The SFJAZZ Fridays at Five online transmissions – the JAZZ Center’s lockdown programs – continue to keep jazz alive for its many followers, and help enthusiasts stay connected to the artists they love. Every Friday from 5.00 to 6.00 pm PDT, a concert – recorded during a live performance at the JAZZ Center – is available free to view for SFJAZZ Digital Members for just $5 a month.
This week’s Friday concert features GRAMMY-winning American folk singer, Rhiannon Giddens, withItalian pianist and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi. Also a composer, violinist, banjo player, actress, and founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Giddens was the recipient of the 2017 the MacArthur Foundation ‘Genius Grant’ fellowship. She’s online this week with Turrisi and bassist Jason Sypher, in a film made during her week-long residency at the JAZZ Center in February this year. In today’s transmission – June 12th – Giddens performs music from her latest album There Is No Other (Nonesuch) which focuses on the ways in which Africa and the Middle East have have influenced the musical traditions of Europe and the Americas.
The following week’s online broadcast – on June 19 – stars the cosmopolitan and sophisticated Paris Combo, filmed during the SFJAZZ Summer Sessions in July 2018. Fronted by vocalist Belle du Berry, the ensemble features Australian trumpeter and keyboard artist David Lewis, bassist Benoît Dunoyer de Segonzac, drummer François Jeannin, percussionist Rémy Kaprielan, and Algerian Gypsy guitarist Potzi. Combining Gypsy swing with a dash of flamenco, chanson and alt-cabaret, Paris Combo is hugely popular with SFJAZZ audiences, so the JAZZ Center is delighted to salute the group with this online performance, since its 2019-20 appearances hacanceled as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
The performance which streams on June 26, The Wayne Shorter Celebration Part 2, takes the form of a special tribute to saxophonist, composer and jazz legend, Wayne Shorter – 11-time GRAMMY winner, 1998 NEA Jazz Master, and Kennedy Center Honoree. Shorter had been scheduled to perform a four-night program at SFJAZZ in January 2019, but was prevented from traveling that week, due to an illness. His friend, pianist Herbie Hancock, arranged instead a benefit concert at SFJAZZ to help with Shorter’s medical expenses, and drew together a group of jazz luminaries to perform some of his classic numbers. The line-up included Shorter’s quartet – pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade – and the opening night performance featured Hancock on piano and keyboards, trumpeter Terence Blanchard and saxophonist and keyboardist Terrace Martin. 100% of the proceeds of the Tip Jar for this particular online broadcast will go to Shorter, to help with his ongoing medical expenses.
To watch these Fridays at Five performances, you’ll need to subscribe to Digital Membership of SFJAZZ, and then log on to the SFJAZZ website for the relevant link.
For more information on becoming a Digital Member of SFJAZZ, follow this link.
To contribute to the SFJAZZ Tip Jar, and support the featured artists, follow this link. Each donation will be divided, on a 50/50 basis, between working musicians and the artistic and educational programs at SFJAZZ.
For more details on these online broadcasts, visit the SFJAZZ website.
Information sourced from SFJAZZ program notes