SFJazz Collective

We caught them at the SFJazz Center last night during their four-day fall residency. With this octet, you pretty much get what you expect: modern jazz playing of the very highest order. It is not exactly a working band, because they come together only intermittently, but it is not a one-shot all-star band either. The music, composed or arranged by band members for the group, is complex and seems to be exceedingly difficult. I say that both because it sounds really hard to play, and because even these guys, the best in the business, look like they are sweating some of the changes and time signatures.

Minor complaints: I wanted more swing, and more Latin groove, and I especially wanted longer, looser solos from these masters. But minor. The band is definitely worth seeking out. For me, the revelation was Warren Wolf on vibes. The guy plays with such velocity, precision, and harmonic inventiveness. But especially welcome was the bluesy feel of his solos... not so easy on the vibes, and reminiscent of Milt Jackson. He is a worthy successor to Bobby Hutcherson, who was with the Collective last time I heard them.

Mt. Davidson

Botanically speaking, San Francisco's Mt. Davidson is kind of a disaster, much of it overgrown with invasive English ivy, thickets of weedy blackberries, privet, and eucalyptus trees. Still, it's a primal place, sticking up from the middle of the city, with the chilly marine mist blowing through the tall trees and across the twisted outcroppings of red Franciscan chert.

When and if the fog clears a little, the views from the top are splendid. And the lichen-lover will not be disappointed...

Here's another thing that doesn't change...

... kid-drawn stick figures. This one from medieval Russia. Interestingly, if you add up the fingers, they appear to have the correct number between them.

“Doctrine doesn’t change, but it is understood in a deeper manner”

So said Cardinal Reinhard Marx, chairman of the German bishops’ conference, with reference to the wishy-washy conclusion of the synod on the family. May the good Lord help them deepen their understanding sooner than later with respect to gays and divorce, not to mention the role of women in the Church and society...

Helping industries

Here's a very nice piece of righteous indignation from Dean Baker about Airbnb and related sharing services. Like Baker, I have read my Adam and believe in mutually beneficial exchange as the cornerstone of a modern economy. But even Adam thought trade should occur within a structure of rules, and it seems reasonable that everyone should follow the same rules when operating in the same markets. His little analogy about Sovaldi allows him to ride one of his favorite hobbyhorses once again, but it has a particularly nice sting in this context.

What Paul K said...

In Defense of Obama...
I'd say Paul kind of lets him off the hook on the security state stuff. But on the whole the assessment seems fair and accurate to me. Who would have done better?

More El Paso!

Another outstanding version of my favorite song!

 

Snakes... eek!

I remember reading somewhere that human nightmares about snakes may be hardwired from our earlier evolutionary days avoiding lethally venomous bites. I find snakes really cool and admirable... I seek them out when I am hiking– even rattlesnakes– at a respectful distance. But I do have snaky nightmares, which are genuinely scary. Still, they are most extraordinary creatures. The sidewinder is one of nature's exquisite dancers. Watching the ugly, ungainly robot try to emulate the motion can only increase one's admiration...

Pre-def TV

The NY Times predicts that it will be a few years before most folks own a 4K, ultrahigh-def TV, but own them they will. "According to the Consumer Electronics Association, it took six years of high definition TVs being on the market — from 2003 to 2009 — before 50 percent of American households had them. Now, nearly 90 percent of households have one."

I'm in that 10 percent residual. Indeed, our TV is not just low-def, but pre-def... a full-blown old-format, cathode-ray tube Sony Trinitron that I bought off Steve at work for $200 after his kid graduated to a flat-screen about a decade ago. It's a fine machine. It fires up with a guttural electronic thud, followed by the program audio, and some seconds later the picture, which is quite good if you ignore the cropping of anything wide-format. And really, who needs to see the weatherman gesticulating from stage right when the weather map is right there in the center of the screen? X-Files and Buffy were made to be seen on a device like this, and that's good enough for me.

my back 40 (feet) is back

I was delighted to discover that after about a year layoff, Chuck B. started blogging again in June: my back 40 (feet). He has not lost the knack for color and pattern in gardens and in his stomping grounds of Bernal Heights. Just check out the delphiniums here.

More shameless cat blogging

Hot in here today, especially if you have luxurious fur, but still nice to have a quick snuggle. This being an educational blog, I refer you to this information about cat coat genetics and how these two came to be such a lovely, motley pair...

Cat and beer blogging

Hardly original, I'm sure, but nonetheless it is Friday evening and I think I have earned the right. Satsu is cute as hell, and the beer, available at your local Trader Joe's and other purveyors of Lagunitas brews, is outstanding, dog label notwithstanding...

Iffy

I do like this tune, and I like the beard... though they could have turned up the mic on the clarinet.