Articles by Harry S. Pariser
Irakere 50 at SFJAZZ Center
by Harry S. Pariser
Irakere 50SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, California February 15, 2024 On April 25, 1973, the Santiago de Cuba stadium saw a historic event when Irakere (an eight-member band whose name means forest" in Yoruba) debuted. Attendees had never experienced anything quite like it before. The musicians, all originally members of the eclectic Orquesta Cuba de Música Moderna, blended jazz, classical, Cuban pop, Afro-Cuban folkloric and funk music in an unparalleled mix. Two of the musicians--pianist ...
read moreSun Ra Arkestra at Great American Music Hall
by Harry S. Pariser
Sun Ra Arkestra SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, California February 6-8, 2024 Over the decades, music venues in jny: San Francisco have come and gone, but one constant remains: Great American Music Hall. A house of ill repute when it first opened in 1907, the building has gone through several transitions as a musical performance space and has even served the Loyal Order of the Moose as a meeting hall. In 1972, visionary Tom Bradshaw refurbished ...
read moreKenny Barron Residency at SFJAZZ Center
by Harry S. Pariser
Kenny Barron Residency SFJAZZ Center San Francisco February 1-4, 2024 Popularly dubbed an elder statesman" of jazz, pianist Kenny Barron, needs no introduction to aficionados of contemporary American music. At 80, he is still actively playing, composing, mentoring, teaching, and releasing music (including two duets with Dave Holland). Barron joined his first orchestra at 15 and was hired by Dizzy Gillespie at 19. He went on to record numerous albums, co-founded the Thelonious Monk ...
read moreAmerican Railroad : Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens at Zellerbach Auditorium
by Harry S. Pariser
"American Railroad"Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens Zellerbach AuditoriumBerkeley, California November 17, 2023 The University of California Berkeley's Cal Performances presents many diverse, innovative shows featuring a wide variety of global music and dance throughout the year at the university's Zellerbach Auditorium, a venerable venue that has hosted a wide variety of talent ranging from Wynton Marsalis to Seun Kuti and Africa 80. So it is not surprising that they would host the groundbreaking ...
read moreSFJAZZ Collective at SFJAZZ Center
by Harry S. Pariser
The SFJAZZ Collective The SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, California November 4, 2023 Taking the stage at the commencement of a four-night run at San Francisco's SFJAZZ Center The SFJAZZ Collective launched into vibraphonist Warren Wolf's arrangement of three amalgamated Miles Davis compositions: In a Silent Way," Directions," and Nardis." Then, trumpeter Mike Rodriguez took the microphone to introduce their new suite, tentatively titled Golden Gate Suite." The group was founded in 2004 by ...
read moreSun Ra Arkestra at SFJAZZ Center
by Harry S. Pariser
Sun Ra Arkestra SFJAZZ Center Summer Season San Francisco July 18-21, 2023 Though on the surface, Dead & Company and the Sun Ra Arkestra--the first a Grateful Dead offshoot focusing on rock tunes featuring extended jams, the other an avant-garde jazz ensemble that remains ahead of its time--might seem really different, in fact they share surprising similarities. Both recently performed multi-night concerts in San Francisco. Dead & Company which has inherited The Grateful Dead's ...
read moreMiles Davis Celebration at SFJAZZ Center
by Harry S. Pariser
Music of Miles Davis: A Celebration SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, CA May 25-29, 2023 Music of Miles Davis: A Celebration For four consecutive nights, four different ensembles graced the stage of SFJAZZ Center to present four aspects of the musical legacy of renowned trumpeter Miles Davis The evenings also featured compositions from some former group members (such as Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, both of whom went on to form Weather Report) as well as ...
read moreSoweto Kinch's 'White Juju Deconstructed' at SFJAZZ Center
by Harry S. Pariser
Soweto Kinch SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, CA White Juju Deconstructed May 19, 2023 It fascinates me how we're all acquainted with an unspoken architectural and symbolic language of power.' How do these monuments or myths affect how we see ourselves as a nation? Naming the piece White Juju" deliberately inverted ideas of the 'savage' or primitive. Perhaps the bizarre fetishes and obsessions of a cult religion are more visible in modern Britain than third world ...
read moreOrquesta Aragón at Brava Theater
by Harry S. Pariser
Orquesta Aragón Brava Theater jny:San Francisco, CA April 30, 2023 These days not many bands stick together for five years, let alone decades. The wonderful Orquesta Aragon has proven to be an exception to the rule since its founding in 1939 by bassist Orestes Aragón. Over the years, although personnel has shifted, the ensemble's original vibrant spirit has never dimmed, and its sound remains fresh, exciting and revitalizing. After Aragón suffered a serious ...
read moreChris Potter's Generations at SFJAZZ
by Harry S. Pariser
Chris Potter SFJAZZ CenterSan Francisco, CA April 23, 2023 Veteran saxophonist and composer Chris Potter, onstage at the beginning of the final performance of a four-night presentation in San Francisco of Generations," his remarkable new suite, informed the audience that There are eight movements, and each of them is named for a passage from Ecclesiastes 3:'There is a season, and a time for each purpose.' The first movement is To Be Born." The ...
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