Jazz Stories

Roy Pea and I were thrilled to catch Buddy Guy, now age 87, and still an icon of the blues playing a free concert in San Francisco’s summer series at Stern Grove. Buddy urged the crowd to sing, dance, and celebrate his music; and the crowd of 10,000 responded. Buddy started with “Damn right, I’ve got the blues,” showed he was still a Hoochie Coochie man, and probably would have played all night if they didn’t keep reminding him to get off the stage. Close to the end of the show, Buddy walked through the crowd while still playing his guitar as security cleared his way. Wow! ...

Two friends engaged in a beautiful musical dialogue, set to a bossa nova groove. Romero Lumbambo played a nylon-stringed guitar, which gave a soft tone to his Brazilian sound. He plucked both the bass line and a rhythmic counter point, while at times leaping into lightning fast and precise melodic runs. Anat Cohen—a favorite at the Stanford Jazz Festival every year—plays a soulful clarinet. She joined Romero on the precise, fast runs but also led with intricate melodies and soaring solos. Through they had lovely communication, both through their eyes but also through their bodies. It was a special performance. ...

Jacob and I went to the Stanford Jazz Workshop on Monday night to hear really innovative music led by Jaimeo Brown. He combined samples of gospel singers with live guitar, electronics, drums, and saxophone. Meanwhile behind the musicians, a video of scenes with elephants and water slowly played. The musicians were all phenomenal, and they created a powerful experience. Campbell Recital Hall is quite small and it felt like a real privilege to hear such great music in an intimate space. ...

Jacob and I went on a Monday night adventure to the outer planets and back with the innovative jazz-rock fusion group Pluto Juice. Dayna Stephens led on his EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument), an instrument that you play like a saxophone but which makes sound only via a connected synthesizer. A few times he picked up his tenor saxophone, and proved to have awesome tone, technique and expressivity. Billy Mohler on electric bass held down a solid groove, heavy on octave doubling, compression and other effects. Anthony Fung on drums co-leads the band and played some great intros and solos to the tunes. Joining the group for the first time, Charles Altura offered spacey textures on guitar, but also played very agile, speedy solos. Sometimes the music sounded like instrumentals on David Bowie’s “Low”; sometimes more like classic jazz-rock fusion; other times like a spacey, lush trip. ...

Bass players do not often lead bands, but then again, Marcus Miller is not your average bass player. It was a treat to bring Audrey’s brother’s family—Gene, Laem and Cliff—to the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, VA to see Marcus Miller lead a long and energetic set. A rendition of Mr. Pastorius was a high point of the set, although it was also the only swing jazz tune. More typical to the set was Detroit, a funky, energetic composition which Marcus renamed “Detroit DMV” for the evening. ...