Yoshi's & Yoshi's

It’s a music week! Tuesday night I performed with Bay Area based artist, Hyim, and his Fat Foakland Band at Yoshi’s in San Francisco. It was Hyim’s CD release concert, and the house was packed! Hyim performed alone for the first half of the first set, and ended the set with his trio, Josh Lippi and Derek Taylor, and a bassoon cameo by Ajayi Jacksonon Hyim’s beautiful tune “You Are Forgiven”. After a short break, Hyim returned to the stage, and one by one, the rest of the extended band, Pablo Soto Campoamor, Nate Mercereau and I, walked to our respective instruments during the song “Interpretation of Kind”. Hyim is a pianist, so learning the piano parts involved a higher attention to detail than is the norm for popular music (where the keyboardist can take more liberties and play freely within the genre). For example, on “Interpretation of Kind”, the piano part is a repeating ostinato arpeggiating 4 chords in 1/16th notes. It doesn’t stop. Ever. (For those of you who are not trained musicians, it’s a song that I jokingly referred to as the “carpal tunnel song”, because by the end, without proper technique, you’d strain a muscle!) To make it through the song, I just had to breathe deeply and stay relaxed. Phew!

We played a series of songs from Hyim’s new CD, “Sex In The Morning”, including his first single “Elation”. We didn’t play “Sunny Day”, which is one of my favorite songs (of course, given my happy personality!). We did perform my favorite of his songs “Let Out A Little Peace”, and the crowd joined us in the refrain. It was a good show, and I had a great time!

Wednesday night, for my upcoming birthday, I was treated to dinner and a concert featuring Chick Corea, Stanley Clarkeand Lenny White. I’d seen Chick perform many years ago, when my dad took me to the old Yoshi’s on Claremont in Oakland, but hadn’t seen him since. So, I was excited. Chick is one of my piano heroes. I am utterly enamored of his exquisite technique, lush musicality and precise rhythmic sensibilities. He didn’t disappoint last night. Throughout the performance, I just sat shaking my head in awe. All of the musicians were stunning, and seemed to being having so much fun! At one point, Chick referred to Lenny as “our ebullient percussionist”. Actually, they were all ebullient, and generous in their musical feast. I, for one, was filled with the spirit!

Me & Chick Corea!



Me & Stanley Clarke!

The next few days involve more performances of my own. Please check my calendar for details and come to the show! : >