SFJAZZ Collective Plays Socially Conscious Songs at Miner Auditorium

By Dave Pehling

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The acclaimed resident ensemble for SFJAZZ offers up an array of socially conscious songs as part of a program entitled New Works Reflecting the Moment for four nights starting Thursday.

Founded in 2004, the SFJAZZ Collective has been a group with fluid membership that has included an array of jazz legends and rising young players from the Bay Area and beyond. Past players include such notables as saxophonists Joshua Redman, Joe Lovano and Miguel Zenón (a founding member who only left the group earlier this year), trumpet players Nicholas Payton, Dave Douglas and Avishai Cohen, vibraphonists Bobby Hutcherson and Stefon Harris, pianist Renee Rosnes and drummers Brian Blade and Eric Harland.

The group's current line-up features longtime tenor sax player David Sánchez and fellow saxophonist Chris Potter, trumpeter Etienne Charles, vibraphone player Warren Wolf, keyboard player Edward Simon, bassist Matt Brewer, drummer Kendrick Scott, and vocalists Gretchen Parlato and Martin Luther McCoy, a renowned SF soul singer and regular collaborator with the Roots and Cody Chestnutt.

While the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to live music at the SFJAZZ Center for months -- the Collective's last SF performances were for their lauded 50th anniversary renditions of the landmark albums In A Silent Way by Miles Davis and Stand! by Sly and the Family Stone -- the celebrated venue has returned to hosting concerts this fall with the resumption of San Francisco Jazz Festival performances and a full schedule of shows stretching into next spring.

The SFJAZZ Collective will be presenting new music reflecting the moment, addressing racial injustices, the global pandemic, and the unprecedented political polarization and upheaval we are facing in our daily lives.

In addition to original material written by individual members including a powerful tribute to George Floyd penned by Simon, the concert will also include new versions of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," Abbey Lincoln's "Throw it Away," "Lift Every Voice & Sing," and other tunes. This run of four shows at the SFJAZZ Center's Miner Auditorium through Halloween on Sunday will be recorded for a live album that will come out in Spring 2022..

SFJAZZ Collective plays New Works Reflecting the Moment
Thursday-Sunday, Oct. 28-31, 7:30 p.m. (7 p.m. Sun.) $25-$75
SFJAZZ Center