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SF Bay Area
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Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor
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 Buster Williams © Howard A. gitelson “Something More” is an apt title for Buster Williams’ ensemble. Among the busiest and most prolific of modern bassists, Williams has always been more than a sideman, from his early days with Jimmy Heath, Gene Ammons, and Sonny Stitt (all before age 20), to his alliance with such vocalists as Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, and Betty Carter, to his work on projects as diverse as the Jazz Crusaders, Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi Band, and Sphere with T.S. Monk. In addition to his numerous supporting roles, Williams has also shone as a frequently-recorded leader and composer. The Penguin Guide to Jazz notes his “impeccable harmony” and a “rhythmic sense that is unfailing, feeling, and utterly original.” On January 8-9, Williams brings his latest version of Something More to Yoshi's in Oakland.
Bass players often are overlooked or underappreciated even by “jazz fans”—bass solos often seem to be regarded as mere intermissions while the horn or piano takes a break. Buster Williams commands our attention, as much to his supporting lines as to his dynamic and creative solos. The son of a bassist, Williams grew up in New Jersey, noting that “we were a two-bass family.” He was playing with Jimmy Heath while still in high school, and shortly after graduation was working with Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt.
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Written by Administrator
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 Bobby Hutcherson |
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Written by Press Release
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 Dave Douglas © Andrea Canter SFJAZZ, the leading non-profit jazz
organization on
the West Coast and the presenter of the San Francisco Jazz Festival,
has announced the Spring
2007 touring line-up of its all-star octet, the SFJAZZ Collective.
Named “Rising Star Jazz
Band of the Year” in DownBeat’s 2006 International Critics Poll, the
Collective returns in 2007
with seven of the eight band members from 2006: tenor saxophonist and
artistic director
Joshua Redman; vibraphonist and jazz living legend Bobby Hutcherson;
alto saxophonist
Miguel Zenón; trombonist Andre Hayward; pianist Renee Rosnes;
bassist Matt Penman;
and drummer Eric Harland. Debuting in the trumpet chair in 2007,
replacing Nicholas Payton,
is the celebrated instrumentalist and composer Dave Douglas, the
DownBeat poll’s 2006
“Trumpeter of the Year” and a past “Jazz Artist of the Year.”
In its repertoire, the Collective is devoted to exploring jazz’s
modern expressions—from
roughly the mid–20th century to the present day. For the 2007 season,
the group will divide its
repertoire between all-new compositions by the band members themselves
(commissioned by
SFJAZZ) and the works of one of jazz’s quintessential modernists: the
iconic pianist, composer,
and bebop pioneer Thelonious Monk. |
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Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor
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“To me living and
music are all the same thing. And I keep finding out more about music
as I learn more about myself, my environment, about all kinds of
different things in life. I play what I live… I can't predict the
directions in which my music will go. I just want to write and play
my instrument as I feel.” -–McCoy Tyner
 McCoy Tyner Pianist
McCoy Tyner is one of the working legends of his generation, an
artist whose long and diverse career spans the heyday of bop, the
emergence of Coltrane, and the evolution of the complex structures
that are hallmarks of modern jazz. His percussive attack, orchestral
voicings, and modal harmonics have influenced several generations of
musicians, and his ongoing work exemplifies the life of a creative
artist constantly seeking to grow and respond. As last gig of the
year, Tyner brings a star-studded quartet to Yoshi’s in Oakland,
featuring Joe Lovano on sax, Christian McBride on bass and Jeff
“Tain” Watts on drums. |
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Written by Ronaldo Oregano
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 Carlos Federico
Panamanian-American pianist Carlos Federico lit up the Bay Area in the
1950s with a mambo quintet that had dancers spinning. His compositions
were recorded by George Shearing, Malo, Chepito Areas, Ritmo 74 and
others. As an educator, he started the community Salsa Workshops at the
Mission Cultural Center, Eastbay Center for the Performing Arts,
Merritt College and many other spots where he taught students the art
of Salsa and Latin Jazz. He passed away ten years ago without ever
recording an album of himself playing his own music. The Carlos
Federico Memorial Album is a Descarga Latin jam session recorded at the
old KPFA studios in Berkeley in late 1985. It stands as testament to an
unsung Bay Area Latin music pioneer. |
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 Saturday, 11 October 2008
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SF Bay Area 
