Grace Cathedral presents A Celebration of the Life and Music of Zakir Hussain
1100 California St, San Francisco, CA 94108-2206 USA
7:00 PM, Friday, February 28, 2025

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1. [7:04 PM] Alam Khan begins playing solo sarod with no introduction - alap (prelude)
   [7:12 PM] {applause for AK; AK off; enter Chris Potter: bass clarinet; John Santos: drums; David Sánchez begins playing solo tenor saxophone from the Cathedral entrance}
2. [7:12 PM] David Sánchez - Canto (David Sánchez)
   [7:22 PM] {applause for CP, DS & JS; DS & JS depart; CP swaps to renor saxophone}
3. [7:22 PM] Chris Potter - Good Hope (Chris Potter)
   CP playing off mic much of the time (more hall reverb!)
   [7:29 PM] {applause for CP; add Béla Fleck: banjo; Ganesh Rajagopalan: violin & vox; Abigail Washburn begins singing from the Cathedral entrance or choir loft}
4. [7:30 PM] Béla Fleck, Chris Potter, Ganesh Rajagopalan & Abigail Washburn - Bright Morning Stars (traditional)
   [7:40 PM] {applause for BF-CP-GR-AW}
   [7:40 PM] {CP & GR off}
5. [7:40 PM] Fleck & Washburn - And Am I Born to Die (Charles Wesley; William Henry Monk)
   [7:45 PM] {applause for BF & AW}
6. [7:45 PM] Fleck & Washburn - Take Me to Harlan (Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn)
   AW clog dancing during Harlan
   [7:49 PM] {applause for BF & AW}
   [7:49 PM] {BF & AW bow & then leave; stage setup for next segment}
   [7:50 PM] {enter Ganesh Rajagopalan: violin; Anantha R. Krishnan: mridangam; tuning for next segment} short GR speech, announces tune as 'Taj in Rag (mumble) … evoking face of Zakir Hussain'
7. [7:50 PM] Ganesh Rajagopalan & Anantha R. Krishnan - TBD »
   [7:59 PM] {mid-song applause … tune continues and then ends}
   [8:00 PM] {applause for GR & ARK}
   [8:01 PM] {and applause; GR & ARK off; dead air}
   [8:01 PM] {applause for entrance of Marcus Gilmore: drums; more dead air while he & the techs finish setting up his trap set onstage}
8. [8:03 PM] Marcus Gilmore - (drum solo)
   [8:17 PM] {applause for MG; add Eric Harland: drums; Julian Lage: guitar, HR, MS onstage; Charles Lloyd begins playing tarogato from the choir loft while the stagehands reset things for the next set}
9. [8:17 PM] Charles Lloyd - Nachiketa's Lament (Charles Lloyd) »
   [8:19 PM] {Eric Harland begins accompanying CL}
10. [8:21 PM] HR & JL begin playing: not sure if this is the start of Kuti or continuation of previous (Zakir Hussain)
    [8:29 PM] {CL swaps to alto flute}
    [8:32 PM] {applause; add Niladri Kumar: sitar; CL speaking text from Christopher Isherwood’s translation of the Bhagavad Gita}
11. [8:32 PM] CLG + NK - Tagi (Charles Lloyd) »
12. [8:33 PM] CLG + NK - Hymn to the Mother (Charles Lloyd)
    [8:44 PM] {applause for CLG + NK}
    [8:45 PM] {long stretch of dead air while the stage is set up for Mickey et al}
    [8:49 PM] {applause for entrance of Mickey et al: Mickey Hart with Sikiru Adepoju, Béla Fleck, Marcus Gilmore, Eric Harland, & Steve Smith}
13. [8:50 PM] Mickey Hart + Friends - Resilience (Mickey Hart & Zakir Hussain)
    [8:56 PM] {applause for Mickey et al}
    [8:57 PM] {set ends}

[9:16 PM] {dancers onstage, posed and ready; begin playback of ZH recording for Lines Ballet - MA}

