I do not have a particularly good excuse for this week’s “Bleeding Edge” article appearing a day late. All I can say is that I had completed my article about pianist Ting Luo returning to Old First Concerts yesterday before the weekly newsletter from BayImproviser.com came to my attention. Fortunately, the first new event of this week will be taking place this evening; so, hopefully, no time has been lost.
This is another week in which the number of new events is equal to the number of those previously reported. Those in the latter category, in turn, account for two venues:
- Old First Concerts will present the Zēlos Saxophone Quartet this coming Friday, followed on Saturday by the Simple Excesses Quartet, both performances beginning at 8 p.m.
- This month’s G|O|D|W|A|F|F|L|E|N|O|I|S|E|P|A|N|C|A|K|E|S event will take place at the Center for New Music at noon on Saturday.
Specifics for the rest of the week (beginning tonight) are as follows:
Tuesday, August 13, Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 8 p.m.: Drummer Elé Salif Howell will lead a quartet, whose other members will be saxophonist Kazemde George, Kai Lyons on guitar, and bassist Giulio Xavier. His father is Richard Howell, leader of the Sudden Changes jazz ensemble. The two of them performed together this past March at SFJAZZ.
As regular readers probably know by now, Bird & Beckett is located at 653 Chenery Street, a short walk from the Glen Park station that serves both BART and Muni. Admission will be the usual $20 cover charge, payable by Venmo or in cash. Given that only a limited number of people will be admitted, reservations are necessary and can be made by calling 415-586-3733. The phone will be answered during regular store hours, which are between noon and 6 p.m. on Tuesday through Sunday.
Friday, August 16, Medicine for Nightmares, 7 p.m.: Reed player David Boyce will continue to host his semi-regular Friday evening series entitled Other Dimensions in Sound. On this occasion he will host the Dymaxion Trio. For those that do not know, the name is a word coined by R. Buckminster Fuller, referring to the use of technology and resources to maximum advantage, with minimal expenditure of energy and material. While any connection to music may seem remote, Fuller was a significant source of inspiration for John Cage. I used to see Fuller on television in my younger days and never really understood him; but that “knowledge gap” was closed after I came to know Cage! The trio is led by ROVA saxophonist Bruce Ackley with rhythm provided by Dave Brandt on drums and bassist Pete Schmitt. Once again, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.
Cover of the Tranesformation album (from the Amazon.com Web page for the release of this work’s two “editions”)
Saturday, August 17, Bird & Beckett Books and Records, 7:30 p.m.: This second program at Bird & Beckett will again be led by a drummer, Brian Melvin, whose group is called (no surprise) the Brian Melvin Trio. The other members are Søren Lee on guitar, and bassist John Wiitala. The title of the program will be Tranesformation: The music of John Coltrane.
This is also the title of a Storyville trio album on which Lee and Melvin are joined by organist Mads Søndergaard. There are fifteen tracks on this CD, which is a little over an hour in duration. One of them, “M-Elvin,” is by Melvin himself. Among the remaining tracks, eight are Coltrane originals. The entire album was recorded in a single day (January 28, 2023) at the Mill Factory Studios in Copenhagen.
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