The Return of the Wilbur Rehmann Quartet: Special Edition

Fans of the legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins should enjoy the sounds of the Wilbur Rehmann Quartet: Special Edition, performing this Friday night at the Sheba Lounge on Fillmore. An accomplished alto, tenor and soprano saxophonist, Rehmann is considered one of the "elder statesmen of jazz" in his native Montana, and for his annual SF performance, he will be joined by pianist, composer Nora Maki, 7 string bass virtuoso Edo Castro, and BeyondChron's very own E. "Doc" Smith, on Zendrum. Rehmann's "Special Edition" quartet is primarily an electric group that will be performing some of the music made famous by his friend and mentor Rollins, as well as the likes of John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and originals by both Smith and Castro. A frequent visitor to the Bay Area, Rehmann's return has been a long time coming, and most welcome.

Rehmann, grew up in Burlington, Iowa listening to the last of the traveling big bands in the late forties and early fifties. As a teenager, he got interested in bebop and wanted to know not only why they played like that, but how. Now he knows, and he plays it on the alto, soprano and tenor saxophones. In 1954 he began playing the saxophone in public school and started his first group, "The Reformers Combo," in high school. An admirer of many great saxophone players from Charlie Parker to Stan Getz, he has been particularly inspired by the mentoring and music of Sonny Rollins. Rehmann's trademark sound is uniquely his own, and watching and listening to him play is a joy. His regular quartet in Montana, featuring legendary guitarist Blackie Nelson, his son, the "disgustingly talented" Ken Nelson on bass and keyboards, and the remarkable Dennis Unsworth on drums, have delighted "Big Sky" audiences for years.

The group's three albums, Back Home Jazz (1996),  Mann Gulch Suite, (1999), and Old Friends and New (2011), have an underlying message unique to jazz, (or any other genre to be fair); protecting the environment. Rehmann's concern for a clean and healthful environment, and his desire for everyone to be made aware of the effects of pollution and global warming, are clearly a motivating, if not inspiration force in his music, and a passion shared by many of Rehmann's friends and colleagues, including the legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Rehmann's delightful cover of Horace Silver's "Nica's Dream", is another fine example of his spacious, airy sound of "Big Sky" jazz, free to roam and soar, swoop and swing. "Rehmann and his Quartet," wrote Mike Clark of the Great Yellowstone Coalition, "have brought to us a sense of joy, wonder and solitude with their original jazz interpretations, which explore the interior landscapes of the American West and the meaning of wilderness". Rehmann's "Going Down the Gulch" is but one of many fine examples of that style, and embodies a true "Big Sky Jazz" sound. His most recent album, Old Friends and New, is his best yet, and his quintet's new interpretations of some great classics by Rivers, Pat Matheny, Michael Brecker and Horace Silver. This is a passionate outing by two genuine jazz veterans and the joy of playing with their family and indeed, new friends.

The "Special Edition" Quartet

E. "Doc" Smith has performed and recorded with a wide array of artists in both jazz, rock and world music, including Howard Levy, Paul McCandless, Paul Bollenback, Brian Eno, Bon Lozago, Ed Howard, Paul Wertico, Jack DeJohnette, and many more. His work with Brian Eno and the group the Same, featuring now famed composer Carter Burwell, and Stephen Bray, led him to join Bray and his platinum selling work with the pop singer Madonna. Smith worked with Bray and Madonna for several years, and on many of her greatest albums, including Desperately Seeking Susan, True Blue, Who's that Girl?, Express Yourself, and Pre-Madonna-The New York Years.

Smith's twenty plus years of percussion work, also led to the creation of his one-of-a-kind and critically acclaimed instrument, the "Drummstick". His tours with the group Between the Lines, allowed him to open for acts as diverse as the Neville Brothers, 10,000 Maniacs, and The Violent Femmes. His invention has also led to performances with some truly great musicians from around the globe, including the Indian phenom, Sandip Burman, and perfecting his technique with Roy "Futureman" Wooten, of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. "When Rehmann and I first played together back in 2006, I was using the Drummstick, my drum-guitar, MIDI instrument." These days, Smith is using his Zendrum ZX, a custom, digital drum instrument made for him by the Zendrum Company of Atlanta, GA.

