SFJAZZ presents Fredericks Brown
2014-10-16
Joe Henderson Lab
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA
8:30 PM, Thursday, October 16, 2014

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

[8:35 PM lights down, introductions and hellos]

1. [8:36 PM] Empire City
2. [8:40 PM] If You'd Only Let Me
3. [8:47 PM] Make You Stay
4. [8:52 PM] What Lies Within
5. [8:58 PM] Can't Pretend
6. [9:04 PM] ?if you must run from me
7. [9:10 PM; +MC] Your Good Thing (Is About to End)
8. [9:17 PM] ?deceiver
9. [9:26 PM; -MC] I Can't Make You Love Me
10. [9:32 PM] Everybody Deserves to Be Free
    [show ends 9:38 PM, no encore]

Fredericks Brown

• Steph Brown: keyboards, harmony vox;
• Deva Mahal: vox, percussion;
  - with special guest -
• Mindy Canter: flute.

It takes lots of patience to deal with nasty traffic on the bridge approach to SF and then again while trying to get parked, but we have the entertaining distraction of an NLCS game tonight, as the SF Giants battle it out with the St. Louis Cardinals. Originally we'd planned to watch the game at Beer Hall, but the nightmare traffic has consumed most of our slack time, so we just sit in the car listening to the game on the radio. It's an exciting one, and we are riveted in place. Soon it's time to queue up for the show, so we walk over to SFJAZZ when the pitching change is announced in the top of the 9th. Two outs, bases loaded, and we're leaving? Yeah, cuz you know nothings gonna happen for a few minutes, and we plan to monitor via the Internet once we get to SFJAZZ. So we walk fast, enter the building and join the queue (second, yehah!) and then turn to see one of the usher's fist-pumping the air – affeldt got the job done, so now it's game tied, bottom of the 9th!

One major plus about attending late shows in the Henderson Lab is that you can watch the Early Show through the window while listening to it from the overhead speakers. It's not quite as good as being inside, of course, but I like getting a preview while I wait… makes it less of a chore!

Soon enough we heard about Ishikawa's walk off blast from the usher. A three run homer? Wow, what a way to go out! Most of the folks here in the lobby seemed oblivious, but the few who knew and cared we're slapping high fives and hopping up and down with joy. World Series, we're we come baby!

Shortly thereafter the early show ended and the crowd filed out, buzzing over how good the set had been. We stood waiting, and after another 10 min or so we were scanned and then entered the room. Only two front-row seats set aside for Leader's Circle donors tonight, so we had plenty to choose from. The woman in front of us took the second row aisle seats on my preferred Stage Right side, so we settled in behind her in the third row. Awesome! Fourth row in this room is also really good, but Ting prefers being closer for shooting photos. Yay! No stress with seating tonight, even though we still had to assert ourselves to keep wedgers from jumping the queue; par for the course, I suppose.

After waiting another 10 minutes or more, the soundman came up front to deliver the introductory announcements and call the band – touring as a duo this time out – on up to the stage. And with that, the late show began! Steph and Deva started out with Empire City a paean to New York. Might be good for getting the crowd on your side back home, but didn't really do anything to float my boat.

As the set continued, I became more engaged. Steph is a fine keyboard player, and she is especially good at laying down a funky groove with her right hand. Phat! Deva cut loose a little more with each song, and by Make You Stay she seemed fully involved: eyes closed, head tilted back, moaning for the lover lost. Steph chimed in now and then on harmony, adding another dimension to the sound, but focused mostly on steering the funky groove while sketching enough melody to keep us satisfied.

Deva possesses such a rich, clear voice that I was willing to overlook the fact that almost all of the tunes mined the same vein of heartbreak and lost love. Not my usual musical fare, but OK for an evening. Having seen Spoonful on a Youtube video of the band, and hearing them explain that these SF shows (first time ever on the West Coast!) were prompted by their participation in last week's Ultimate Rhythm and Blues Cruise, I was more than a little surprised that tonight's set omitted any blues tunes. Or jazz, for that matter, another surprise considering the venue! Hard to know what their thinking was, unless it was to stick with their strengths and stay inside whatever comfort zone the pair established as a duo. I noted that Deva never moved to pick up the acoustic guitar sitting onstage behind her, sticking instead to tambourine, clave, or pure, unadorned vocal sweetness.

Still, the funky drive to Your Good Thing _ was undeniable, and the addition of Mindy Canter on flute was a welcome treat. By the time they got to covering _I Can't Make You Love Me I was about ready to go into diabetic shock over the saccharine excess, but thankfully, they steered into a bit of uplifting gospel pop for the final tune, a rousong take of Everybody's Got to Be Free that got the crowd into a hand-clapping, foot-stomping frenzy.

And that was it! I'd hoped that we'd get an extra tune at the late show (EG2BF closed the early show too), but that was not to be. I definitely look forward to hearing Fredericks Brown again – especially if the next occasion includes a full band and a dance floor!

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