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Please note that all of the photos, videos, and audio recordings found on this website are copyrighted works being made available for personal, non- commercial use only. These works may not be used for any other purpose without the direct consent of the artists involved. If you are the copyright holder of any material posted on this website and no longer wish it to be made available on the Web, please contact me immediately and I will take it down posthaste.
Here’s a real treat for everyone, a long video from what I think was the last jazz gig of the year at the Red Poppy Art House. I shot this on December 29, 2007 using two tiny MP4 pocket cameras plus a field audio recorder from the back of the room (with permission of course), and considering how dark it was and how low budget my cams were, the final edit still came out pretty nice! The performance featured Marcus Shelby on bass, Matt Clark on piano, Jeff Marrs on drums, and Howard Wiley on tenor sax. Although Jeff was the main drummer for the night, the video features the one track that Marcus’s old friend Lorca Hart played on as a guest.
Please note that I’m trying out a new way of displaying video on my website that requires Flash 8, but also be aware that this is a huge video file, so it may require some patience while buffering. Thanks!
Here’s a post from The Trio playing live at Chez Hanny in the Lower Haight on December 2, 2007. Chez Hanny is essentially Frank Hanny’s living room and one hell of a cool venue if you’re into listening to your jazz live in a cozy and extremely intimate space (check his calendar for upcoming shows). The band played two long sets and featured Denny Berthiaume on piano, Chuck Bennett on double bass, and Curt Moore on drums. The band was nice enough to let me pick one track from their performance to share with you, so please enjoy. And if you like what you hear, you can listen to more of their tunes and support the band directly by purchasing their new album Prayer for Peace.
Late last year, I had the distinct privilege of helping the talented Jeff Anderle and Jonathan Russell produce the first album related to their ongoing project Sqwonk. The CD features innovative compositions and arrangements for dueling bass clarinets that I recorded in the acoustically-pleasing Recital Hall of the new San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Listening to these guys play off of one another with that primal bass clarinet sound is truly something to behold, so it is with great pleasure that I present this sample of Profiteering from the album. If you like what you hear and want to support their efforts, the complete CD can be purchased for a nominal price here.
Jon and Jeff are also helping organize, and will be playing as Sqwonk, at the upcoming Switchboard Music Festival, which is an eight-hour music festival that brings together composers and musicians who are seriously pushing the boundaries of their respective genres. The festival will be held on March 30, 2008 at the Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco, so mark your calendars because that’s certainly going to be a show to remember!
Note: Photo is from Sqwonk’s CD Release at Old First Church on October 5, 2007.
On Friday, October 27th, 2007 I was invited to record the incredible FOCUS Trio live at the Red Poppy Art House in the Mission District of San Francisco. The trio featured Marc Cary (all the way from New York) on keys and synth, Sameer Gupta on drums and tabla, and David Ewell on double bass. They played a few new tracks as well as songs from their 2006 album FOCUS. The audience was also treated to a guest appearance by Marcus Shelby who stepped in to play bass on Elephants’s Eye and Minor League. The recording is a bit ambient because I set up in the back of the room, but it’s positively worth a listen, so you can thank Marc, Sameer, David, and Marcus for letting me share this sample track with all of you!
“The concept of FOCUS Trio is a collaboration between three cultures. Aside from that, playing our asses off the in the tradition of the great Duke Ellington, Max Roach and Paul Chambers, is the focus. … The live show will expand on the concepts developed since the recording of our 2006 album, FOCUS. The recording is the seed and the performance is when the plant grows.” ~ Marc Cary
