SFJAZZ presents the Loston Harris Trio featuring Loston Harris, Mike Lee and Gianluca Renzi
2016-02-12
Joe Henderson Lab
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
8:30 PM, Friday, February 12, 2016

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

[8:31 PM lights down, announcements]

1. [8:32 PM] ? (unidentified instrumental)
2. [8:53 PM] I've Got the World on a String
3. [8:58 PM] Just One of Those Things
4. [8:06 PM] I've Got a Crush on You
5. [8:13 PM] You're the Top
6. [8:22 PM] I'm Old Fashioned
   [set ends 9:28 PM; no encore]

• Loston Harris: piano, vox;
• Mike Lee: tenor saxophone;
• Gianluca Renzi: contrabass.

After a snazzy dinner at the Boxing Room with friends, Ting and I had a bit of time to kill before tonight's “late” show, so we walked around Hayes Valley, looking in the the shop windows, and people-watching. Lots to see! Stopped by Smitten for a cup of vanilla ice cream topped with spicy caramel. Mmmm, the cayenne heat made my lips tingle! Circled back to SFJAZZ and arrived to find that they had just opened the door for seating. Perfect timing! Grabbed a pair of 4th row seats on the aisle, then relaxed the next 15 or 20 minutes, web-surfing and chit-chatting.

Soon enough the side door opened and Loston sauntered out with a big smile, jumped up on the bandstand and began an unidentified tune. Mike Lee began to wail on his saxophone, and with that, we were off on a long melodic journey through many musical realms. Each of the band members took at least once solo, and when things wound down, over twenty minutes had passed. Holy crap! I loved it, but it wasn't the “great American songbook” that had been advertised. Loston acknowledged as much in his post-song comments, and the rest of the set was devoted to less adventurous repertoire. Also quite good, but ultimately, I felt that it was a little stingy to wrap things up in less than an hour. The crowd hooted and hollered, but to no avail, and so after a moment's disappointment, we gathered our coats and filed out into the night.

Timothy Noah posted an amusing piece at Slate explaining many of the obscure references from Cole Porter's hit, You're the Top.

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