E. Doctor Smith's Blog

Impulse! Records, a label synonymous with some of the greatest names in jazz, celebrates its 50th Anniversary with an exhibit to San Francisco’s Jazz Heritage Center’s Lush Life Gallery. This exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of Impulse with iconic album covers and images of musical history’s giants captured by Chuck Stewart’s camera that tell the label’s story as vividly as its music does. I was amazed at the album covers and photographs in this exhibit; from drummers Art Blakey, Chico Hamilton and Max Roach, to vocalist Shirley Horn and of course, John Coltrane, perhaps Impulse's most famous artist. From the very beginning, artwork was a major component in the identity of Impulse Records. When producer Creed Taylor laid out his vision for the label in late 1960, before any records had been released, he set a visual standard to match the music: laminated gatefold covers rich in colorful graphic design, distinctive typography and magnificent photography. The label launched...

Return to Forever, one the best jazz fusion bands ever, were spectacular back in 2008, at the Regency on Van Ness. That exciting tour celebrated a 30 year reunion of the most popular incarnation, featuring co-founders Chick Corea on keyboards, and Stanley Clarke on bass, withdrummer Lenny White and guitarist Al DiMeola. An amazing show and subsequent albums, DVDs and live recordings would soon follow. This time RTF re-emerges sans DiMeola, and his stead is guitarist Frank Gambale and an unexpected bonus: France's incomparable jazz violinist, Jean-Luc Ponty. Ponty is no stranger to either RTF, or young Dweezil Zappa, having performed on some of the late Frank Zappa's greatest albums. The Warfield performance opened with Dweezil Zappa, who had an amazing command of his father's repertoire. Zappa had killer musicians in those days, like the aforementioned Ponty, George Duke, Chester Thompson, Ruth Underwood (she was amazing on marimba & xylophone), Napoleon Murphy Brock, T...

Bay Area composer/trumpeter/singer-songwriter Sarah Wilson performs with her Quintet — violinist Charlie Burnham, guitarist John Schott, bassist Jerome Harris, and drummer Matt Wilson, tonight at San Francisco's Red Poppy Art House on Folsom. Following her critically acclaimed 2010 album "Trapeze Project", Wilson's concerts have featured recent commissions Wilson received from The Center for Cultural Innovation and Zellerbach Family Foundation to write music in tribute to her female jazz mentors, Carla Bley, Laurie Frink and Myra Melford. “While I don't know Carla Bley personally, it was at her 1999 Knitting Factory concert that I finally saw a model for what I wanted to do...just be up there and have the focus be on my music,” says Wilson. “If these women hadn't paved the road for me, I never would've been able to do what I do. They made it possible for me to follow my musical path.” Wilson has truly emerged as “one of the most intriguing an...

The 12th Annual San Francisco Electronic Music Festival (SFEMF), consists of four evenings which began Thursday night, of stimulating performances and fixed media works by internationally recognized artists in the electronic music field. This year's Festival spans four evenings from Thursday September 8th through Sunday September 11th. The opening evening event will take place at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA) in the Phyllis Wattis Theater, and the Friday through Sunday concerts will take place at Brava Theater Center in San Francisco. As is their custom, the festival will feature a range of electronic music composers, performers and sound art practioners including respected pioneers and emerging artists whose work spans the sonic spectra from ambient to rhythmic, from atonal to melodic. As the only San Francisco music festival dedicated solely to electronic music, SFEMF brings together the varied practices of artists working with laptop generated soun...

Love Brazilian music? I know I do. I fondly remember the days of Flora Purim, Egberto Gismonti, Airto Moriera, Paulhino da Costa and Milton Naciemento. Can't make it to Sao Paulo? No worries, because it’s now easier to travel around the world than ever before. In fact, you don’t even have to leave The City to do it. Every Wednesday Yoshi's weekly live music series, Global Movement, fittingly brings the best in local world music to a world-class venue. Afro-Brazilian, Reggae, Latin, and Middle Eastern-themed parties alternate each week, making Yoshi's SF your one-stop, virtual travel destination for global groove. SF's talented Brazilian ex-pats, Grupo da Sete, Sambaxé and a host of others are having a special show next Wednesday to celebrate Brazil's Independence Day on Sept. 7th at Yoshi's San Francisco. Grupo da Sete has been playing authentic Brazilian music direct from Rio de Janeiro - bossa nova, samba, pagode, chorinho, samba cancao. baiao to ...