After some gentle prodding and spirited discussions with Rehmann over the years, Smith soon hit upon the idea of a performance, and the electric version of Rehmann's Montana group, the "Special Edition Quartet" was born. "This is always a real treat for me personally, to play with an all-time great like Rehmann and good friends like Edo and Nora,  I hope everyone who comes to Sheba to see us will enjoy it."

SF Bay Area bassist Edo Castro initially was a self-taught bassist but later moved to Chicago and attended The American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He completed his studies and earned a BA in 1987 with a focus on Jazz Studies and electric Bass. He continued to hone his craft in Chicago through 1990.  Returning to the Bay Area, Edo released his first solo effort of original music entitled simply “Edo.” Castro’s 2nd release “Phoenix” (on Passion Star Records) made the 49th Grammy Entry List for "Best Contemporary Jazz Album" in October 2006 as did his third and latest release, Sacred Graffiti, in 2010.

Castro has put his signature on over 20 local CD projects and has performed/recorded with David Amram, Mark Walker, Hassan Kahn, Pete Cosey, Roy Haynes, Fareed Haque, David Onderdonk, Ed Thigpen, Johnny Griffin, Joel Harrison, Jim Trompeter, Ian Doogle, Deborah Winters, Jill Knight, Paul Van Wageningen, Caroline Aiken, Dan Zinn, Bethany Pickens, Michael La Macchia, Armando Peraza, Caren Armstrong, Percy Howard, Mike Molenda, Stu Hamm, Lorn Leber, George Brooks, E. "Doc" Smith, Michael Manring, Mark Egan, Yves Carbonne, Todd Johnson and David Friesen.

Pianist Nora Maki was born in Osaka, Japan. She started her first piano lesson at age 6. She studied classical piano with Katsuyuki Mastui and musicianship with Masaru Adachi at Osaka College of Music. Encountering jazz music in her late teens has changed her way of making music to her own terms.  She studied the piano style of Art Tatum & Oscar Peterson with Minoru Ozone. Interested in jazz & American culture, she was exposed herself to a broad range of American music from Miles Davis to James Brown. After immigrating to United States of America in 1989, she went back to school and studied advanced jazz arrangement, theory, harmony & history and jazz combo under the direction of Andrew Speight at San Francisco State University. Her great passion for music has brought her to much broader music communities. She has also performed her jazz in various settings and shared the bandstand with many area musicians in San Francisco Bay Area. Maki will debut both her acoustic and electric talents to Rehmann's Special Edition Quartet, in what promises to be a lively and memorable show.

The Wilbur Rehmann Quartet: Special Edition
Sheba Piano Lounge, 1419 Fillmore
Friday, February 22th from 9:00 pm - 12:00 am

The Re-Make Redux

Last week's column looked at the premiere of Netflix' "House of Cards", and the American penchant for  remakes of British television shows with at best,  mixed results. Kevin Spacey was brilliant by the way, in the darker and grittier remake of HOC, but once again, the story changed considerably from the original BBC series; new characters were added, and the writers were surprisingly able at times, to effectively translate it to American audiences. Netflix now looks to follow through on a sequel, which could be a re-make of the second part of the HOC trilogy, "To Play the King". Although the newer version lacked the subtlety and the government-shaking gravitas of the original, the acting by Spacey and his cast, the DC and Baltimore cinematography, and the music by Jeff Beal was enjoyable.

Our American obsession with remakes isn't limited to just England or earlier made films. Oh no, many American filmmakers have tried their hands at updated remakes of classic American TV series. Nearly all of them have been dismal, miscast outings, saved by a few bright moments. Many should never have been made; others have been made poorly, yet there are a few that came close to getting the spirit of the original series right. A brief look at some of those efforts reveals a strategy and a recipe for disaster. Here's a list of just 10 such films, in no particular order, of hits, misses and bulls-eyes.

