DRUMMER HAYNES PERFECT FOR JAZZ CLUB'S GALA NIGHT
Whoever came up with the idea of booking Roy Haynes as the opening act for the new Yoshi's Jazz Club in San Francisco deserves one of those genius awards.
I mean, this guy is 82, looks 50, still plays the drums like a holy terror - and there he was on stage Tuesday night, breaking in the incredibly lavish new jazz venue on Fillmore Street, a strip which, decades ago, was lined with jazz and blues joints and is now being touted and reclaimed as a cultural and social destination, with Yoshi's as the linchpin in the plan.
So there was a lot of symbolism involved in having Haynes up there: The man of eternal youth - who undoubtedly played at the old Bop City on Fillmore, decades ago, as did Miles and Parker and Coltrane (all ex-bandmates of Haynes') - was initiating the 417-seat club in the Western Addition with his all-star group (Kenny Garrett; Ravi Coltrane, son of the above; Gary Burton, and more). Eternal youth breeds and signifies rebirth; that was the theme of the night.
The 28,000-square-foot Yoshi's San Francisco is part of a $72 million jazz-and-condos cultural complex, known as the Fillmore Heritage Center, which fills a chunk of a square block just south of Geary Boulevard in the historically African-American and Japanese district. I'm not old enough to have hung out at Harlem's Cotton Club, but I've been in a lot of jazz clubs and have never seen one as eye-popping as this one, with its sleek design, its blond and dark woods, its wide stairway leading to a soft-lit lounge, its adjoining 370-seat Japanese restaurant and lounge.
This is a jazz club?
Whoever came up with the idea of booking Roy Haynes as the opening act for the new Yoshi's Jazz Club in San Francisco deserves one of those genius awards.
I mean, this guy is 82, looks 50, still plays the drums like a holy terror - and there he was on stage Tuesday night, breaking in the incredibly lavish new jazz venue on Fillmore Street, a strip which, decades ago, was lined with jazz and blues joints and is now being touted and reclaimed as a cultural and social destination, with Yoshi's as the linchpin in the plan.
So there was a lot of symbolism involved in having Haynes up there: The man of eternal youth - who undoubtedly played at the old Bop City on Fillmore, decades ago, as did Miles and Parker and Coltrane (all ex-bandmates of Haynes') - was initiating the 417-seat club in the Western Addition with his all-star group (Kenny Garrett; Ravi Coltrane, son of the above; Gary Burton, and more). Eternal youth breeds and signifies rebirth; that was the theme of the night.
The 28,000-square-foot Yoshi's San Francisco is part of a $72 million jazz-and-condos cultural complex, known as the Fillmore Heritage Center, which fills a chunk of a square block just south of Geary Boulevard in the historically African-American and Japanese district. I'm not old enough to have hung out at Harlem's Cotton Club, but I've been in a lot of jazz clubs and have never seen one as eye-popping as this one, with its sleek design, its blond and dark woods, its wide stairway leading to a soft-lit lounge, its adjoining 370-seat Japanese restaurant and lounge.
This is a jazz club?
For more information contact All About Jazz.
