Jazz Stories

A double bill of a quality that would be hard to find in New York City or anywhere in the world – that’s how Stanford Jazz Workshop’s Jim Nadel introduced the show. And the music did not disappoint. James Francies opened the show with his trio of Zach Moses (bass) and Eric Harland (drums). The music featured powerful open chords and interesting melodies. A lot of sustained chord sounds, maybe fourths. Francies at times was technically fast and precise, but mostly very melodic and musical, with repeated cycles of chords that slowly built drama. Eric Harland played the set imaginatively, with constantly shifting beats and colors, building slowly to a climatic solo at the end of the set. ...

A beautiful Sunday took us to the beach just north of Half Moon Bay, to hear Tierney Sutton sing at the Bach Dynamite and Dancing Society. Her theme was “love.” To open the show, Tierney sang a song from her “Blue” album, which featured Joni Mitchell songs. She playfully combined the standard “April in Paris” with Joni’s “Free Man in Paris.” Later in the show, Tierney gave a tour-de-force performance of the Dry Cleaner from Des Moines, a Joni Mitchell song with a ton of very fast, very complex lyrics. ...

Singing their original “I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it,” the gruffy gang from north, north Portola Valley won over the overheated Palooza crowd. Billie Steve “Spock” Dusse took center stage and played to the camera, so earns the most mug shots in the gallery. At this point, I guess I am Whiskey Hillbillies groupie, ‘cause they are always good fun. So follow them on Facebook and check out a show. ...

Live from Berkeley, it’s Trombone Micah! An evening drive up to Berkeley took me to the California Jazz Conservancy, where Micah has been taking an evening class and playing jazz. The group played a set with three tunes: Four (Miles Davis) Anthropology (Charlie Parker) Nutville (Horace Silver) The music was joyful, challenging, and uptempo. Interestingly, the group’s teacher, Dave LeFebre, was also my jazz teacher when I was a grad student at Berkeley, decades ago. Indeed, he and Susan Muscarella led the Jazz program at UC Berkeley when I was there, but then built the separate Conservatory nearby. I said “hi” and “thanks” to Dave. ...

Danilo Peréz’s Global Messengers I’ve always been a huge fan of Wayne Shorter’s quartet with Danilo Peréz, John Pattituci and Brian Blade. And I enjoy each of the artists individually. So I leaped at a chance go hear the pianist, Danilo Peréz lead his own group. The setting could not be more beautiful. The 6th and I Synagogue is a historic building in downtown Washington DC, and its a Sephardic-style building. Rather than a long vault ending in an alter, the building is basically square, with a dome above four huge arches. The dome is pained a lovely sky blue. And the colors throughout the space are warm and inviting. I had been looking for an opportunity to show Audrey the space and it was a special bonus that Sarah was visiting us. ...