SFJAZZ presents Chucho Valdés & the Afro-Cuban Messengers
2014-07-31
Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
7:30 PM, Thursday, July 31, 2014

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[7:m PM lights down, announcements by RM]

1. [7:37 PM] ?
2. [7:45 PM] ?
3. [7:55 PM] ? Chant to Oya
4. [8:08 PM] ?
5. [8:13 PM] ?
6. [8:28 PM] ?
   [set ends 8:38 PM]

[8:56 PM lights down, go!]

1. [8:56 PM] ?
2. [9:06 PM] ? People
3. [9:13 PM] ? (sounds like a mutated version of Rockit or another HH riff) #
4. [9:18 PM] ?
5. [9:28 PM] ?
6. [9:33 PM] ?
7. [9:48 PM] ? (add/Carlos del Puerto bass irakere; Ángel moves to percussion)
   [set ends 9:55 PM, bows and then off]
   [applause until 9:57 PM lights up – no encore]

• Dreiser Durruty Bambolé: bata, vox;
• Rodney Barreto Illarza: drums;
• Ángel Gastón Joya Perellada: contrabass, # bass;
• Yaroldy Abreu Robles: congas;
• Chucho Valdés: piano;
• with surprise special guest -
• Carlos del Puerto: contrabass.

Nasty traffic today heading up the peninsula, but everything worked out OK until I arrived at the Grove to find them overwhelmed by customers, and the wasted 30 minutes waiting for Ting to arrive. Tried walking around the block to Las Estrellas – no line, yeah! but only one overworked dude running the kitchen. So I stood there another 20 minutes waiting to order. Now 10 min left to get our food and eat, and I'm kind of pissed about it. Oh well. Sometimes things don't work out like you plan them. At least our tacos were huge. And quite tasty!

Got to the venue by cutting down Linden Alley, then slipping inside and upstairs to our usual perch up in the balcony. Full house tonight! Seems a little odd to me that there are no mics set up in the front line tonight – I guess that means more piano and drums instead of brass and horns in the mix.

The first set offers a good mix of ideas – lots of piano, of course, but what i mean is that they present a good range of styles, from Yoruban chant to strict classical, thrown into the blender with a bit of bebop and a touch of blues. Good listening for sure!

Ting comments after the show that she ended up enjoying the drumming more than the piano. I agree that in terms of pure entertainment, the drummers are certainly more fun to watch, but that's partly due to the nature of piano … most players sit with their back to the audience, or at an angle, making it harder to engage with them on a visual basis. Anyways, a good time! Glad they were able to reschedule the missed shows from January, six months wasn't all that long to wait!

Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!