Jazz Stories

The National Endowment of the Arts honors four Jazz Masters each year, and this year gave awards to Kenny Garrett, Regina Carter, Louis Hayes and Sue Mingus. Although we didn’t have tickets, I hopped on a city bike and rode 27 minutes from our house to the Kennedy Center to wait for standby tickets. A fun group of earnest jazz fans began filling the line at 5:30 for a 7:15 ticket release. My patience was rewarded with two great front-row balcony seats, and Audrey soon joined for the concert. ...

We tuned in to Jake Shimabukuru via streaming on Friday night, and to our surprise, we liked his music and entertaining style so much that we bought tickets for Sunday night. After a fun French dinner of crepes and French onion soup at Chez Maman West, we strolled over to SFJazz to catch the show. Jake performed a wide range of music from Flamenco-style to a rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody and While my Guitar Gently Weeps. His take was lighthearted yet virtuosic. Overall, good fun. ...

We’ve enjoyed Maria Schneider several times now, but this is the first time we’ve heard the Orchestra in San Francisco. The compositions were lush and original, and ranged across many of her albums. We were glad to have time to catch a quick meal of Thai food beforehand with Micah and Victoria. “Sputnik” was my favorite tune this time, with the encore “Walking by Flashlight” a close second. Audrey ordered a copy of the book of poems that inspired many compositions, 100 Postcards to Jim Harrison. ...

It was a cold and rainy Tuesday night. The smell of wet dogs and dry martinis wafting across the bay. The perfect night to slip out the door in an overcoat and head for an dark, dank watering hole. And so I gingerly nudged the Q5 into the wilds of Hayward to see Micah Roschelle take the lead on Trombone with the Berkeley Alumni Big Band. That Micah, always ahead of his time! He is not even graduated yet, and yet he is already in the Alumni Big Band. No mystery there; Micah is a first call trombone on the Cal Bears jazz scene. ...

“I’ll take you there” sings Mavis Staples, famously, and she did – it was a soulful, happy place. The minimalist backup band, guitar-bass-drums, was outstanding – filling the space with energy. We especially loved Rick Holstrom, a blues guitar player. He made his Telecaster sing in every way it should, extracting a series of tasty, and thrilling tones. The church is still in Mavis Staples; we felt we were in a wonderful Sunday gospel service, with Mavis ever urging our spirits higher. The surprise song of the set was the Talking Heads cover, Slippery People ( “What’s a matter with him? He’s alright.”" ) It fit perfectly. “Friendship” was also a touching song. ...