Cal Performances presents Jazzmeia Horn
Zellerbach Playhouse
U.C. Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94305 USA
8:00 PM, Friday, December 10, 2021

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2021 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2021 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:08 PM] {lights down, pre-recorded announcements}
[8:10 PM] {band entrance; welcome from Jazzmeia}

1. [8:11 PM] Free Your Mind
2. [8:19 PM] He Could Be Perfect
3. [8:27 PM] Where We Are
4. [8:34 PM] I Remember You
   [8:39 PM] {Story time: My momma says the next one is a baby-making song}
5. [8:41 PM] Let Us
   [8:49 PM] {Story time about making her latest album, Dear Love}
6. [8:54 PM] Strive (To Be)
7. [9:07 PM] Tenderly » the Nearness of You » Tenderly
   [9:13 PM] {Story time about her kids}
8. [9:17 PM] When I Say
9. [9:22 PM] Tight
   [9:31 PM] {show ends; no encore}

• Keith Brown: piano;
• Russell Carter: drums;
• Kris Funn: contrabass;
• Jazzmeia Horn: vox.

I was glad to get to see and hear Jazzmeia in the smaller Zellerbach Playhouse instead of the cavernous Zellerbach Hall, but I was a little disappointed that the room reverberance wasn't tamed by the sound crew. I'd have figured that with a concrete structure, they'd have added room treatment or active EQ or something to make it less distracting by now. I guess I haven't seen enough live music shows there recently; I don't recall previously thinking that it was a bad-sounding room, but the first few minutes tonight, I kept thinking “damn, that's a lot of reverb muddying up the sound.” Happily, I managed to forget about it eventually.

The show was great, and I enjoy seeing how Jazzmeia is maturing: she added just the right amount of chit-chat to keep us wrapped up in the show, while giving herself a chance to rest a little between bouts of vocal pyrotechnics. My favorites tonight were the opener, Free Your Mind (depsite the echo!), and Strive (To Be), from the middle of the set.

It would have been nice to get an encore, but Jazzmeia let us know in advance that wasn't going to happen – she alluded to something about CalPerfs safety protocols, but I wasn't paying enough attention to catch the full comment.

Anyways, she's definitely got it all going right now, and I highly recommend trying to see her!

Program Notes or program notes

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2021 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2021 event list! ☸ On to the next event!