10. The Mod Squad

One of best TV shows of the late '60s and early '70s was the Mod Squad; a trio of undercover cops, "who wore a badge, but never a gun". The principal cast of Michael Cole, Clarence Williams III, Peggy Lipton, (as Pete, Linc and Julie), and Tige Andrews as Captain Greer, were great; the stories were topical, often touching, and believable, which made for an excellent series. "21 Jump Street", a show that would appear later, was never as good, (nor was the recent re-make of it). The film version, was woefully miscast, with the exception of Claire Dane as Julie, (seen now in HBO's "Homeland"), tried to follow in the spirit of the original for about a minute. As soon as they killed off one of the series main characters in the early going, (Dennis Farina as Captain Greer), they jumped the shark. A miss, which is too bad, because keeping an actor of Farina's calibre alive could have saved it. 

9. Lost in Space

Who can ever forget the immortal words of the Robot shouting, "Danger Will Robinson, Danger!!", or Dr, Smith calling out the Robot as a "bubble headed booby"? One of Irwin Allen's craziest sci-fi series, (along with Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", "Land of the Giants" and "Time Tunnel"), LIS followed the exploits of the "Space Family Robinson" as they tried to navigate their ship back to earth, despite the constant trouble caused by Dr. Smith. The film re-make with William Hurt, Mimi Rogers and Gary Oldman as Dr. Smith, even had cameos by some of the original cast. The drama of the pilot episode was re-created in the re-make, but once the cheesy, Allen-like plot twist came near the end, you wished you were watching the campier original. So close, but so far. A miss that could have hit. Nice marketing and happy meals kept it alive.  

8. The Wild Wild West

One of my favorite TV series was "007 in a saddle", the Wild, Wild West. Robert Conrad and Ross Martin were superb as partners James West and Artemus Gordon, and Michael Dunn as the evil Doctor Miguelito Loveless was one of TV's best villains. The re-make could have been great, but please, Will Smith as West?!! Kenneth Branagh as Loveless?!!  Michael Dunn was the Peter Dinklage of his day, and to re-invent him as Branagh in a wheelchair was just terrible. One of the worst, miscast remakes ever. Kevin Kline was great as Artemus Gordon, but Will Smith?! Smith later apologized to Conrad (who had no love for the film), for even taking the role that he'd made famous. Where's Tom Cruise or George Clooney when you need them? The film's best moment comes near the end of the film, when Smith and Kline ride off after Branagh and the theme to the original series plays for about 20 seconds... A huge miss.

7. I Spy

Another one of my favorites, I Spy was the first show in the late '60s, to have black and white co-stars: Bill Cosby and Robert Culp. Posing as a coach and a tennis pro, Cosby and Culp were actually CIA agents on a mission to save the world one day at a time, and filmed on location in Paris, Rome, London, Hong Kong, Madrid; and all to the beautiful music composed by the great Earle Hagen, (Mod Squad, Dick Van Dyke, Danny Thomas, Andy Griffith, Mike Hammer), well, you had some thing really special. The remake was a different story. With Eddie Murphy as a boxer, Luke Wilson as the coach, (roles reversed); I Spy was horrible, miscast and lacked the spirit of the original. Unlike Cosby and Culp, Murphy and Wilson never clicked. Don Cheadle and Brad Pitt might have pulled it off, but not  this comedy duo. Even the music was hopeless. A huge miss.

6. Mission Impossible

Peter Graves was the leader of the "Impossible Mission Force", and his team of stars; Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Greg Morris and Peter Lupus, did what no one else in the US government could; clandestine nation building and bad guy capturing. Methodical planning, tight spots and Barney's gadgets saved them each week. Tom Cruise and Ving Rhames updated the series through three blockbuster films. The plots are typical, the special effects are dazzling, but why did they need to make the series hero, (played byJon Voight as the Peter Graves/Jim Phelps character), into the bad guy, the traitor, and kill him off in the first film? Is nothing sacred?! A near hit.

