SFJAZZ presents 50th Anniversary Celebration of 'A Love Supreme' featuring Ravi Coltrane
2014-12-11
Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
7:30 PM, Thursday, December 11, 2014

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

[7:37 PM lights down, announcements by Randall Kline]

1. [7:44 PM] Crescent
2. [8:00 PM] Lonnie's Lament
   [Ravi introduces the band]
3. [8:14 PM -RC] Our Daily Bread
4. [8:24 PM -JL, +RC] Waltz $
5. [8:36 PM +JL] Wise One
   [set ends 8:51 PM]

[9:16 PM lights down]

1. [9:17 PM] Acknowledgement »
2. [9:34 PM] (bass solo) » (drum solo) »
3. [9:35 PM] Resolution »
4. [9:46 PM] (drum solo) »
5. [9:49 PM] Pursuance § »
6. [10:01 PM] (bass solo) »
7. [10:04 PM] Psalm
   [show ends 10:11 PM; standing ovation; applause; band introduction, then out at 10:13 PM]

• Geri Allen: piano;
• Ravi Coltrane: $ soprano saxophone, § sopranino saxophone, tenor saxophone;
• Drew Gress: contrabass;
• Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone;
• Ralph Peterson: drums.

It can be a toss-up as to whether an album-focused tribute show is going to succeed, but selecting a masterpiece and putting together a strong collection of players goes a long way towards ensuring that such an undertaking is rewarding, and in this case, I have to exclaim, “Wow! Another gig to consider for the best show of the year competition.” Way to go folks! Plus, with apocalyptic flooding from rain throughout the preceding night and day and a near-miss collision in the Yerba Buena tunnel on the way home, I add, “Whew! Quite glad to be home safe and sound! Praise be to the angels who look after us, even when we act foolishly!”

After an enthusiastic but mealy-mouthed introduction from Randall, the quintet proceeded to launch us all into the psychic stratosphere. Commencing the show with several Coltrane works from early 1964 was a smart way to set the mood and help illustrate how the strengths and qualities on display in those compositions were drawn into more-sharpened focus in the second set's recreation of A Love Supreme. The compositions by Joe and Ravi that filled our the rest of the first set were a welcome addition, and fit in relatively well with the older Coltrane tunes.

And the second set? For now I'm speechless – it was simply too good to wrap words around.

• Jonathan Curiel's promo piece
• Ross Eustis posted a great video on Psalm, the fourth movement of A Love Supreme, created by James Carey on the SFJAZZ blog * Andrew Gilbert's promo piece
• Gary Moskowitz' promo piece
• Arun Rath writes about the anniversary of the album for NPR
• Richard Sheinin posted a nice promo piece for the San Jose Mercury that includes a bit of interview with Ravi.

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