E. Doctor Smith's Blog

Bassist Stanley Clarke was barely out of his teens when he exploded into the jazz world in 1971. Fresh out of the Philadelphia Academy of Music, he arrived in New York City and immediately landed jobs with famous bandleaders such as Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Pharaoh Saunders, Gil Evans, Stan Getz and a budding young pianist-composer named Chick Corea. With Corea, Clarke would take the music world by storm alongside Lenny White and Al DiMeola in Return to Forever. Now some 40 years later, Clarke returns to Yoshi's in April, bringing with him his prodigious and unparalleled talents. All of these musicians immediately recognized Clarke’s ferocious dexterity and complete musicality on the acoustic bass. Not only was he an expert at crafting bass lines and functioning as a timekeeper – in keeping with his instrument’s traditional role – but the young prodigy also possessed a sense of lyricism and melody distilled from his bass heroes Charles M...

The Static Illusion Methodical Madness Music Series, (or S.I.M.M. Music Series), is a musician run bi-monthly music performance series bringing highly professional and truly adventurous music that would not normally be heard or supported by mainstream society. Since 2001 the SIMM Series has been curated by Outsound Presents and local improvisers/composers/sound artists Rent Romus and Bill Noertker. They present a cross section of sound artists and musicians from the experimental improvisation and composition genres. This Sunday's event features T.D. Skatchit & Company, 
featuring Tom Nunn and David Michalak on "skatchboxes
" with vocalists 
Aurora Josephson, Bob Marsh and Ron Heglin
. Opening the performance is Ross Hammond on guitar electronics and David Boyce on saxophones.
 T.D. Skatchit & Company is a duo featuring Tom Nunn & David Michalak playing Skatchboxes. As the story goes, one day while on a visit to his cousin’s workshop, David picked ...

Trilok Gurtu and Simon Phillips have long wanted to make music together, and they did so in May 2010. These two leading drummers worked together within the framework of an NDR Big Band production. Arranged by Wolf Kerschek, directed by Jorg Achim Keller and supported by Michel Alibo on double bass and Roland Cabezas on guitar, this collaboration with the NDR Big Band was pure musical enjoyment. In a mix of studio and live recordings, the album documents for all those who could not attend the program’s premiere at the Drums’ n’ Percussion Festival in Paderborn on May 21, 2010, or the Elb jazzfestival in Hamburg the furious energy of a drummers’ cooperation which was raised to a new level of tonal diversity and musical refinement through the NDR Big Band’s backing. Producer Walter Quintus was responsible for the audiophile sound. It is not necessarily a plus in terms of musical enjoyment when two leading drummers take the stage together. However "21 spices" was a s...

One of the Bay Area's best saxophonists is the incomparable Hermann Lara. Celebrating the arrival of his debut CD, "New Mission", which was recorded live at the historic former Mercury & CBS Records Studios on Mission Street in San Francisco. New Mission delivers 11 original, classic set tunes in an array of jazz rhythms. Legendary guitarist and 6 time Grammy Nominee, Mike Stern, makes a special guest appearance and the all-star packed roster of musicians on this disc deliver what are sure to be some of most exciting musical moments of 2011. Based in San Francisco, saxophonist and woodwind player, Hermann Lara holds a Bachelor's of Music from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA (1996) and a few notches earned in the bandstand as well. As a husband, father, business man, teacher and musician he’s in a unique position to convey the complexities and beauty of modern life in America through music. Usually found attached to an alto or tenor saxophone...