SFJAZZ presents Spring Quartet featuring Jack deJohnette, Leo Genovese, Joe Lovano and Esperanza Spalding
2014-02-19
Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
7:00 PM, Wednesday, February 19, 2014

[7:04 PM lights down, 7:05 PM announcements from Randall Kline]

1. [7:09 PM] ? Spring Day (Lovano)
2. [7:19 PM] Herbie's Hand Cocked (deJohnette)
3. [7:32 PM] ? (e drum solo) » la petite opportunity (Lovano)
4. [7:45 PM] ? E Shrugged (Spalding) ^$
5. [7:56 PM] ? Ethiopian Blues (Genovese) %
6. [8:12 PM] ? Shakin' the Shark (Spalding) * @
7. [8:16 PM] Mystic Garden (Lovano) » Song for World Forgiveness (deJohnette) %&#
8. [8:33 PM] Ahmad the Terrible (deJohnette)
   [show ends 8:45 PM, no encore]

• Jack deJohnette: drums, percussion, electronic drums, # melodica;
• Leo Genovese: piano, Fender-Rhodes electric piano, keyboards, * soprano saxophone;
• Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone, $ soprano saxophone, % Basset clarinet, & alto flute;
• Esperanza Spalding: contrabass, @ alto saxophone, ^ vox.

Performing their ninth gig together on a tour that began back east on January 31, the Spring Quartet put together a remarkably confident show in their first outing for SFJAZZ. There was plenty of interesting interplay, and a surprising amount of unison work as well. Although Jack didn't get around to the piano, it was a surprise to hear him pull out a melodica for t07, and he used his electronic drum pad fairly frequently throughout the show to add rhythmic accents and sound colors to the mix. Seeing a three horn lineup for Esperanza Spalding's Shaking the Shark was definitely a surprise, and the tune contributed greatly to widening the tonal palette of the gig. Given that Leo Genovese spent a fair amount of time on the various electronic keyboards surrounding his seat at the piano, it seemed a little odd that Esperanza did not have a bass guitar on stage to complement her contrabass. On the other hand, the lovely wooden tone of that instrument was rendered so deliciously well that I was perfectly happy with her choice in that respect.

I'd be interested in seeing this band again in a year or so; I hope they stick together!

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