SFJAZZ presents the Raffi Garabedian Octet performing the Crazy Dog
Joe Henderson Lab
SFJAZZ Center, 205 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94102 USA
6:00 PM, Sunday, November 19, 2023

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

[6:00 PM] {house announcements, performers out; MS begins on flute}

1. [6:02 PM] The Armenian Question
2. [6:05 PM] A Mother's Letter
   [6:10 PM] {greetings from RG}
3. [6:11 PM] Escape to Erzurum
4. [6:19 PM] The Closet Playwright
   [6:27 PM] {RG partial band introduction; MS swaps from flute to tenor saxophone}
5. [6:28 PM] Three Gold Liras (RG) » [6:30 PM] {MS swap back to flute} »
6. [6:34 PM] (vibraphone solo) » [6:36 PM] March 17, 1927 » [6:40 PM] {MS swap back to tenor saxophone} »
7. [6:43 PM] Ten Acres
8. [6:46 PM] First Trip to Fresno (1931)
9. [6:53 PM] Contrapuntal Bewilderment
   [6:59 PM] {set ends; Raffi introduces everyone, then we bolt for Miner Aud…}

• Rashaan Carter: bass;
• Mark Clifford: vibraphone;
• Raffi Garabedian: tenor saxophone, vox;
• Ben Goldberg: clarinet;
• Danny Lubin-Laden: trombone;
• Sean Mullins: drums;
• Marcus Stephens: tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute.
• Danielle Wertz: vox;

Tonight's opening show was quite interesting. The biographical subtext – the story of Raffi's family's immigration from Turkish Armenia to California a century ago – made for an interesting lyrical base, while the large ensemble allowed for lots of variation in sound textures. I was a little disappointed that Scott Amendola was replaced by Sean Mullins – one of those unannounced changes between onsale and the performance date – but given that Sean was the drummer on Raffi's 2022 recording of this material, maybe that was a change for the better? My compliments to Mark Clifford: I really enjoyed his contirbutions tonight!

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!