11/12). The young Portuguese sensation sings fado,
a traditional folk music that draws inspiration from a similar
place as the blues: the longings, sorrows, and small pleasures of the Portuguese
working class. Appearing with famed fado guitarist Jorge Fernando (who served
as sideman to the “Queen of Fado” Amália Rodrigues),
Moura brings a global flavor to her intimate folk music.
Intimate
meeting reveals many sides of the tabla virtuoso
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| Young Eric Zakharian shakes hands with Zakir Hussain as his
proud parents look on. |
Last week Zakir Hussain shared compelling and entertaining insights into
his musical history at the SFJAZZ Members-only Listening Party. Where else
could listeners be treated to the fantastic reminiscence of a teenaged Hussain
strolling through Mumbai with a boom box on his shoulder, blasting The Doors’ “Light
My Fire?”
Members had a chance to ask questions of the tabla master
while enjoying a personal voyage through his life, from his earliest memories
of learning tabla at his father’s knees to his groundbreaking work
with Shakti and Planet
Drum (appearing in a special pre-Festival
concert this weekend. Hussain will also appear with Charles
Lloyd and Eric Harland in Sangam on
11/3).
Listen
to Zakir talk
about his work with Mickey Hart, Diga, and Planet Drum by launching
the MP3 link below.
Next week: More from the Members Listening Party
with Zakir Hussain.
| SFJAZZ
Listening Party Excerpt (MP3) |
- Listen
to an excerpt of
the Listening Party with Zakir Hussain (mp3)
|
 Vidya
Sept
27 • 12-1:30PM
Levi's Plaza, SF
A
beguiling ensemble fusing Indian classical (Carnatic) music
with jazz, Vidya is led by saxophonist Prasant Radhakrishnan,
with fiercely creative improvisers drummer Sameer Gupta,
bassist David Ewell and violinst Gautam Ganeshan. Arts website
sdam.com said, “[Radhakrishnan's] incredible saxophone
playing blended Carnatic music and jazz so well, it seemed
like the two genres were one and the same.” |
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 (from
left) Giovanni Hidalgo, Mickey Hart and Zakir
Hussain pictured in the Oakland Tribune (9/16)
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Nate
Chinen reviews Festival performer Nels Cline’s new album, New
Monastery in The
New York Times, calling the avant-guitarists take on Andrew
Hill’s music “learned and original.” Hill
and Cline share a ground-breaking double bill in the Festival
(10/29).
Read All
About Jazz's recent announcement about Nels Cline
and Myra Melford's latest CD releases.
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This week we’ve got a very special prize: the
newly released
double-CD set of Keith Jarrett’s Carnegie Hall performance.
And
now this week's question:
What
Festival Headliner’s landmark 1966 album did Keith Jarrett
play piano on?
 E-mail
Your Answer (include "Keith Jarrett "
in the subject line)
The
fine print: Our contest winner
will be notified directly by email, and
both the winner's name and the correct answer
to the question will be published in next
week's e-News. The following are not eligible
to enter: employees and current contractors
of SFJAZZ and its seasonal sponsors; past
e-News Jazz Trivia Contest winners; ECM Records
employees.
Last
week's answer: Congratulations to M. Adam Smyer,
who cited four musicians featured in Kansas City appearing
at this year’s Festival: Cyrus
Chestnut and Russell Malone (co-leading
their quartet 10/27); James
Carter (appearing on a double
bill with Dr.
Lonnie Smith 11/3); and Victor
Lewis (playing drums at Sonny
Rollins’ opening
Night concert). We also would have accepted
Geri
Allen (a featured performer at vocalist Mary
Stallings’ SFJAZZ
Beacon Award Concert 11/10) and Steven
Bernstein, a member of the Kamikaze
Ground Crew (11/1), who arranged the music for Kansas
City. |
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