Articles by Steven Roby
Dominique Fils-Aimé: Jazz as Freedom, Healing, and Connection
by Steven Roby
Montreal vocalist--composer Dominique Fils-Aimé discusses music as essential as breath--something vital, grounding, and shared. In conversation, a few recurring themes emerge: freedom as the driving force of jazz, healing as the restorative power of music on the body, and connection--among people, across generations, and through history--as the quiet foundation that allows songs to travel. These ideas are not mere abstract concepts for her; they influence how she writes and constructs a live set--especially in intimate spaces like SFJAZZ's Joe Henderson ...
Continue ReadingLabRats: Groove Experiments and the Mwandishi Connection
by Steven Roby
LabRats didn't aim to fit neatly on a shelf. The Sacramento-based collective, led by drummer and bandleader Jacob Swedlow, moves wherever the groove takes them--through jazz fusion, hip-hop, and live improvisation--while maintaining a tight, communal vibe both on stage and in the studio. “LabRats was an idea I had about two years before I found the right people to help me recreate the sound in my head," drummer and bandleader Jacob Swedlow says. “It was formed right in ...
Continue ReadingLady Day Reimagined: Stella Heath’s Jazz Story
by Steven Roby
Vocalist Stella Heath describes Billie Holiday the way a director describes a great actor--precise about choices, attentive to subtext, and focused on how a story resonates in the room. “Stories are front and foremost for me," she says. Heath's connection to Holiday starts with feeling. What drew her in wasn't just her timbre or repertoire, but the uncanny way Holiday “makes you feel a song." Heath perceives emotional accuracy--how a single line can convey witness, tenderness, or a ...
Continue ReadingELEW Finds His Frequency: From Camden Roots to ELEW Plays Sting at SFJAZZ
by Steven Roby
Pianist Eric Lewis (ELEW) grew up in a house where music was infrastructure. He is the fourth generation of classical musicians in his family, raised in Camden, New Jersey, where practicing the piano felt like another chore alongside washing dishes and mowing the lawn. That immersion, combined with conservatory training, forged a touch that is both athletic and precise. Even in conversation, the awe is evident as he describes a childhood with multiple pianos under one roof and a routine ...
Continue ReadingTaj Mahal Quartet At Miner Auditorium
by Steven Roby
Taj Mahal Quartet Miner AuditoriumSan Francisco, CA August 16, 2025 The sold-out Sunday afternoon performance closed a four-concert SFJAZZ residency with a reminder that Taj Mahal keeps tradition not just intact, but in motion. The 83-year-old bandleader entered to Bunji Garlin's “Differentology (Ready for the Road)," clapping in a straw hat and patterned jacket, then settled amid a semicircle of instruments--three guitars, a six-string banjo, and an eight-string ukulele. “We're the musicians, you're the audience...we are both here ...
Continue ReadingAnthony Wilson’s Nonet Blooms Again on House of the Singing Blossoms
by Steven Roby
Guitarist-composer Anthony Wilson is circling back to a format that has shaped his voice since the beginning: the nonet. His new live album, House of the Singing Blossoms (Sam First Records, 2025)), documents two nights at Los Angeles listening room Sam First and sets the stage for four shows at SFJAZZ's Joe Henderson Lab on September 4-5. The return to nine pieces, Wilson says, is not nostalgia--it is renewal! “The first band that I recorded with was a ...
Continue ReadingNaturally 7 at Miner Auditorium
by Steven Roby
Naturally 7 Miner Auditorium San Francisco, CAAugust 10, 2025 Seven voices filled Miner Auditorium with the weight and punch of a full band--no guitars, no drum kit, no horns in sight. It was a packed house, and from the opening moments, the crowd responded to each reveal with whoops and standing applause. One woman punctuated multiple song intros with an emphatic “Yes! Yes!"--a fair summary of the room's mood all night. Naturally 7 ...
Continue ReadingDavid Binney Action Trio At Joe Henderson Lab
by Steven Roby
David Binney Action Trio Joe Henderson Lab San Francisco, CA August 9, 2025 With its two glass walls--one facing busy Franklin Street--the Joe Henderson Lab at the SFJAZZ Center feels like an open studio. At 7 p.m., the sold-out David Binney Action Trio made the most of that intimacy: all 100 seats were filled with fans of electro-acoustic jazz blended with funk and rock, some holding LPs and CDs for signatures while passersby looked in. ...
Continue ReadingSun Ra Arkestra At Miner Auditorium
by Steven Roby
Sun Ra Arkestra Miner Auditorium San Francisco, California July 31, 2025 Under the kaleidoscopic lights of Miner Auditorium, the Sun Ra Arkestra landed the first of their four-night residency. Fifteen musicians--adorned in sequined robes, ornate headdresses, and Egyptian motifs--assembled amid drifting fog. With a single stomp, bandleader Knoel Scott launched the ensemble into the deep, propulsive pulse of “Astro Black," setting the “Cosmic Space Jazz" theme for the evening. His baritone sax ...
Continue ReadingRavi Coltrane & Coltraxx At Miner Auditorium
by Steven Roby
Ravi Coltrane & Coltraxx Miner Auditorium San Francisco, CA July 24, 2025 When Ravi Coltrane 's acoustic quartet, Coltraxx, took the stage at San Francisco's Miner Auditorium, it wove a tapestry of sound that honored jazz's lineage while boldly pushing its boundaries. The quartet--Coltrane on saxophones, David Virelles on piano, Dezron Douglas on bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums--opened the evening with Coltrane coaxing a single, crystalline saxophone note into the hushed room. That tone ...
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