The best jazz concert you have been 2

[realtothebone]

What is the best Jazz concert that you have ever been 2. I would like to hear from other members on who the artist was, the time and place and what made it so special.
The Best concert that I have the privilage to experience was with George Duke, Kirk Whalum and Rachell Farrel. It was in Houston at the Arena Theatre, and what made it so special was those 3 and the performance that they put on. The setting was cool with the rotating stage but they really put themselves into the show.

[Yogi McCaw]

Joe Zawinul was the Sh-t. Excuse my French, but there's just no other way to say it. THE consummate world jazz musician. I became a Weather Report fan at age 14 in 1974 when I saw a copy of "I Sing the Body Electric" on sale at a record shop and scooped it up because in liked Ray Bradbury and sci-fi. Man, was I in for a treat.

Then I heard the very first Weather Report Record, self-titled, or called "MIlky Way" depending on whether you got the American or European release. I LOVE the early Weather Report - the lid was totally off on their creativity. Here's one of my favorite WR videos - it is of a studio session of "Directions" in 1972 in Berlin. I was even living there at the time because I'm a military brat, but I was back in the states before I actually knew who they were.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ucVEWbwsWk&feature=related

Zawinul is like some kind of magical wizard, and the way he and Wayne lead the group is nothing short of amazing. Also check out Dom Um Ramao, the Brazilian percussionist in this tune playing everything but the friggin' kitchen sink! Not only that, but Miroslav is in this video too. You can OD on the creative improv in this vid. Not to mention TJN's own Alphonze Mouzon!

[T.J. Franklin]

My favorite Jazz artist to see, so far, has been Pat Metheny (and his group), at The Paramount Theatre in Seattle Washington. The Music, and vibe was incredible, and you could hear a pin drop when the Band came down, and vamped. Also seeing Joe Sample at Jazz Alley was great, my keyboard player at the time, and I sat six feet away, behind the Piano, so he could see the block chords Joe was playing, etc. I'm looking forward to seeing Marcus Miller with DJ Logic at The Triple door in Seattle on April 23rd 2008, I Love Marcus, and will be paying the utmost attention all night, as I am a Bassist as well. My conga player bought us tickets last night, and I'm very pumped.
Love and infinite Peace,
T.J. Franklin
HunkaFunk

[Pete]

The best jazz concert I've ever attended was the memorial to Charlie Parker at Carnegie Hall after his death in 1955. Everyone from Monk to Dizzy was there. Lennie Tristano also made a rare appearance. Sammy Davis Jr., who at the time, was on Broadway doing Mr. Wonderful, made a memorable appearance. It was just an unbelievable night that lasted three or four hours. And, to boot, we had front row seats.

[Sue Auclair]

Miles at Kix in 1981. It was his big comeback after a long hiatus. I handled the press for this and it was an electrifying four-day run with 2 shows a night that sold out before the tickets could be printed [in those days you had to PRINT tickets]. Miles drove up in his yellow Ferrari accompanied by Cicely Tyson. The show was amazing, electrifying and groundbreaking because of the excitement surrounding his comeback. Marcus Miller was on bass, Bill Evans on sax, Mike Stern on guitar, Al Foster on drums, Mino CInelu on percussion.

[Camilla Sanders]

I hate to sound like a broken record and repeating what others have written. Just goes to show how AMAZING they are. Ahmad at the Iridium- I can't even tell you which time because he's stunning. Elvin's birthday at the Blue Note. Seeing one of Anita O'Day's last performances at Fez is also up there for me for historical reasons.

[TIMKAT Entertainment, Inc]

Oh wow ......... this is a good thread and a tough one, but I'd have to say that it was Harry Connick, Jr and his big band at Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, MO, in the spring/summer of 1990. I was only 17 and it changed my musical life -- he helped me to truly take jazz piano "seriously" and want to learn to play. I was in the first row, House Left, so I pretty much sat right behind Mr. Connick all night .... dreamed.... and drooled (;

Best,
Kathryn

[Yogi McCaw]

The best show I ever saw was Hermeto Pascoal, whose Grupo I have had the pleasure of seeing three times (it's very rare for him to come to the USA).

The first time I saw him was with one of my current mentors, Jovino Santos Neto playing piano for him (Jovino was in The Grupo for 15 years). I think it might have been 1991. He did his famous trick of putting a euphonium mouthpiece on a teapot partially filled with water. He controlled the notes by maneuvering the teapot lid and varying the strength of his breath. His command over the notes was amazing. They were playing a fast samba tempo, and he was NOT GLISSING any half-steps in his runs, I am here to testify that.

