San Francisco Performances presents the Luciana Souza Quintet: Speaking in Tongues featuring Massimo Biolcati, Lionel Loueke, Grégoire Maret, Kendrick Scott, and Luciana Souza
2016-01-31
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA
7:00 PM, Sunday, January 31, 2016

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[7:01 PM lights down, announcements]

1. [7:05 PM] At the Fair
2. [7:16 PM] ?
3. [7:25 PM] No One to Follow
4. [7:28 PM] Split
5. [7:34 PM] A Pebble in Still Water
6. [7:41 PM] ? (Brazilian tune)
7. [7:48 PM] Filhos de Gandhi (Gandhi's Children)
8. [8:02 PM] As Rosas Não Falam (Roses Don't Speak) (no KS)
9. [8:10 PM] Nightingale
10. [8:19 PM] Straw Hat
    [set ends 8:30 PM]
     
    Encore
11. [8:32 PM] Corcovado
    [show ends 10:m PM]

• Massimo Biolcati: contrabass;
• Lionel Loueke: guitar, vox;
• Grégoire Maret: harmonica;
• Kendrick Scott: drums (except t08);
• Luciana Souza: kalimba (t08?), vox.

A nice show tonight from this supergroup, put together by Luciana Souza for her latest album, Speaking in Tongues. As best as I can tell, we got to hear about 3/4 of the album … good stuff! Massimo Biolcati was a rock solid anchor to the music tonight – it's a pity that he didn't take any solos! Likewise, Grégoire Maret got a few solo turns, but for the most part, tonight saw him comping and adding fills. Nice, but not nearly as flashy as I'd been hoping for. Kendrick Scott did plenty to grab my attention tonight, starting with the off-kilter drum set he was using: two bass drums (normal and small), a small chinese gong in place of a tom, and a small tom (or second snare?) mounted sideways with a kick pedal next to the hihat. I'm sure there were other oddities I couldn't discern – Kendrick was further away from me than any other member of the band! As in other shows, I thought Lionel tended to hog the spotlight. I agree that he's an extremely creative cat with lots of interesting things to say, but sometimes I feel like he could do a better job of listening and supporting the other players instead of bloop-bleeping away with his mutated guitar tone. Overall, I thought this project suited Luciana Souza really well, and I'd be happy to see her keep the group together for another record. It would be interesting to see what these folks could put together after getting to know each other better!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!