SFJAZZ presents Yemen Blues
2014-08-10
Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
7:30 PM, Sunday, August 10, 2014

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

[7:36 PM lights down, announcements from Randall Kline]

1. [7:39 PM] Oxmo
2. [7:44 PM] Yaman 7/4
3. [7:50 PM] Gnawa
4. [8:00 PM] Gimbri Blues
5. [8:10 PM] ? (French tune; setlist says “Ballad” … maybe “Trape La Verite”)
6. [8:16 PM] ? (Oud tune; setlist says “Duet”)
7. [8:21 PM] Jat Mahibathi
   [set ends 8:32 PM]

[8:55 PM lights down, band onstage]

1. [8:55 PM] Butality
2. [9:00 PM] Gimbri Fast = ? Insaniya
3. [9:11 PM] Eli
   [set ends 9:22 PM, Ravid exits, followed by the band]
    
   Encore
4. [9:22 PM] [banter]
5. [9:26 PM] Zion
   [show ends 9:35 PM]

Yemen Blues

• Shanir Blumenkranz: bass, oud, harmony vox;
• Itamar Borochov: trumpet, harmony vox;
• Kenny Grohowsky: drums;
• Ravid Kahalani: gimbri, lead vox.
• Mathias Kunzli: percussion;
• Hailey Niswanger: tenor saxophone;
• ?: keyboards, harmony vox.

Turns out that GA dance floor tix were perfect for us, since we arrived early, then got seats in the center of the second row up off the floor – perfectly situated for looking over the heads of the dancers – or for dancing ourselves during the latter part of the show.

The band turned in a good, high energy performance, though it seemed like the second half was a trifle short overall, and also a bit too samey samey by the end for my ears (how's that for contradictory complaints!) – I guess there's only so much of that one-chord trance groove that I can take before my brain heads off to look for harmony and melody somewhere else. Dunno if I'll see 'em again next time, but I'll definitely be attending more SFJAZZ dance shows!

For what it's worth, I should mention (in case it's not obvious from the pic!) that the setlist is more or less speculative, based on the one placed at Shanir's seat onstage. Note that the personnel list as originally posted on the SFJAZZ website does NOT match the folks who showed up this past Sunday – I've made changes that I'm confident about – with help from Rusty Aceves at SFJAZZ – and maybe they'll eventually post corrected information to fill in that last unknown.

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