5. Miami Vice

Don Johnson and Michael Thomas were great as Crockett and Tubbs on Miami's Vice Squad. Driving their Ferrari and shooting up drug dealers ruled Friday nights on NBC back in the 1980s; spectacular music and guest stars like Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Bruce Willis, et al; MV was amazing until the show finally jumped the shark after they first killed off Crockett's wife, (played by Shena Easton); then gives him amnesia, which turns him into a drug dealer and eventually gets his memory back and his revenge exacted. The re-make with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx wasn't bad, all things considered, in fact, I felt like I was actually watching an episode of Miami Vice. Close, but I'll call it a hit.

4. Get Smart

The Cold War got the comic treatment with Agent 86, Maxwell Smart and his partner, Agent 99. Played by Don Adams and Barbara Feldon, Get Smart was the brainchild of comic geniuses Buck Henry and Mel Brooks. This ridiculous show still continues to make me laugh on those late Saturday nights. The re-make with funny-man Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway is also hilarious and just as stupid, just like you want Max to be. The original seemingly jumped the shark after Smart and 99 got married and had twins, so there was no way the new version could be any worse than that. Besides, Carell is hilarious in almost everything he does; he definitely tries to pay tribute to Adams in this, as does Hathaway. Another close one, but comical hit. 

3. Dark Shadows

ABC's hit series of the 1970s featured a vampire who returns to his ancestral home and all the machinations that come with it. Jonathan Frid played the original Barnabas Collins on TV, cameos in the new version; Johnny Depp brings him back to life in a hilarious re-make, surrounded by an equally crazy cast of Michele Phieffer and Helena Bohnam Carter. Still chuckling, just thinking about that silly film. A comedy hit. Speaking of comedy hits and misses...

2. Starsky and Hutch

For many of the same reasons I Spy fails, I was not a fan of the Starsky and Hutch re-make. Although original stars Michael Glaser and David Soul appear near the end of the film, and gives their implied blessings, not all these remake, drama-turned-comedies actually work. This Ben Stiller/Luke Wilson vehicle became a straight-up comedy which was unlike the original series. Starsky and Hutch had comic moments, but was for the most part, serious. Stiller and Wilson did have one thing going for them, and that is great, on-screen chemistry; something lacking in many of these remakes. It may have been a box office hit, but for me, it had none of the drama of the original series. Great as a comedy, but it's still a re-make miss.

1. Hawaii 5-0

Made famous by Jack Lord in the late '60s and '70s, Hawaii 5-0 was one of the best cop dramas on TV. "Book 'em Danno!", "Nobody gets off my rock!" were some of his best lines. The series would often jump the shark whenever "the evil Wo Fat" showed up to make trouble, but for the most part it was your typical island adventure with kingpins, smugglers, murderers, Chinese agents and crazed vets just back from Vietnam. CBS decided to revive 5-0 to some acclaim, and became one of the rarest of all re-make animals: a hit series remade decades later. The new 5-0 features a rebooting of the original characters, yet the plots are more akin to shows like CSI, NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles, all on CBS by the way. There have been a few sub-plots and secondary story-lines, but the original never had that kind of thing going on. The stories were edgy, and at times, you really felt the urgency. Steve McGarrett is hard act to follow, as few actors had the intensity that Jack Lord brought to the role. Unfortunately, it's so much like all the other "alphabet cop" shows, that I almost can't ell them apart, which makes "5-0" a miss for me.

Many others have tried and failed, including "Mission Impossible" and "Knight Rider". On the plus side of the ledger, Star Trek's "Next Generation", "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager" enjoyed success, until "Enterprise" ended the trekkies TV run. Sci-Fi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica" and prequel  "Caprica" were both decent updates to a franchise that had begun back in the '80s. As I look over the list, it appears sci-fi and comedies are the most successful; on second thought, the new "Green Hornet", the "Avengers" (the Ralph Fiennes/Uma Thurman remake of the Patrick MacNee/Diana Rigg series), "Kojak"(with Ving Rhames), and the "Beverly Hillbillies" weren't too successful either.