The band was the tightest I had ever seen . I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

But I did a little research and found out why. Hermeto rehearses the Grupo, it turns out, 6 hours a day five days a week when they aren't touring. Then at night they all go do their sideman gigs or jam sessions, whatever. These guys are either asleep (only a few hours a day I guess!) or playing music in Rio.

The next time I saw them was twice in one day, when Jovino arranged for them to come to Seattle during John Gilbraith's Earshot Jazz Festival (I think in 2003 or -4). I saw them at a workshop at Cornish School of the Arts, where Jovino had taken a faculty position after moving to Seattle in 1992.

When Jovino introduced Hermeto (then 65 years old), he immediately starting making an awful wheezing sound. I thought he might be having some kind of attack or something. Then the wheezing became a melody, and then Hermeto suddenly coughed up - a children's whistle! Turns out one of his musical talents is making instruments out of children's toys.

After one song, I think one person asked a question, and then it was like no one could talk, so we said, "Just play, Hermeto - the talking is useless compared to your music". So we got a ninety minute show for free there.

Later that night, he was performing at a festival venue, and he showed off one of his other talents - making musical instruments from metals. It turns out Hermeto's father was a metal smith, and Hermeto's earliest musicial experiences were making percussion instruments out of stuff he found in the metal shop.

Here he had two industrial metal pipe sections given to each band member, each cut to length to make a musical note when banged on the floor. Since he had six band members, that meant he had all twelve notes. Apparently he had composed music for this, so the band band played a piece on the pipes.

I have also seen videos of Hermeto with his Grupo in the mountains in Brazil, with compositions he had arranged for coke-bottle blowing (with differing amounts of water in them, and making percussion by slapping the water in a mountain pool near a waterfall.

I am not talking about jamming or just slapping the water. Anyone who knows Hermeto's music knows he uses complex tonalities and precise rhythms in his music. He had composed ensemble pieces for all this stuff.

Hermeto is on Miles' Live-Evil record, where he has contributed two cuts Sivad, and Little Church (one of which is erroneously atrributed to Miles on the credits). Apparently Airto had told Hermeto about Miles' group in the late sixties/early seventies and helped bring Hermeto to NYC. Miles has called Hermeto one the world's greatest musical geniuses. He asked Hermeto to join his group. Hermeto declined because he was busy with his own music in Rio.

I had never heard of anyone turning down a chance to be in Miles group before. I understand the decision, because listening to his music, it is clear that he had his own inner genius to express. But also it is the reason most Americans don't know who he is, since he didn't live in America for any length of time.

Hermeto is a master pianist in Brazilian classical, indigenous, and popular styles. His first instrument besides percussion was accordion, and he plays with equal virtousity bandoleon and guitar, many different types of horns and saxes, drumset, and all the Brazilian percussion instruments.

[Pete]

You probably already know this. Anyway, you -tube has a wealth of good videos available of Hermeto. If you've not already seen them, I'm sure you'll enjoy.

[Yogi McCaw]

Yeah, and my roomate/bassist downloads everything he can find on Hermeto. We're both students of Jovino here in Seattle. There's a great torrent Brazilian archive site called Loronix (I'm not sure about the spelling). All kinds of rare stuff is there. The guy is incredibly knowledgeable about the history of Brazilian music. It's a whole universe of music unto itself.

[Ray Mabalot]

A few years ago I had the fortune to hear Herbie's "New Directions" band in Naples, Fl. Herbie, M. Brecker, J. Patitucci, R. Hargrove and B. Blade. It was awesome. It was way over the heads of a lot of the attendees there, half of who walked out at intermission! Later, Ray

[Brad Smith]

In recent history, I have to say Chris Botti when he appeared in Princeton at McCarter Hall. The sound was CD perfect, his attention to every detail and the music was flawless. Incredible evening all the way around. I wish it would not end.

As a note, Chris came down to meet a young student in the audience and played for him and encouraged all the youth attending to help keep Jazz alive. It was so cool.

[larry williams]

George Howard and Stanley Jordon at Chestnut Cafe in Philly in 1986. If you are familiar with this venue you know the players walk throught the crowd to get to their dressing room. This intimate atmosphere just added to the ambiance of this event. Great show! Great venue!