more great jazz in San Francisco

One really positive aspect of moving to the bay area is getting to see one of my favorite musicians, Myra Melford, perform so often. On saturday she did a duo performance with saxophonist/clarinetist Marty Ehrlich at The Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco. Even though it took longer than driving, I took the BART there, which involved nearly two miles of walking to & from BART stops. But I really love public transporation, particularly the BART. While there are so many ways in which it could be improved (more destinations, more frequent trains, longer hours), and it pales in comparison to the New York subway, I still love it. I would much rather take the extra time and not worry about driving and parking and just enjoy the ride while people watching and/or reading. One of these days I will bring my bike on the BART and bike around San Francisco.

But I digress; this is a post about music, not public transportation. The Noe Valley Ministry is a church in the Noe Valley neighborhood (just west of the Mission) that has been hosting a jazz/new music series for ages. It's a beautiful sounding room with a really nice grand piano. I had seen this duo one other time, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in my last visit to New York just after 9/11. I enjoyed that show but left thinking that this duo didn't rank near the top of my list of favorite Myra Melford projects. Well, Saturday's show changed that opinion. It was a fantastic performance that surpassed my expectations with some wonderful new compositions from both musicians. After the show Myra offered me a ride back to Berkeley, so I rode back with her & Marty after we all stopped for gelato in SF. I had met Marty once before but never spent time with him; he's a really cool guy. I'll never forgot the story he told about Leroy Jenkins, the jazz violinist who passed away earlier this year:

Years, ago, probably in the 60's, Leroy Jenkins was staying with Ornette Coleman when Leroy was just starting out in the jazz world. But Ornette kept on calling him Leon and Leroy didn't say anything, thinking he didn't want to risk blowing this great deal of getting to stay with a legend like Ornette. Finally Leroy just couldn't take it anymore and after Ornette once again called him Leon, Leroy finally says "Ornette, you know my name is Leroy". Ornette pauses and says "I'm sorry Leon, I'll never call you Leroy again".