| |
Fall / Summer 2006
- Stallings
receiving jazz award
By Andrew Gilbert
Contra Costa Times, November 9, 2007
Soul is a quality that can't be bought or borrowed, faked or sold, which is why
Mary Stallings continues to reign as one of jazz's most distinctive and compelling
vocalists. In a well-deserved tribute... Stallings... joins an illustrious
circle of Bay Area jazz greats to receive the lifetime achievement tribute, including
drummer Eddie Marshall, bassist Vernon Alley, pianist Ed Kelly, journalist Phil
Elwood and pianist Bill Bell. Read
article
- Kids
got rhythm
Family Matinee Performance includes helping
children recognize basics of music
By Paul Kilduff
SF Chronicle, November 9, 2007
On Sunday, Santos and his group make their own contribution to the cause at the
San Francisco Jazz Festival Family Matinee, where they will play familiar tunes,
then explain to kids in the audience the jazz elements of the song."It's
a point of departure to explain to them how it's played," Santos
says. The lesson begins with an introduction to the sounds and materials used
in the making of the instruments onstage, including the horns, trombone, flute,
saxophones and drum set. Read
article
- Strike up the Montclair Women's Big Band at jazz festival
By Jim Harrington
Oakland Tribune/Inside Bay Area, November 7, 2007
The Montclair Women's Big Band honors the mighty legacy of those musicians [female
players] when it performs Wednesday at the Great American Music Hall. The
show is sure to be one of the highlights of the 2006 San Francisco Jazz Festival... Read
article
- Alice
Coltrane shows ‘A Love Supreme’
By Jim Harrington
Oakland Tribune/Inside Bay Area, November 5, 2007
True “moments” don’t happen all that often in jazz concerts. There
were two, however, during Alice Coltrane’s show on Saturday at the
Masonic Center in San Francisco. In both cases, the fans and musicians seemed
to know instantly that people will be talking about those moments for months,
if not years, to come. Read
article
- A
moving night of music from Coltranes
MOTHER, SON OFFER HOMAGE, LET THEIR OWN TALENT SHINE
By Richard Scheinin
Mercury News, November 6, 2007
...Alice
Coltrane's three-stop U.S. tour -- which ended Saturday
night in front of 3,000 listeners at the Masonic Center
in San Francisco -- has generated such interest. Her first
major series of concert dates in a quarter-century offered
a chance for audiences to connect through the pianist to
her late husband, the legendary saxophonist. Read
article
- John
Coltrane's widow and son collaborate to mark the late,
great jazz man's 80th birthday at the SFJAZZ Festival
By Sam Prestianni
Santa Cruz Sentinel , November 4, 2007
One of the hottest tickets in this season's 24th annual SFJAZZ festival commemorates
the 80th birthday of the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, who passed away
nearly four decades ago, leaving behind a legacy of musical exploration that
forever changed the shape of jazz. Read
article
- Performance
Review : SF Jazz Festival: Arturo Sandoval
KQED Arts & Music, November 3, 2007
The audience in the Herbst Theater was primed from the
outset when trumpet master Arturo Sandoval took the spotlight
at the San Francisco Jazz
Festival. And if there was any disappointment that evening,
it was that the
show had to end some time. Read
article
- Jazz
pianist Myra Melford makes the compositional process easier
than one might imagine
By Derk Richardson
SFGate.com, November 2, 2007
Myra Melford makes jazz composition sound easier than it, well, sounds. Not that
the Berkeley-based pianist's music is difficult, in an elitist, know-it-all sense,
let alone off-putting. On the contrary, Melford -- who leads her acoustic quintet
in a San Francisco Jazz Festival concert, Saturday afternoon, Nov. 4, at the
Legion of Honor -- makes some of most appealing, harmonically accessible music
flowing outside the banks of today's still-post-bebop-based jazz mainstream. Read
article
- Gypsy
Jams: Django Reinhardt comes alive
By Sam Prestianni
