A jazz megalith dropped in downtown Minneapolis at the Dakota Jazz Club last weekend, a band so big they had to open up the dining room to accomodate so many lucky fans, so please excuse me if I gush. The international, generation-spanning SF Jazz Collective (Joshua Redman, Nicholas Payton, Bobby Hutcherson, Isaac Smith, Miguel Zenon, Renee Rosnes, Matt Penman, and Eric Harland) hit us with two relatively short sets, each comprised of two Coltrane tunes and four originals. This year, Spring came in like a lion.

Photo by Don Berryman

Photo by Don Berryman

The group followed with a stunning arrangement of "Crescent," where Joshua Redman channelled the spirit of Coltrane with uncanny depth of perception. Nicholas Payton was the next featured soloist, coaxing elephantine squeals from his trumpet. "Crescent" flowed from tortured wailing to jazzy swagger before signing off with a gorgeous coda; a testament to the late jazz giant as well as the arranging skills of Gil Goldstein.

New Zealand bassist Matt Penman brought us the first original composition of the evening, a funky little number called "Sega Games" (referring to the Mauritian musical style rather than the video game company), which allowed trombone player Isaac Smith and vibraharpist Bobby Hutcherson to take the leads. In the spirit of full disclosure, I should mention that Hutcherson is one of my all-time favorite jazz musicians, and I can say with absolute objectivity (ha!) that he gave his best solo of the evening on this tune. He was also the de facto showman of the night, mugging his way through both sets with a superb, joyous performance.

Payton's original, "Scrambled Eggs" (an answer to Chick Corea's "Humpty Dumpty"), was the weakest tune of the otherwise strong bunch, a scattershot avant-garde piece that was followed by Hutcherson's lovely "Song for Peggy," one of my two favorite pieces of the evening. "Song for Peggy" was a nice change of color for the group, as Zenon took up his flute, Redman played soprano saxophone, and Payton muted his trumpet. Mark Penman had his only real solo of the evening on this number, followed by Redman and Rosnes. The other compositional highlight was Zenon's "Two and Two," which closed out the first set and featured some great interplay between Penman, Hutcherson, and drummer Eric Harland.

Photo by Don Berryman

The night came to a close with Harland's poppy "Development" and Smith's bedroom ballad "Mmm...," with a nice duet from Smith and Zenon, and a final solo from Payton. While the whole evening saw only about two hours of music stretched over four and a half hours, it was an occasion well worth attending; a celebration of life through jazz (past, present, and future) coming at the best possible time.

Watch for Miguel Zenon to return to the Dakota (with his "4tet") June 6th and 7th.