Movies made immediately after the end of a series, like the "X Files 1 & 2", "Firefly and Serenity", and "Sex and the City 1 & 2", are more logical extensions of successful TV filmmaking, because they are still fresh and relevant to their fans. For the rest, it's a matter of timing, casting, nostalgia and luck that determine the success of these endeavors.

Remakes are here to stay, for better or worse and yet sometimes, it's best to leave the originals right where we found them, with our memories intact and our hope restored.

Gary Willis Trio's "Retro"

One of the most formidable fretless electric bassists in the post-Jaco Pastorius era, Texas native and current Barcelona resident Gary Willis joins forces with Catalan keyboardist Albert Bover and Budapest-born drummer Gergo Borlai on this exhilarating take on the electric piano trio. Co-founder (with guitarist Scott Henderson) of the premiere fusion band Tribal Tech and former member of Wayne Shorter’s band, Willis and his highly interactive crew shift deftly from slamming funk (“Old School”) to percolating fusion (“Disconnectivity”) to aggressive swingers (“Change Agent,” ”Move”) while embracing quiet ballads (Paul McCandless’ “Amaryllis,” Milton Nascimento’s evocative “Tarde” or Willis’ aptly-titled “Dream”) with uncommon sensitivity and a lyrical touch. They also turn in expressive interpretations of the Lennon-McCartney classic “Norwegian Wood” and Bill Evans’ “We Will Meet Again.” And the album closes on a poignant note with Willis’ tasty, subtly reharmonized rendition of the Depression era standard “For All We Know,” a tune famously covered by the likes of Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Nina Simone and Donny Hathaway.

Says the great bassist of his impressive sidemen on Retro: “Gergo is an incredible drummer. I had done some playing with him in Budapest, and since he moved to Barcelona Albert and I have been able to work up some nice chemistry as a trio with him.

This new record is about us playing together. It’s not about big productions or anything, it’s just Rhodes, bass and drums. It’s a totally different direction from what I did last time (on 2007’s Actual Fiction, also on Abstract Logix). It shows what can happen when you just make it about the interpretation of the material and how we play together. And for that reason it’s maybe more personal than anything I’ve done before.”

From the modal opener “Change Agent” to the bubbling “Old School” (which recalls the old school funk-fusion of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters) to the atmospheric “Tarde,” these three kindred spirits demonstrate a remarkable capacity to groove in loose-tight fashion throughout Retro. They collective burn through a labyrinth of chord changes on the uptempo romp “Move,” which is fueled by Willis’ urgent walking bass lines, and settle into on mellow accord on Oregon’s floating “Amaryllis” and a chill 3/4 take on the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood.” Bover proves to be both a consummate accompanist and accomplished soloist from track to track while Borlai’s crisp, polyrhythmic pulse and supple brushwork fuel the proceedings.

Willis’ virtuosic solo contributions here, particularly on “Disconnectivity” and “Move,” show why he is regarded as one of the most outstanding bassists on the scene today. “I just wanted to feature the fun of playing together and the expression that comes out in this stripped-down setting,” says Willis of his fifth album as a leader overall and second for Abstract Logix. “Whatever direction it’s going, we’re going to try to get into it pretty deep.” They’ve succeeded in brilliant fashion on Retro.

The American Remakes of British TV: Why Do They Keep Doing It?