SF Weekly, November 1, 2006
...few come as close to the original spirit as Dorado Schmitt,
a French Gypsy bandleader who's been touring the "Django Reinhardt Festival" with
his son Samson and a variable cast of players for the past five years. This event
promises to be the liveliest gig in this season's SFJAZZ fest and is a must-see
showcase for guitarists and guitar fans of all stripes. Read
article
- Particular
and infinite: Samba and musical collaboration are a way
of life, a mode of communication for Marisa Monte
By Devin Hoff
San Francisco Bay Guardian, October 31, 2006
Marisa Monte is a true musician. Her albums routinely go
platinum around the world, and her shows sell out wherever
she plays — whether in or out of
her native Brazil — but her approach is not at all that of a pop star. Read
article
- The
musical journeys and spiritual quest of Alice Coltrane
By Alexis Georgopoulos
San Francisco Bay Guardian, October 31,
2006
Each year, in addition to its roster of standard jazz players, the San Francisco
Jazz Festival tucks a few cards up its sleeve. This year promises to perhaps
surpass even those when Alice Coltrane is joined by Charlie Haden, Roy Haynes,
and her son, Ravi Coltrane, in a rare performance. It may just be one of the
concerts of the year. Read
article
- S.F.
Jazz Festival: Wide-ranging, world-class
By Marcus Crowder
Sacramento Bee, November 1, 2006
Jazz isn't what it used to be. But just how full the glass
seems depends on your point of view. Looking down the road
at the 24th annual San Francisco Jazz Festival, now in full
swing, there's plenty to feel positive about. Read
article
- Life
is but a dream when listening to pianist Andrew Hill
By David Rubien
SF Chronicle, October 31, 2006
But it's jazz's luck that Hill picked the direction
he did, and the Herbst show proved why. As heavily composed
as the music is, it achieves transcendence with a committed,
inspired group of improvisers. This is as tight a bunch of
players as any jazz band extant, and Hill's music became transformed
through them. Read
article
- Sonny pleases jazz fans in SF
By Jim Harrington
Oakland Tribune/Inside Bay Area, October 23,
2006
...by golly, was that twinkle I saw
in Sonny's eye? Yes, it sure was — and it was one that was
shared by the fans at the Masonic. In all, Rollins
came across like a performer who has found new reasons
to be excited about playing music...it's hard pretty
hard for mere mortals to compete for the crowd's attention
when Sonny is on the stage. Rollins' lead near the
end of "Sonny, Please" was so captivating,
full of both joy and new ideas, that I actually lost track of
the other players. Read
article
- So much to love about Sonny Rollins
By Richard Scheinin
Mercury News, October 16, 2006
“On his most famous early recording, with Bud Powell
in 1949, it was already there, bursting out of the
gates. And it's still there. You can hear Rollins, now 76, on Friday at
the Masonic Center in San Francisco, where he and his
band will kick off the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Earlier this
month, I spoke to him by phone... ” Read
article
- Sonny
Rollins: HERO of jazz
By David Rubien
San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday Pink Section, October 15, 2006
Rollins, 76, is considered by many to be the greatest living
jazz improviser. Even in his 30s, when the country teemed with
brilliant saxophonists -- from Coleman Hawkins to Ben Webster
to Charlie Parker to John Coltrane -- Rollins was in a class
by himself. Now, when virtually no contemporary of his stature
is still active, he stands alone, towering over a jazz scene
in which geniuses are dying off faster than they are being
replaced. Read
article
- Other
biggies at the Jazz Festival
By David Rubien
San Francisco Chronicle, October 15, 2006
Could anybody playing the 2006 San Francisco Jazz Festival
be counted as a peer of headliner Sonny Rollins? Actually,
yes.The Heath Brothers, featuring tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath
