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KCSM Jazz91 Jazz Datebook

Saturday, 04 July 2009

SF Bay Area

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Jazz calendar and club listings for the SF Bay Area

Travel guides and travel resources for San Francisco: For jazz calendar listings, Jazz Police recommends the KCSM Jazz91 Jazz Datebook, click here to view it within Jazz Police , and click here to open KCSM Jazz91 Jazz Datebook in a new window .

Guides to live music (musicians, jazz clubs, etc.) in the San Francisco Bay Area:

Mose Allison and Bob Dorough July 2-5 at Yoshi's in Oakland

Written by Ronaldo Oregano
Mose Allison © Andea Canter Two living legends of jazz Mose Allison and Bob Dorough will appear in a double bill at Yoshi's in Oakland on Thursday, July 2nd through Sunday, July 5th. I can think of no better way to celebrate Independence Day that with these two independent and quirky American masters of song. Dubbed the "William Faulkner of Jazz", the legendary composer/pianist/singer Mose Allison can manage to be a Mississippi country blues man and an urbane hipster at the same time. His songs are both light-hearted and hard edged with biting social criticism of the modern world. Continuing a long and fruitful career, Mose Allison continues to write and perform all over the world. His songs have been covered by Van Morrison, John Mayall, The Who, The Clash, Eric Clapton, the Yardbirds, Elvis Costello and Bonnie Raitt, to name a few. Bob Dorough worked with Miles Davis and Allen Ginsberg, and his adventurous style was an influence on many singers. He is perhaps best known as a voice and primary composer of many of the songs used in Schoolhouse Rock!, a series appearing on Saturday morning television in the 1970s and 1980s. He has released vocal jazz albums periodically over the last 50 years; his latest, Small Day Tomorrow, came out in 2006."
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Pharoah Sanders with Zakir Hussain at Yoshi's in San Francisco, Jun 25-28

Written by Ronaldo Oregano
Pharoah Sanders and Zakir Hussain (Zakir Husain photo by Susana Millman) Jazz legend Pharoah Sanders will perform with his band and special guest, tabla master Zakir Hussain on Thursday, June 25th through Sunday, June 28th at Yoshi's in San Francisco. Pharoah Sanders possesses one of the most distinctive tenor saxophone sounds in jazz. Harmonically rich and heavy with overtones, Sanders' sound can be as raw and abrasive as it is possible for a saxophonist to produce. Yet, Sanders is highly regarded to the point of reverence by a great many jazz fans. Although he made his name with expressionistic free jazz in John Coltrane's late ensembles of the mid-'60s, Sanders' later music is guided by more graceful concerns. The hallmarks of Sanders' playing at that time were naked aggression and unrestrained passion. In the yearsafter Coltrane's death, however, Sanders explored other, somewhat gentler and perhaps more cerebral avenues -- without, it should be added, sacrificing any of the intensity that defined his work as an apprentice to Coltrane.
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Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band in Oakland and Santa Cruz, June 26-29

Written by Ronaldo Oregano
Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band Master conguero Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band will be making wonderful music in the Bay Area on Friday, June 26th through Sunday, June 28th at Yoshi's in Oakland, then on Monday, June 29th at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz. Seasoned, versatile, finely meshed, and deeply, masterfully percussive, the Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band is perhaps the premier Latin jazz ensemble working today. They’ve recorded prolifically and have been honored with a Grammy award and three Grammy nominations. The evening with Sanchez and his band promises to be a rhythmic, musical pleasure for body and soul- and the Ordway will open up a space in front of the stage to allow for dancing. The band includes longtime members Francisco Torres (trombone), Ron Blake (trumpet), Javier Vergara (saxophones), David Torres (piano), Tony Banda (bass), George Ortiz (timbales), Joey De León (bongos & percussion), and of course the master conguero himself, Poncho Sanchez.
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Hiromi and Sonicbloom at Herbst Theater, June 19th

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor

“In total, this music is fresh and iconoclastic, bearing an assembly of styles and abilities.” –C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz

One of the most daring and creative voices of her generation, or perhaps of any working generation in jazz today, Hiromi Uehara (known professional as just Hiromi) and her Sonicbloom quartet will challenge the Richter Scale when they perform as part of the SF Jazz season at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco on June 19th. With eclectic muses and a creative approach to composition, Hiromi has been rewriting the canon of modern jazz piano since her first recording, and has been accumulating a list of awards on both sides of the Pacific, from Record and Artist of the Year honors from Swing Magazine to similar accolades from the Boston Music Society and Guinness Jazz Festival. Her latest recordings, Beyond Standard with Sonicbloom, Duet with Chick Corea, and Jazz in the Garden with the Stanley Clarke Trio confirm her star trajectory.