Listen & Be Heard Weekly Archives

This past weekend on the first two days of June 2007, I read the San Francisco Chronicle?Äôs reportage of the recent complaints and explanations involving the ?ÄúLive At Yoshi?Äôs: Anniversary Compilation?Äù CD. The complaints regarding this recording are centered on the fact that ?Äúno African American musicians were involved.?Äù (All quoted material is from the June 1, 2007 article by Leslie Fulbright and the June 2, 2007 follow-up story by Jesse Hamlin and Steven Winn.)

Here is the CD?Äôs list of songs and performers: ?ÄúTurn Around?Äù by Marian McParland, ?ÄúDoxy?Äù by Joe Pass, ?ÄúCherokee?Äù by Joey DeFrancesco, ?ÄúLisa?Äù by Pancho Sanchez, ?ÄúThis Is Heaven To Me?Äù by Madeleien Peyroux, ?ÄúAutumn Leaves?Äù by DeFrancesco, ?ÄúIn A Sentimental Mood?Äù by McParland, ?ÄúWhat Is This Thing Called Love??Äù by Pass, ?ÄúHelp The Poor?Äù by Robben Ford, and ?ÄúGuaripumpe?Äù by Sanchez. According to Hamlin and Winn?Äôs article, eight of these tracks were originally the property of Concord Records and the other two were from the live archives of the legendary jazz radio station KFOG.

Yoshi?Äôs artistic director Peter Williams explained the decision-making process regarding the choices. “That was the easiest, quickest thing to do,” said Williams. “We assumed Concord would have the most music recorded live at Yoshi’s.” He also mentioned a new CD would be released and would include, according to Hamlin and Winn, ?ÄúAfrican American musicians recorded live at Yoshi’s on such labels as Verve, MaxJazz and Blue Note. That will involve more elaborate negotiations for rights and licensing fees.?Äù The self-distributed disc, available only at Yoshi?Äôs website and not at stores, was withdrawn after selling 500 of the original batch of 1,000 copies. Finally, Yoshi?Äôs owner Kaz Kajimura weighed in with an apology to anyone offended by the choice of musicians: “This was done on the spur of the moment, and we didn’t have a lot of time and research to put into it.”

Easiest and quickest? Involve more elaborate negotiations for rights and licensing fees? Didn’t have a lot of time and research? Who are you guys trying to kid?

This CD was a quick buck. Pure and simple. Concord Records was willing to pony up some tunes for their share of any revenues generated from sales, while the above-mentioned labels (and likely there were more of them involved than Verve, MaxJazz and Blue Note) were not willing to share any live tracks for the cut offered by Yoshi?Äôs.

This CD could have been one of the greatest jazz CDs ever released. A collection, for example, of only highlights from McCoy Tyner?Äôs annual two-week residencies at the club would have jazz aficionados eager and willing to spend their money. There?Äôs a suggestion that didn?Äôt take a lot of time and research, Kaz.

It was not a huge surprise to realize one of the most venerated jazz clubs in THE WORLD was going to have a ten-year anniversary, was it? This project could have originated, for example, five years ago. Imagine the stockpile of brilliant music that could have been assembled from Yoshi?Äôs gigs during 2002 to 2007 alone. How much time and research does ?Äúplanning?Äù require? Please.

At the heart of this CD, however, is fatigue. Tired old music. (Full disclosure: I have not heard this CD, due to both its removal from the marketplace and a general lack of interest in collections like this one.) I mean no disrespect to anyone whose music is included on this collection (Incidentally, although none of the bandleaders are black, are any of the musicians who played WITH them? Or is that aspect somehow unimportant?), but these songs and these musicians have reached the unavoidable status of overfamiliarity thanks to decades of work.

Does the jazz audience really need another mainstream jazz version of ?ÄúCherokee?Äù or ?ÄúAutumn Leaves?Äù? Or to put it another way: last year DeFrancesco released a CD on Concord Records titled ?ÄúOrganic Vibes?Äù (reviewed in L&BH Volume 3, Issue 1). Wouldn?Äôt something original from that CD (maybe the organist?Äôs composition ?ÄúThe Tackle?Äù) have served this collection better by showing a different version of a recorded piece of music by a gifted musician who could demonstrate why jazz is worth hearing for its gifts of swing, thematic development, and unexpected moments of surprise?

If ?ÄúCherokee?Äù absolutely must be included in a jazz collection, why not give someone like James Carter a chance to elaborately negotiate his unique way through a version of it? Why not feature some Oakland-based acts like UpSurge! or Khalil Shaheed?Äôs Mo?ÄôRockin Project? Vallejo has a pretty good local drummer named Babatunde Lea ?Äì how about his band? All of them have played at Yoshi?Äôs; couldn?Äôt your disc have included them, maybe even as a way to mix the old with the new? There was probably a better-than-average chance of getting all of the above-mentioned musicians on your anniversary CD. Did you even try?

Time and research. Nice.

For information regarding the purchase of this CD, check www.ebay.com on a regular basis. It will be there eventually. As for me, I?Äôm gonna pass. And I don?Äôt mean ?ÄúJoe Pass.?Äù

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