Are we there yet?

Watching and wondering as SFJAZZ veers toward the middle of the road for its spring season

By Alex K. Fong

› a&eletters@sfbg.com

This year's SFJAZZ Spring Season program, beginning March 17 and ending June 17, packs a surprise for listeners that strikes straight to the heart of this city's renowned festival: inclusiveness. While last season focused on an unprecedented survey of John Coltrane as post-bop and free jazz master, 2006 draws the likes of smooth jazz trumpeter Chris Botti and saxophonist David Sanborn (March 24, Masonic Center) in addition to the usual suspects: Latin jazz heroes, world beat masters, living legends, and contemporary powerhouses. It's obvious SFJAZZ executive director Randall Kline and spring season artistic director Joshua Redman are making a play straight to the middle with Botti and Sanborn while disregarding what the hardcore, porkpie-hat contingent or the free-floating skronksters might think.

Yes, Wal-Mart music shoppers now have their own musical representation in between the straight-ahead jazzers and the rule-breaking experimentalists.

THE MIDDLE WAY

Mainstream artists like Botti and Sanborn are unusual to consider in the context of a city like San Francisco, where every direction has a following except the middle. One would think SFJAZZ would attempt to reach out to the different communities living here. Bringing pianist, composer, and HIV activist Fred Hersch back to SF would have promoted jazz in the LGBT community while making artistic sense in light of his wonderful 2005 release, Leaves of Grass (Palmetto). And aside from a slew of vocalists, SFJAZZ Collective's skilled pianist Renee Rosnes appears to be the only female instrumentalist in this year's clubhouse.

Botti and Sanborn also represent a complex split in the jazz community. Many musicians accept their approach as lighthearted packages of improvised music. But others have derided their efforts. In a March 2005 Down Beat magazine piece about Botti, for instance, trumpeter David Weiss called the music "insipid." If Botti and Sanborn's show fails to be artistically successful, the SFJAZZ Spring Season could lose some of its hard-earned cachet.

Still, the question remains: Do Botti and Sanborn make musical sense? Unlike their records, they are not easy to dismiss. Both musicians earn accolades for their shows and bands, which feature the likes of guitarist Mark Whitfield, drummer Billy Kilson, and recent NPR-darling pianist Billy Childs. Furthermore, Sanborn's distinctive tone and touch on the saxophone continues to intrigue, just as Botti eschews the velvet-wallpaper approach of his albums for more in-the-moment improvisations when performing live.

Even so, both will always retain detractors who will view their appearance as a success only if it heightens jazz awareness in San Francisco. That's not likely, given the continued decline of jazz record sales and live audiences, even with Botti and Sanborn in the picture.

A BIG TENT

Happily, SFJAZZ's other choices are almost no-brainers. Redman continues to support the legacy of pianist Keith Jarrett's celebrated American Quartet, which included bassist Charlie Haden, drummer Paul Motian, and Dewey Redman, Joshua's saxophone-playing father. This year includes a rare solo performance — at least nowadays — by Jarrett (March 19, War Memorial Opera House) and a separate concert by the senior Redman's quartet, in honor of his 75th birthday (April 30, Herbst Theatre). Even with the multiple Haden performances in the 2003 season, no charge of favoritism should be levied on Redman, as these musicians remain in jazz's current vanguard. Jarrett's performance, in particular, should bring an early season highlight. As his well-known 1975 album, The Köln Concert (ECM), illustrates, solo concerts draw out some of Jarrett's best playing with trademark allusions to gospel, frequent forays into dense contrapuntal passages, and unbelievably loud moans of ecstasy.

In late March, the spirit of New Orleans makes an appearance. Pianist Ellis Marsalis (March 25, Herbst Theatre), the pedagogical father figure of many New Orleans musicians, including Harry Connick Jr. and real-life son Wynton Marsalis, plays with his quartet. Rising trumpet star Irvin Mayfield also appears with his New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (March 31, Palace of Fine Arts Theatre). With these selections, SFJAZZ honors the birthplace of jazz without resorting to easy evenings of tributary platitudes that could detract from the season's overall aesthetic integrity.

The sounds of the world at large also make a dynamic splash. Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava appears with his fellow countryman, pianist Stefano Bollani (April 7, Herbst Theatre). Just like Botti, Rava is a Miles Davis stylist. But unlike Botti, Rava's four-decade-long career has spanned trips into free jazz, post-bop, and chamber jazz, and his consistent excellence as a composer has kept him from being pegged as a one-trick pony. As for music from the other side of the globe, the recent passing of conga master Ray Barretto, and subsequent cancellation of his show, has left it up to the reed-playing, former Irakere member Paquito D'Rivera and his quintet (June 11, Herbst Theatre) to represent Latin jazz. Of course another master of the genre comes earlier in the season — Gonzalo Rubalcaba (May 12, Herbst Theatre) — but his solo performance will likely include, if not focus on, straight-ahead jazz.

Best of all, the SFJAZZ Collective returns (April 15 and 16, Herbst Theatre) for their third year with new Herbie Hancock arrangements, new compositions, and more refined chemistry. What they decide to pull out of Hancock's stylistically diverse catalogue will be a treat for straight-ahead and even free jazz lovers.

But the Wal-Mart shoppers will be disappointed. *

SFJAZZ SPRING SEASON

Starts March 17

Go to www.sfjazz.org for a complete list of showtimes.