SFJAZZ presents SFJAZZ Hotplate: the Music of Charles Mingus' Ah-Um featuring Adam Theis & Subharmonic
2014-04-10
Joe Henderson Lab
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
9:m PM, Thursday, April 10, 2014

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[9:m PM lights down, announcements]

(missed 1-3 tunes while listening to the end of the Rosanne Cash show)

1. [9:54 PM] ?
2. [10:04 PM] Open Letter to Duke
3. [10:17 PM] Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
4. [10:21 PM] ?
5. [10:mm PM] Boogie Stop Shuffle
6. [10:36 PM] Better Git It in Your Soul
   [show ends 10:48 PM, no encore]

• Self-Portrait in Three Colors
• Bird Calls
• Fables of Faubus
• Pussy Cat Dues
• Jelly Roll
• Pedal Point Blues
• GG Train
• Girl of My Dreams

• ?Rich Armstrong: trumpet, guitar, percussion;
• ?Chris Fletcher: sound processing;
• ?Tony Peebles: saxophone, keyboard;
• Adam Theis: bass, keyboards, trombone, trumpet, tuba, band leader;
• ?Brandon Werlin: drums, electronics.

As noted above, I came in a bit late, as the Rosanne Cash show ran longer than I expected. Happily, there were still good seats available, and I ended up with a seat in the fourth row, wedged between a large SF bear and a (thankfully) skinnier 20-something who spent most of the show leaning towards the aisle on her boyfriend. If it sounds like I'm griping, I'm not (well, not much!), as it was a good seat for listening to the show, and I could also see most of the action onstage (anything closer would have had the view partially obstructed by the wall of music stands for the four front-line performers).

With a grand piano, a seven-piece drum set, four horns, and music stands for everyone, the tiny stage was mighty crowded, and at least half the front row seats were empty – no doubt because the stands occluded the view. As at other shows in the lab, the sound was warm and rich. Beats me how they're able to make a rectangular, glass-walled room sound so good, but somehow they do, and I'm grateful for it – not much point in heading out to see live music with bad sound!

Given my experience seeing the Brass Mafia in other contexts, I shouldn't have been surprised at their inventive deconstruction of Mingus' works, but I was knocked off-my-ear as we walked in, hearing Adam in the middle of a screaming, effects-laden, electronics-distorted trombone solo. If I'd been paying more attention, I might have been able to ID the tune once they wrapped back around to the head, but until I hear news from an authoritative source, I'll have to lead my list above with a question mark.

Anyways, even though I missed the start of the set, I'm really glad to have heard the rest, particularly as I got to hear inventive reinventions of three of my favorite Mingus tunes. I'll definitely keep Adam Theis and company on my show-going radar.

SFJAZZ posted a few pics of the show on their blog.

Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!