SFJAZZ presents a solo performance by Stanley Clarke
Robert M. Miner Auditorium
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
7:30 PM, Thursday, August 10, 2023

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[7:30 PM] {lights down; introduction from SBD; SC out and playing right away, starting on his Chinese contrabass}

1. [7:31 PM] India
   [7:34 PM] {greetings from SC; back- and fore-announcement of tune titles}
2. [7:35 PM] For Those Who Were There Before
   [7:40 PM] {brief introduction}
3. [7:40 PM] Take the Coltrane
   [7:45 PM] {SC swaps from his “new” Chinese contrabass to his ~250 year old classic}
4. [7:47 PM] “Irish Blues”
5. [7:54 PM] (unidentified tune #1)
6. [7:58 PM] (bowed piece)
7. [7:59 PM] “Right”
   [8:10 PM] {the crowd gives Stanley a standing ovation; Light as a Feather story; SC swaps back to the Chinese bass; Jimmy Garrison story}
8. [8:16 PM] Jimmy
9. [8:21 PM] For the Love of Money » (unidentified blues)
   [8:24 PM] {SC swap to his signature Alembic 4-string electric bass}
10. [8:25 PM] (medley of tunes)
11. [8:39 PM] (unidentified tune #2)
    [8:46 PM] {applause at end set; brief encore break}
    
    Encore
    [8:49 PM] {SC sort-of introduces the last tune}
12. [8:49 PM] “Irish Lullaby”
    [8:51 PM] {final applause; SC off; lights up shortly thereafter}
    [8:52 PM] {show ends}

• Stanley Clarke: contrabass, bass.

Stupidly, we left extra early tonight, and so arrived at SFJAZZ with about 45 minutes to kill. Doh! Would have been nice to hang out at home. Got think more and hustle less! Being early gives me time for catching up on notes though: that's good!

Faked myself out a second time by heading upstairs toward our usual seats by the soundboard, then pulled up the e-tix to see that we ought to use the main entrance instead. Double-doh! It'll be nice to sit up close tonight! My wiki tells me it's been just about 11 years since the last time I've seen Stanley: that one featured him in a trio with Chick Correa and Jack deJohnette at Yoshi's SF. Sure would be nice to see video of that!

The last thirty minutes of the show featured SC playing a very nice looking Alembic 4 string bass. I was surprised that the sound was kinda buzzy at first – maybe they didn't have time to iron out things like that in soundcheck? Anyways, it got better after a minute or so. I'd have liked to hear Stanley say a bit about the Alembic, but at this point if the show he wasn't talking much at all: just jamming away from one song into the next with hardly a breath or beat or pause for rest between them! A visit to the Alembic website tells me just enough to realize it would have been pretty dumb to shout out my question…

[9:14 PM] Now heading east after a short wait in Civic Center. Another night that proves the superiority of parking at West Oakland if you want to minimize your wait time!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2023 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2023 event list! ☸ On to the next event!