The American TV industry's attempt to duplicate the success of many of England's greatest TV shows by remaking them has met with less than stellar results. "The Office" is about the best of the lot and a rare exception. NBC's "Prime Suspect", and  ABC's "Life on Mars" didn't fare well. Hollywood's recent version of "State of Play", met a similar fate. CBS has ventured into the world of Sherlock Holmes with "Elementary", (even recasting Watson as a woman), but honestly, the BBC's "Sherlock" is the best contemporary TV Holmes made to date, and their "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" with the late Jeremy Brett were masterpieces. Now comes Netflix's "House of Cards", a remake of the classic BBC series starring the late Ian Richardson as the evil Sir Francis Urquhart, aka "F.U."…

Now I love Kevin Spacey, and Robin Wright, but once you've seen the BBC's original trilogy including, "To Play the King" and "The Final Cut", you know it's going to be difficult to pull this off. The intrigue, the inner workings of Parliament, the uniquely British music and filming, the era in which it took place, and some of England's best actors and actresses made it a classic. Translating it to America, the White House, the State Department, and recreating the characters is simple enough, but are there no original stories out there to be told, or will we continue to see a trend of these films, films that are often shadows of the originals?

In the 1970s, we saw "Sanford and Son", a successful remake of "Steptoe and Son", a Scottish version of the junkyard, father/son team.  England gave us James Bond 007, the Avengers, and the Saint; we joined in with the Man From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, Mission Impossible and the Wild, Wild, West. Sci Fi? No worries, Britain had Doctor Who and Blake's 7; we had Star Trek, Space 1999 and Lost in Space. Those aforementioned TV shows became cult classics, but they weren't carbon copies of each other; the casting was unique, and the stories were written by some of the best Sci-Fi writers of the day, like Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury and Theodore Sturgeon.

Roger Moore, known as TV's Saint and later as 007, once portrayed Holmes in a dismal "Sherlock Holmes in New York". It's always a challenge bringing a character written for 1880s London to 1970s New York. The BBC's "Sherlock", is set in modern day London, with the well cast Benedict Cumberpatch as a thoroughly manic, high-tech genius and very, very well played. The stories are rather smartly, combinations of a variety of Holmes stories rolled into one. CBS's "Elementary" seems all wrong compared to the BBC version, it just doesn't translate. A much better version of the male/female-Holmes/Watson duo is Law & Order: Criminal Intent's Goren and Eames.

The original Prime Suspect, starring Dame Helen Mirren, was one of the BBC's best series, yet its American remake was cancelled after only a few episodes. Prime Suspect took place during the 1990's, and Mirren's character was based on a real-life, female DCI, one of the first ever promoted. The sexism was evident and a big part of the story. No doubt sexism still exists in modern day Manhattan, but it is not the Manhattan of the 1970s/Kojak era, where a newly promoted female Detective, may indeed have faced the kind of blatant sexism Mirren's character faced. 2012 just feels different to me.

Interestingly, one of the more successful reverse remakes is the BBC's "Law and Order: UK". A great cast, and duplicates all the original Law and Order stories and formula, complete with "Doink-doink". The British wisely, do very little remakes of American TV shows. Not many of them would translate very well either, yet we attempt to remake the British shows that seem to fail over and over again.

No doubt Spacey will do a good job as Frank/Francis Underwood/Urquhart as he "deceives, inveigles, obfuscates" everyone and everybody to achieve his aim, yet Ian Richardson is an unbelievable act to follow. In spite of the risk, how and why do they still continue to do it? According to USA Today, Netflix thinks they have a recipe that will work.

"Netflix has built a business streaming movies and TV repeats for $8 a month. Now it's hoping to rival pay-cable channels HBO, Showtime and Starz by offering up exclusive programming as a lure to keep customers paying those monthly fees. Cards alone marks a high-end, $100 million-plus investment, topping rival bids by HBO and AMC; Netflix is also reviving Fox's canceled cult comedy Arrested Development with 14 new episodes in May. The streaming service bets $100 million on original, high-profile programming. Will it be a winner?…"

Here's a bit of advice for Netflix. If your are going to compete with likes of "Game of Thrones", "Homeland", or any of the other shows HBO, Showtime, Starz, or any of the other cable companies have to offer, come up with new, original, interesting series, not remakes of classic British ones… The odds are really against you.

