Babies Abound

Ok. It's something of an epidemic. Everyone's having them. Some aren't even learning their lessons, the poor devils. Regardless, congratulations to the following recently sleep-deprived:

• Sushil, Lalitha & Sunayna
• Sean, Amy & tot
  
• Stefan, Ladan & Ella
• Katie, Brandon & offspring
  
• Ram, Mrs. Ram & Harish
  
• Priya, Hashim & Tarun
  
• Michael, Lauren & Ava

Avishai Cohen @ Yoshi's

Peter and I caught Avishai Cohen's trio at Yoshi's last night. Normally, when it comes to attending live shows, I'm somewhat risk-averse, and tend to go with musicians of whose music I've already heard (and liked) a significant chunk. In that sense, this show departed from that ethic, since I've only ever heard his playing on one album --- the Chick Corea New Trio's Past, Present and Futures.

My leap of faith wasn't misplaced. While his band isn't as tight as some of the other acts that I've gotten used to seeing (like the SFJazz Collective), the energy that pours out of these young guys is astounding, and made for quite an exhilarating evening. Both Peter and I are convinced we should attend more of these when we can.

Btw, the setlist was primarily from his As Is... Live At The Blue Note album. Sidemen on this date: Shai Maestro (piano), Mark Guilliana (drums).

Jazz and the Other Woman

It's been a while since we gave Eric some guilt; both about not graduating, and about his wild-and-wondrous life. And missing us as much as we missed him, up to the Bay Area he came for another weekend of sake and song.

On Saturday we caught Stanley Clarke at Yoshi's. Stunning performance from the reigning master of the electric bass. As a bonus, towards the end of the evening he even did a couple of numbers on the upright bass, finishing off with a mindbending encore performance of the piece Touch from his latest album 1, 2, To The Bass.

Sunday was reserved for the SFJazz Collective's study of the legendary Thelonious Monk. I was initially a little anxious about the replacement of Nicholas Payton with Dave Douglas, but this diminutive New Jersey horn player showed some seriously larger-than-life chops. And although the name of the piece escapes me, Miguel Zenón's arrangement of one of Monk's tunes was one of the best of the night. Watch this guy's career with considerable interest. He has consistently produced some of the most stimulating music in jazz in the last 2 years.

Happy Birthday Ava

Coe's an uncle again. Congrats Sean and Amy :)

Recap

It's been a while since I gave the blog some love. That's because... oh yeah, I've been swamped. It hasn't all been work though. Here's a recap:

• 5/2-5/5: The workplace sent us off to the Seascape resort in Santa Cruz for 2.5 days for a workshop.
• 5/6: Danilo Perez opens for Kenny Barron. I preferred Danilo Perez (and got my CD signed!).
• 5/13-5/14: Arjun (a roommate from USC,) visits the Bay Area with his folks.
• 5/20: We hang out with Rick and Kathy in Japantown. Izumiya has awesome sushi.
• 5/27: Hike at Russian Ridge with a couple of docents to show us the last of the wildflowers.
• Right now, I'm in London speaking at SES, and hanging out with childhood friends.
  
• Oh yeah, and I've lost 7 pounds and I'm now running 3.1mi in 30 minutes. Body fat is down from 18.5% to 15.5%. Finally being sub-150lb again is goooood!
  

Allana

I've noticed that my friends are starting to fall into a couple of categories. Those that we are grateful have absolutely no hope of offspawn, and some others who have simply the most adorable kids ever. I mean, listen to the man. Doesn't he sound positively ga-ga over the little object?




And in case you're wondering (as I know my dearest aging relatives are); no, Jayita and I love our friends' kids because they all have this eminently endearing property: a return policy.

Tags: friends

NicNac, jazz, and a Coezy weekend

The Coeman was in town for the weekend. Spent Friday evening at Nacho's celebrating his engagement to the lovely Nicole. One can't have Coe in town and not go to a jazz concert, so we caught Roy Hargrove at Yoshi's. I thought the pianist's solos were awesome with several shout-outs to Monk. Another point of mention: the sake at Yoshi's was exceptionally good. Too bad I can't drink for another 8 months.

Next week Ron Carter comes into town, but with the amount of work I have to get done this week, I see little hope of catching him.

Free Jazz

So of the more interesting events Eric and I attended this weekend was a performance by the Ornette Coleman quartet. Ornette Coleman is the legendary jazzman who turned the jazz world upside down in the late 50s when he pushed the notion that harmonic and rhythmic form were, eh, not really required; bringing "free jazz" to the forefront of New York's thought processes.

It was an interesting setup. Two basses, a drummer, and Ornette on saxophone (and briefly violin and trumpet). With no pianist to provide any harmonic "gravy", the music sounded like these guys just cut loose and wandered willy-nilly. As a listener, it's interesting to appreciate the effort your brain puts into trying to force structure around what you're listening. It's really hard! I'm thinking I probably won't be attending another free jazz concert for a while. But it was great to experience it first hand at the feet of the master.

Miguel Zenón

Been meaning to post about this guy for a little while now. Peter and I caugut Miguel Zenón in concert at Yoshi's a couple of weeks ago.

We were simply blown away.

A lot of the music was from his new CD Jibaro. Peter bought the CD after the show, and I borrowed it a week later. I've now decided to by it myself (and everything else by the guy). This is the first set of music in 3 years where I've actually been really challenged at teasing apart the polyrythms. At the time, the concert was so good that I thought I wouldn't get the same energy coming across from the studio version. I was wrong.

He's coming again to the Monterey Jazz festival later this year. Woohoo! :)