1. [9:17 PM] Laurel Keen & Brent Conway (dance) - MA (Zakir Hussain)
   [9:29 PM] {applause for dancers; BC & LK off; JR begins playing solo tenor saxophone from the Cathedral entrance, walks very slowly up to the stage; in the meantime, the techs are busy setting up the stage for the Third Coast Percussion segment coming after JR}
2. [9:29 PM] Joshua Redman - Zarqfah (Joshua Redman)
   [9:40 PM] {applause for JR; JR off; enter Salar Nadar: tabla, vox; and Third Coast Percussion members}
3. [9:41 PM] Third Coast Percussion with Salar Nader - Murmurs in Time, ?Mvt. II? (Zakir Hussain) (West Coast premiere)
   [9:53 PM] {applause for TCP+SN; all off; it's not clear where BF is playing from during the next segment (maybe the choir loft, or at side stage, out of my sightline??)? The stage techs are busy the whole time with removing the TCP gear and setting up the 'Tabla choir'}
4. [9:54 PM] Béla Fleck - TBD
   [10:00 PM] {applause for BF}
   [10:00 PM] {setting up the next set; tuning. See the performer section below for identification of the players and their instruments}
5. [10:01 PM] Tabla Choir - Sweet 16's (Zakir Hussain)
   {Dana Pandey posted an aud video excerpt of this section of the show to her Instagram account}
   [10:13 PM] {applause for the Tabla choir; all off; pause to set up for forthcoming duet by Niladri Kumar: sitar; and Amit Kavthekar: tabla.}
   [10:17 PM] {tuning}
   [10:18 PM] {brief comments from NK}
6. [10:18 PM] Niladri Kumar & Amit Kavthekar - TBD
   [10:29 PM] {applause for NK + AK}
   [10:31 PM] {2nd round of applause for NK + AK; NK & AK depart; enter Kala Ramnath: violin; & Anantha R. Krishnan: mridangam.}
7. [10:33 PM] Kala Ramnath & Anantha R. Krishnan - TBD
   [10:45 PM] {applause for KR + ARK; performers depart}
   [10:45 PM] {2nd round of applause for KR + ARK -OR- for entrance of AM; stage techs setting up for final segment while Zakir's wife Antonia Minnecola speaks}
   [10:47 PM] {Antonia Minnecola - remarks}
   [10:53 PM] {applause for AM; Zakir's granddaughter Zara out to give her grandma a big hug; both off; enter George Brooks: tenor saxophone; Marvin Sewell: guitar; & Steve Smith: drums. ARK & KR return to the stage soon after GB begins the next tune.}
8. [10:53 PM] George Brooks, Anantha R. Krishnan, Kala Ramnath, Marvin Sewell & Steve Smith - Making Music (Zakir Hussain)
   [11:08 PM] {final applause; event ends}

As originally listed, with updates to reflect who actually appeared.

• George Brooks: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone;
• Brent Conway: dancer;
• Béla Fleck: banjo, acoustic guitar, vox;
• Marcus Gilmore: drums;
• Eric Harland: drums, percussion;
• Mickey Hart: drums, lead and harmony vox;
• Dave Holland: contrabass;
• Laurel Keen: dancer;
• Amit Kavthekar: tabla;
• Anantha Krishnan: mridangam;
• Niladri Kumar: sitar;
• Jayanthi Kumaresh: veena;
• Julian Lage: guitar;
• Charles Lloyd: tenor saxophone, alto flute, tárogató;
• Salar Nadar: tabla, vox;
• Chris Potter: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet;
• Harish Raghavan: contrabass;
• Ganesh Rajagopalan: Carnatic violin, vox;
• Kala Ramnath: violin;
• Joshua Redman: tenor saxophone;
• David Sánchez: tenor saxophone;
• John Santos: congas, percussion;
• Marvin Sewell: guitar;
• Steve Smith: drums, percussion;
• Abigail Washburn: banjo, vox.

• Hardeep Chana: harmonium;
• Anantha Krishnan: mridangam;
• Karan Minhas: tabla;
• Kiran Morarji: tabla;
• Dana Pandey: tabla;
• Suphala Patankar: tabla;
• Ray Spiegel: vibraphone;
• Sriram Ramesh: kanjira;
• Tejas Tope: tabla;
• Vikas Yendluri: tabla.

Third Coast Percussion

• Sean Connors: percussion;
• Robert Dillon: percussion;
• Peter Martin: piano, keyboards;
• David Skidmore: percussion.

Mark Kraitchman and I dicker back and forth a bit about getting organized for today's line duty, and we settle on a plan early this afternoon. Yeah! A couple hours later I pick him up and we head over to West Oakland BART, arriving just after today's parking restrictions are lifted. Ten or fifteen minutes later we disembark at Powell, then hike the seven blocks uphill to Grace. It's super warm today – close to 70 F? – and I'm regretting my layering choices for awhile, but after 30 minutes sitting in the shade of the Cathedral steps I'm feeling like I should have brought a seat cushion! Lots of musicians have wandered by while we're waiting… It's been a fun guessing game to identify them.

A few minutes after 5 we decide that we're waiting in the wrong spot: for whatever reason, the queue has formed at the side door on the main courtyard. As a result, we're now about 20th. Ugh! Ah well, what can you do? Soon after 6 we race inside and find that friends have shared seats for us in the 16th row, yay! Three cheers for friends! They upped VIP from 8 rows to 11 or 12, so we got pushed back a little more than I expected. Glad to be centered, even if it meant giving up a few rows more

The PA setup is a little odd: multiple pole-style monitors set up on the outside edges of the aisles. The pair closest to me are about 5 rows up. Additional pairs are set up towards the Cathedral entrance: presumably there's some sort of active delay system running to try and present coherent audio to the crowd … a tough task in this room for sure!

The Tabla Choir segment is slightly mis-named: instrumentally, we have at least five tabla players, joined by vibraphone, harmonium, mridangam, & kanjira. The performers are listed in the program (with a few spelling errors), but without any sort of indication about who will be playing what. During the show tonight I have no idea who is playing what, but thanks to videos & photos, I've made reasonably certain identifications via after-the-event Internet stalking! All of the players appear to have been students and/or performing associates of Zakir Hussain: some as recent as his spring 2024 tour with Masters of Percussion, and others from as far back as the early 1970's Diga Rhythm Band.

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Andrew Gilbert posted an excellent promo article for this show with SFCV.

Yoshi Kato posted a thorough run-down of the memorial with a single picture of Charles Lloyd & Julian Lage at Downbeat.

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2025 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2025 event list! ☸ On to the next event!