Wayne Shorter Returns to Blue Note "Without A Net"

According to the Blue Note website, "The legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter recently re-signed to Blue Note Records, and will release his first album as a leader for the iconic label in 43 years with the February 5, 2013 release of Without A Net, his searing new album with his long-running quartet featuring pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade." Shorter and his quartet aren't slated to return to the Bay Area yet, however they'll join force with Esperanza Spalding and the L.A. Philharmonic next month.

"Shorter—who will be entering his 80th year in 2013—first recorded for Blue Note in 1959 as the precocious 26-year-old tenor saxophonist (and prolific composer) in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, which brought him to the attention of label founder Alfred Lion who eventually signed him to his own recording deal. Shorter went on to make a spectacular run of classic albums for Blue Note between 1964-1970 including Night Dreamer, Juju, Speak No Evil, Adam’s Apple, Schizophrenia, and Super Nova during a period of time that also paralleled Shorter’s years with Miles Davis, first as a member of the trumpeter’s trailblazing quintet, and later as a part of Davis’ early fusion masterpieces.

“Wayne Shorter is one of the greatest musicians and composers of our time,” said Don Was, President of Blue Note Records. “At age 80, we witness him at the height of his powers and performing with one of the most incredible bands he's ever assembled. Although welcoming him back to Blue Note Records after 43 years is a romantic notion, Wayne's enduring appeal is rooted in his steadfast refusal to trade in such nostalgia. In fact, it is Mr. Shorter's determination to constantly move forward that makes his new album, Without A Net, such an essential listening experience.”

Reflecting upon his perpetual path of musical discovery, Shorter expounded that The challenge we as artists face today is to create a ‘singularity’ or an ‘event horizon’ so that as  human beings we will break the cycle of ego dominated actions which through repetition keep us bound to stagnation which denies us entrance to the Portal of Life's Ultimate Adventure!

Without A Net is a 9-track musical thrill ride that consists of live recordings from the Wayne Shorter Quartet’s European tour in late 2011, the one exception being the 23-minute tone poem “Pegasus” which features the quartet with The Imani Winds recorded at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The album features six new Shorter compositions, as well as new versions of his tunes “Orbits” (from Miles Davis’ Miles Smiles album) and “Plaza Real” (from the Weather Report album Procession). The quartet also reinvents the title song from the 1933 musical film Flying Down To Rio, which film buffs (such as Shorter) know as the first on-screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."

SFJazz Center Opens Next Week

San Francisco's newest venue, located on Franklin near City Hall, is the SFJazz Center which opens January 23rd with "a star-filled line up “consecrating” the stage of the Robert N. Miner Auditorium." Hosted by Bill Cosby, the concert will include pianists McCoy Tyner and Chick Corea, saxophonist and long time SFJazz Collective alum Joshua Redman, legendary vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, Esperanza Spalding, Mary Stallings, John Handy, Pete Escovedo, the SFJazz Collective, and the new SFJazz Center Resident Artistic Directors Regina Carter, Bill Frisell, Jason Moran, John Santos and Miguel Zenón amongst other special guests.

This one-time-only gathering of jazz stars will be at the center of the Opening Night celebration, which will include pre- and post-parties to celebrate the opening of the first stand-alone building for jazz in America. If you don't have tickets to this sold out show, fear not- NPR will be streaming the concert live WWOZ, WBGO and NPR Music will team up for a live radio and online video broadcast of the concert, (http://www.npr.org/event/music/169066093/live-from-sfjazz-center-opening).

According to NPR's website, "Thirty years after presenting its first concerts in San Francisco, the organization SFJAZZ has built a permanent home and performance venue. The SFJAZZ Center, conceived as the first stand-alone building for jazz in the U.S., opens with a star-studded concert on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013 at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT."

