SFJAZZ Hosts Community Open House

Late yesterday afternoon the SFJAZZ Center invited the neighborhood (and extended neighborhood) to a two-hour open house event, providing an opportunity to get to know more about the breadth of activities taking place under the SFJAZZ umbrella. The event also provided an opportunity to get to know the new Executive Artistic Director Terence Blanchard, who provided engaging conversation in the Miner Auditorium. I have to say that I was both surprised and impressed by the heavy turnout for this event. However, I was also more than a little cautious, since operations under the direction of Founder Randall Kline bordered on the haphazard more often than I would have liked.

The Chief Executive Officer is now Greg Stern, and last night left the impression that the ship he commands is tighter than it used to be. Furthermore, Blanchard’s discussion of current and planned activities left the impression of a promising partnership between artistic and managerial administration. Personally, I still have very strong problems with the physical setting of Miner Auditorium. The good news is twofold. On one hand there tend to be more than enough engaging options in the Joe Henderson Lab (which I shall try to do my best to preview). On the other, Miner now seems to be well equipped for providing streamed content, which I can enjoy at home rather than coping with a uncomfortable seating!

Nevertheless, there is one nit I would like to pick that, at least in my own opinion, deserves attention. My wife and I arrived early in Miner Auditorium, giving us the benefit of choosing less hazardous seating. Once seated, we were able to enjoy some highly satisfying performing by a quartet with alto saxophone and trombone on the “front line” and rhythm provided by guitar and bass. To the extent that I could estimate the age of the players, my guess is that they were students from the Roots, Jazz & American Music program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The nit that I am picking, however, is that, in spite of the impressive talent of these players, there was no effort to identify them by name!

Listening to Blanchard’s remarks about his plans for the SFJAZZ Center, I felt that quality performance was definitely a priority; but it is usually nice (or at least respectful) if the performers delivering that quality can be identified by name!