-- who turns 80 on the day of their Oct. 25 show at Herbst
Theatre -- and drummer Albert (Tootie) Heath, 71, have as much
swing and bop savvy between them as anyone alive. Read
article
- So
much to love about Sonny Rollins
LEGENDARY SAXOPHONIST HEADLINES S.F. JAZZ FEST
By Richard Scheinin
Mercury News, September 10, 2006
There's not much controversy in saying that Sonny Rollins is
the greatest living jazz musician, a peerless improviser with
a boundless imagination. His music makes you feel on top of
the world. Everybody loves Sonny Rollins. The sound of his
tenor saxophone is explosive, incredibly spontaneous, full
of invention and good humor and, above all, exuberant. Read
article
- Musical
stars set to light up Bay's jazz scene
By Jim Harrington
Contra Costa Times, October 12, 2006
It's hard to follow Sonny Rollins, the "Saxophone Colossus" who opens the 24th
annual San Francisco Jazz Festival on Oct. 20. Yet the cast of characters set
to take over the City by the Bay's jazz scene during the rest of the festival's
four-week run appears up to the task. Read
article
- Mickey
Hart dances with the digital world
By Jim Harrington
Inside Bay Area, September 21, 2006
Yet, this trip isn't so much about the past as it is about the present and the
immediate future. Hart is extremely focused on this afternoon as he prepares
to reintroduce his Planet Drum ensemble to the public with a seven-city tour
that includes stops on Friday at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz and
Saturday at the Masonic Center as part of the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Read
article
- The
beat goes on for Planet Drum
By Paul Liberatore
Marin Independent Journal, September 14, 2006
The Grateful Dead drummer has resurrected his Grammy-Award-winning percussion group and is set to open the San Francisco Jazz Festival on Sept. 23 at the Nob Hill Masonic Center.This is Planet Drum in another solar system entirely. This is Planet Drum taking ancient instruments into the high-tech era and creating sounds that no one has ever heard before. Read
article
- Great
S.F., Monterey festivals are just tip of iceberg
By Richard Scheinin
Mercury News, September 10, 2006
The San Francisco Jazz Festival
is arguably the best extended jazz event on the continent.
(When you add in its cousin, the SFJAZZ Spring Season, there's
no argument). Read
article
- Frugal
Traveler: In San Francisco and Almost Home
By MATT GROSS
NY Times, August 16, 2006
[Photo from 2006 SFJAZZ Summerfest] Swing
dancing at the free Thursday-evening jazz concerts in Union
Square.
Read article
- How
cities can jazz up music festivals
By Andrew Gilbert
Contra Costa Times, July 30, 2006
There's nothing like travel to broaden one's perspective. Having
recently returned from a week at the Montreal International
Jazz Festival, I sat down to peruse the coming attractions
offered by the San Francisco Jazz Festival, which runs from
Oct. 20-Nov. 12... Both take an expansive view of the jazz
tradition, welcoming sibling and even distantly related musical
styles to the table. Read
article
- Stars
and surprises in SFJazz fall festival lineup
By Richard Scheinin
Mercury News, June 21, 2006
Slice it and dice it, this way and that. For 27 days, Oct.
17 through Nov. 12, the 24th annual Fall San Francisco Jazz
Festival will offer healthy doses of demigods (Sonny Rollins,
Ahmad Jamal), musicians' musicians (Andrew Hill, Jimmy Heath),
visionary recluses (Alice Coltrane), up-and-coming pathfinders
(Miguel Zenón, Lionel Loeuke) and stubborn boundary
pushers (Myra Melford, Roswell Rudd). A third of the headliners
will be women. Read
article
- Five
shows you shouldn't miss at S.F. Jazz Festival
By Jim Harrington
Inside Bay Area, June 20, 2006
OCTOBER HAS always been my favorite month. It has so many things in its favor: baseball playoffs, Halloween, cooler weather, football season... One other thing that October has going for it is the San Francisco Jazz Festival, which usually kicks off mid-month and stretches well into November.
Read article
|
|
