Local Hip Hop

I snapped these photographs yesterday afternoon during the Jazz Mafia‘s Symphony No. 2 dress rehearsal at Stern Grove out in the Avenues of the Sunset District. It was a nice day in the Grove, and it was great to get a personal preview of what will be the world premiere this Sunday of The Emperor Norton Suite, celebrating the spirit of San Francisco’s favorite eccentric. Trust me when I say this show is not to be missed — it’s also outdoors and free too! But remember, Stern Grove gets crazy packed early in the day, and it can be cold and foggy, so get there early and bring something warm if you’re planning on coming!

 
Photographs and video of the Shotgun Wedding Quintet (and special guests) performing To Be Or Not To B-Boy live at the last Jazz Mafia Tuesday at Coda Supper Club in San Francisco on July 27, 2010. Click here for the 720p High Def version of the video.

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 Download: Track 1

Musicians (on this track)
Dublin, Vocals
Adam Theis, Bass
Patrick Korte (Pdub), Drums
Joe Cohen, Tenor & Keys
Marcus Stephens, Tenor
Mike Olmos, Trumpet
Evan Francis, Flute
Anthony Blea, Violin
Wayne Van Lieu, French Horn

That’s right people, BayTaper.com has reached PLATINUM status on MP3 downloads. That’s not “hits” or “page views,” that’s over one million verified downloads of original, one-of-a-kind live recordings I’ve made in the local Bay Area jazz and creative music scene during the past two and a half years!

I’ve actually been at this project for four years total now, but I didn’t save any of my web server logs from the first year and a half, which is kind of a bummer. However, fret not because after just compiling the data I did save, I’m excited to announce the passing of this remarkable milestone. I feel extremely lucky to have witnessed and documented so much incredible music, and I’d like to congratulate and thank everyone in the scene that gave me intimate access over the years and allowed me to build this incredible archive of local live recordings (and photographs).

So with that context, I thought it might also be fun to post a list of the top fifty most downloaded MP3 files (by blog post) during the past twelve months (the year ending July 15, 2010). I decided to focus on the past year because the full platinum history is somewhat dominated by recordings that have been in the archive the longest. This way it’s much easier to see what some of the more popular recordings have really been during a similar length of time (although the newest posts are still somewhat disadvantaged of course).

So without further ado, here’s the BayTaper.com Top 50 MP3s from the past year, all with download totals and clickable links directly to the recordings for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

Top 50 MP3 Downloads
12 Months Ending July 15, 2010

1. 21,193 – Trumpet Supergroup Live on April 24, 2007
2. 20,107 – The Supplicants Live on November 6, 2009
3. 19,948 – Miles Davis Tribute Live on May 25, 2009
4. 19,156 – Realistic Orchestra Prince Tribute on June 5, 2007
5. 18,954 – Brass Mafia Live on July 2, 2006
6. 18,622 – Erik Jekabson Quintet Live on November 15, 2005
7. 16,552 – Kurt Ribak Trio Live on July 2, 2006
8. 16,419 – Classical Revolution Live on January 27, 2008
9. 16,353 – Plays Monk Live on November 14, 2006
10. 14,365 – The Supplicants Live on April 16, 2010
11. 13,798 – Ben Adams Quintet Live on January 15, 2007
12. 11,993 – Low End Theory Live on May 16, 2006
13. 11,768 – The Invaders Live on June 28, 2008
14. 10,940 – Dan Zemelman Quartet Live on August 15, 2008
15. 10,512 – Realistic Orchestra Live on April 4, 2006
16. 10,305 – Terrence Brewer Trio Live on July 2, 2006
17. 10,243 – Adam Shulman Trio Live on April 30, 2009
18. 9,491 – Mitch Marcus Plus 13 Live on April 12, 2007
19. 9,485 – B-Free Live on December 15, 2006
20. 9,329 – Nefasha Ayer Live on November 1, 2008
21. 8,922 – Mitch Marcus Quintet Live on July 1, 2006
22. 8,243 – Jekabson, Rissanen, Shifflet, Sumelius on Jan 20, 2006
23. 8,075 – 8 Legged Monster Live on May 7, 2008
24. 8,040 – Marcus Shelby Quartet Live on January 15, 2010
25. 7,432 – 8 Legged Monster September 3, 2009
26. 7,288 – The Supplicants Live on October 27, 2006
27. 7,000 – Mitch Marcus Quintet Live on October 8, 2006
28. 6,876 – Steven Lugerner Sextet Live on August 15, 2008
29. 6,853 – D’Armous Boone Live on January 19, 2007
30. 6,702 – Eaton Barics Quintet June 19, 2009
31. 6,649 – Amendola and Blades Live on July 24, 2009
32. 6,262 – Jaz Sawyer Live on October 25, 2008
33. 6,247 – Mitch Marcus Quintet Live on June 30, 2007
34. 6,053 – Erik Jekabson Quintet Live on December 19, 2006
35. 6,011 – Devin Hoff Live on January 3, 2009
36. 5,606 – Classical Revolution Live on January 8, 2009
37. 5,560 – Nice Guy Trio Live on November 2, 2009
38. 5,109 – 8 Legged Monster Live on July 13, 2008
39. 4,947 – 8 Legged Monster Live on January 30, 2010
40. 4,393 – A Far Cry Live on May 15, 2008
41. 4,054 – The Focus Trio Live on October 27, 2007
42. 3,787 – Erik Jekabson Quartet Live on December 18, 2009
43. 3,579 – Terrence Brewer Live on March 20, 2007
44. 3,173 – Mitch Marcus Big Band Live on October 21, 2007
45. 3,136 – Bay Area Classical Harmonies Live on May 17, 2007
46. 3,131 – Shotgun Wedding Quintet Live on July 20, 2007
47. 2,936 – Realistic Orchestra Live on October 18, 2008
48. 2,915 – Sqwonk Live on October 5, 2007
49. 2,887 – Blades vs. Amendola Live on April 21, 2006
50. 2,887 – Darren Johnston Quintet Live on February 16, 2007

 
Well, I’ve been somewhat dormant for more than a month now, but I assure you that this post will make up for that and then some.

After many, many hours of hard work putting this together, I’m very excited to release this stellar nine-minute multimedia piece of the always amazing Realistic Orchestra performing their killin’ track SR 75 live at the Coda Lounge in San Francisco’s Mission District on February 9, 2010. I really can’t stress enough how incredible it is to witness this much awesomeness live and in person, so make sure to check Coda’s Jazz Mafia Tuesdays schedule for their next performance — it’s a guaranteed WIN every single time!

Also, please note that this video can be streamed directly from this page and is directly playable on your iPhone too, and if you have the bandwidth to handle it, you can watch or download the original high definition 720p version from here.

Play Audio: 
Adobe Flash Player and JavaScript are required to stream our audio clips. You can also download the audio files directly using the links below.
 
 Download: Track 1

Musicians (On This Night)
Adam Theis, Bandleader, Trombone
Eric Garland, Bandleader, Drums
Evan Francis, Alto, Flute
Kasey Knudsen, Alto, Flute
Sheldon Brown, Tenor, Clarinet
Matt Nelson, Tenor
Doug Rowan, Bari
Jeanne Geiger, Trombone
Danny Grewen, Trombone
Jamie Dubberly, Bass Trombone
Dave Scott, Trumpet
Mike Olmos, Trumpet
Erik Jekabson, Trumpet
Joel Ryan, Trumpet
Colin Hogan, Keyboards
Jon Monahan, Guitar
Tommy Folen, Bass
Dublin, Guest Vocalist
Joe Bagale, Guest Vocalist