Monday, September 18, 2017

The Bleeding Edge: 9/18/2017

This week’s column is a bit more balanced between events previously announced and “new additions.” Here is a hyperlinked chronologically-ordered list of those events that have already been discussed:
September 18: The duo gig by Peter Brötzmann and Donald Robinson at The Chapel.
September 20: The Raga Jazz Messengers, a subgroup of Brooklyn Raga Massive at the Center for New Music
September 21: Dark ambient music in the LSG Creative Music Series
September 24 (part of the first “weekend of choices” of the season): The fifth anniversary celebration of the Stranded record label at The Lab
Three events remain. Unfortunately, they take place on only two days, one of which has already been listed above and the other a part of that “weekend of choices.” Specifics are as follows:

Wednesday, September 20, 7 p.m., SFJAZZ Center: Readers may have noticed that I tend to shy away from the SFJAZZ Center. More specifically, I have a variety of issues with Miner Auditorium; and this is not the place to air them. On the other hand I have been consistently satisfied with the conditions in the more modest Joe Henderson Lab. So I feel it important to bring attention GoGo Penguin, a jazz trio from Manchester (in England) consisting of pianist Chris Illingsworth, bassist Nick Blacka, and drummer Rob Turner. This is a group with a solid sense of jazz history, which honors some of the great trios of the past led by masters such as Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, and Ahmad Jamal. However, their own approach to jazz reflects influences from both the classical repertoire and contemporary electronic music.

This group has scheduled four performances. Three are already sold out, and the first show on Wednesday is already listed as “Almost Sold Out.” The SFJAZZ Web site has an event page for purchasing tickets online in advance. Considering the demand, this is probably the best way to try to get a ticket. All tickets are $30. The SFJAZZ Center is located at 201 Franklin Street, on the northwest corner of Fell Street.

Wednesday, September 20, 8 p.m., Peacock Lounge: This event will be a “curatorial takeover” by Dania Stacian. As usual the performing groups in the four sets have names whose level of interest will probably rival the music itself. The featured performer will be Alexa Burrell, a local sound and visual artist who performs as LEXAGON. The other sets will be taken by WOE, Kim West’s new Famous Techno project, and the rhythmic electronic noise of Type - B.

The Peacock Lounge is located in the Lower Haight at 552 Haight Street. Doors will open at 7:45 p.m. Admission will be $5 and will be restricted to those age 21 or older.

Saturday, September 23, 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., SFJAZZ Center: Another event worthy of attention at the Joe Henderson Lab will be a visit from Tim Berne’s Snakeoil. This is a group that grew out of an album by Berne of the same name that was released on ECM. Since then the group itself has been called Snakeoil and has released several more albums, the most recent of which, Incidentals, has its cover shown on the SFJAZZ event page. Berne leads on alto saxophone. The other members are Oscar Noriega on clarinets, Ryan Ferreira on electric guitar [updated 9/19, 2:15 p.m.: SFJAZZ removed Ferreira's name from the personnel list on the event page], Matt Mitchell on piano and electronics, and Ches Smith on diverse percussion. In this case tickets are still available for both of the concerts and may be purchased online in advance through hyperlinks on that event page. All tickets are again $30.

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