All Good Things... The Sad Closing of Sam Adato's Drum Shop

Last Christmas Eve saw the closing of yet another one of San Francisco's best loved musical emporiums, Sam Adato's Drum Shop at 9th and Folsom. Adato's Drum Shop was a mecca for Bay Area drummers and percussionists for nearly 20 years. I actually bought a beautiful rosewood, 6 piece Gretsch kit from Sam back in 2003, and countless more drum parts and pieces over the next 10 years. A master drummer, Adato arrived from Santa Cruz and opened amid the musical heyday of the '90s. Adato survived the arrival of Guitar Center; the sudden appearance of a new, trendy competitor that actually opened across the street from him a few years ago and just as quickly went out of business; and a car that actually crashed through his shop window that fortunately took out very little of his merchandise.

Adato cites the internet; ebay and Craig's List, as well as the skyrocketing rents and guerrilla meter maids as the culprits in his decision to relocate to Eugene, Oregon, and I don't doubt him. Adato also lamented that "Parents don't come in to buy their kids a new drum set for Christmas anymore."

Adato is something of a purist; a rocker equally at home with the drumming of Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, Carmine Appice of the famed Vanilla Fudge, or the jazz of the late, great Louie Bellson.  When he wasn't at his shop, he'd be recording or gigging at the Warfield or the Fillmore with his band, The Bridge. You wouldn't find any electronics at Adato's drum shop, he was all acoustic percussion, all the time. Needed a part or repair? You went to Sam's. If he didn't have it, he'd get it for you.

Adato didn't mention it specifically, but there may be yet another culprit. For better or worse, we now live in a new, musical world of electronic V-drums, digital DJs, beat boxes and a host of other realities that compete for the hearts and minds of tomorrow's young percussionists and have changed the face of the modern drummer. Adato's recent closure is part of a trend that knows no abating.

Lecturing at a college in Sweden last year, retired drummer Bill Bruford, known for his work with the groups Yes, Genesis, King Crimson and his jazz combo Earthworks, spoke about his musical past, the challenges for the creative musician in today's market, as well as speculating on the future of the modern drummer. No stranger to the industry, its demands and limitations, Bruford noted the rise of technology; the ability to make an album in one's living room; the advent of the sampler, the laptop and the lonely world of "having an orchestra in a box" to work with. The music industry has changed; the good ol' days are gone and there will be no putting that genie back in the bottle.

There are still conservatories, "percussion institutes", and lessons one can take, even on line, but in a world where technology, video and audio also compete for the modern musician, the drum set is sadly becoming an option for fewer and fewer musicians. Nowadays you can buy software and pads, play through your stereo, pack up and head to the club, spinning your tunes and beats in real time. Coupled with the monetary reality of today's digital downloading world, the drummer, (already the butt of every band joke ever imagined), finds him or herself in increasingly smaller company.

Bruford hopes that the modern drummer will be something of a hybrid; part acoustic, part electric, sampling, looping and playing rhythms that challenge the listener more than the pedestrian 4/4 grooves that dominate the contemporary music scene today. He may well be right in the end and he should know; Bruford was part of the electronic drum revolution before it was fashionable or reliable. With reliability and quality an issue, he eschewed the electronics and returned to his first love- jazz.

I tend to agreed with Bruford; he cites the creative hotbed of Brooklyn, NY as the home of some the best young drummers to combine the hybrid approach, looping, sampling and yes, drumming in real time with a maturity beyond their years.

San Francisco's loss is Eugene, Oregon's gain. Ironically, Adato was able to benefit from the Bay Area's real estate market enough to find a new home and new shop there. Eugene, (home of the dreaded Oregon Ducks), is a fantastic college town that could provide the perfect setting for the next chapter in the life of one the best drummers and musical mentors San Francisco has ever had. Last month, the Board of Supervisors even honored Adato for his efforts at City Hall, and deservedly so. 

They say all good things must come to an end… Here's to Sam Adato's new beginning, and to what Bruford called the "industry of human happiness"… Making spirits dance through music- and drumming.