SFJAZZ presents Summit Meeting: the Chucho Valdés — Joe Lovano Quintet featuring Joe Lovano, Francisco Mela, Ángel Gastón Joya Perellada, Yaroldy Abreu Robles, and Chucho Valdés
2016-11-17
Robert M. Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:30 PM, Thursday, November 17, 2016

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

[7:33 PM lights down, band out]

1. [7:34 PM] the Dawn of Time
2. [7:44 PM] Charlie Chan
   [YAR sits the next one out]
3. [7:55 PM] ? Manu
   [YAR back]
4. [8:06 PM] (Joe says this one is {mumble-mumble}; Joe on alto flute for first half of the tune)
5. [8:18 PM] (a jazz standard I couldn't ID)
6. [8:28 PM] (unidentified tune #4)
7. [8:39 PM] (unidentified tune #5, Joe on alto flute)
8. [8:46 PM] (another unidentified standard)
   [set ends 9:03 PM]
    
   Encore
9. [9:06 PM] B.L.
   [show ends 9:15 PM; bows and applause, all off by 9:17 PM]

• Joe Lovano: tenor saxophone, alto flute (t04, t07);
• Francisco Mela: drums;
• Ángel Gastón Joya Perellada: contrabass;
• Yaroldy Abreu Robles: congas, percussion;
• Chucho Valdés: piano.

I enjoyed tonight's show, but I would have liked it even more if the principals had taken more time to interact with the audience. I realize that it can be a chore to talk … especially when the audience might not speak your primary language, but making that connection is essential to strengthening the bonds between the performer and the listener when the music is as complicated and dense as the modern jazz these guys were spinning out. Could you have danced to it? Well, I guess, but you might have looked kind of weird … the beat seldom adhered to anything as simple as a traditional 3- or 4-count.

And I was mildly annoyed that none of the house staff bothered to mention that this would be a single set show. Shouldn't it be basic courtesy to your audience to inform them how the plan has evolved for each event? It's not like it's all that hard for someone to make an announcement about it, or to put up some kind of notice on the video screens in the lobby and main hall.

Anyways, I'll probably sign up for another listen if the band comes back next season. Even if the little things put a bug in your bonnet, it's hard to take a pass when you know you'll be knocked out by the virtuosity guaranteed by such a stellar ensemble.

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