For some reason, stars aligned and planets danced and I ended up with a goodly number of concerts to go see in the first half of the year, mostly as Christmas or birthday presents. I think this is the most number of shows in a short time frame that I’ve been to see since I lived in NY and went to multiple Schaefer Music Festival shows every summer.
Here’s what they were:

• Wayne Shorter Legacy Celebration, January 6th at SFJAZZ CenterIt was originally supposed to be Wayne’s great quartet, but he was recovering from an illness that precludes travel, so instead he was “honored by an amazing array of his peers… a wonderful group of his musical ‘family members’ [performing] music from his celebrated career along with his longtime band members.” We saw band members Brian Blade, Danilo Perez, and John Patitucci joined by Joshua Redman and Ambrose Akinmusire.
• Bill Frisell, January 25 at Kuumbwa JazzThe guitarist’s When You Wish Upon a Star project featured the group from his Grammy-nominated album of his arrangements/adaptations of music for film and television, with Petra Haden on vocals, Thomas Morgan on bass and Rudy Royston on drums.
• John Scofield with Lettuce, March 24 at SFJAZZ CenterLettuce is a monstrously good instrumental funk ensemble (thanks to Tom DeFiglio for turning me on to them a few years back). Scofield appeared as a special guest on their 2002 debut album Outta Here, and they’ve rejoined forces over the years. Lettuce consists of Eric Bloom (trumpet), Ryan Zoidis (saxophone), Adam Smirnoff (guitar), Nigel Hall (keyboards & vocals), Erick Coomes (bass), and Adam Deitch (drums).
• Kurt Rosenwinkel Standards Trio, April 14 at SFJAZZ CenterKurt Rosenwinkel presents a revised edition of his standards trio featuring Italian bass virtuoso Dario Deidda and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr., performing material from his 2009 album Reflections and new settings of timeless classics.
• Tedeschi Trucks Band, May 11 at the Fox Theater OaklandOne of my all-time favorite bands, and they just keep getting better as time passes.

Still to come is Snarky Puppy, May 30 at the Paramount in Oakland… a terrific Texas-bred/New York-based instrumental quasi-collective led by bassist and composer Michael League. “Snarky Puppy isn’t exactly a jazz band. It’s not a fusion band, and it’s definitely not a jam band.” Thanks to Jeff Nix for turning me on to these guys a few years back when they were more obscure.
And in the coming months there’s a few shows I’d like to catch, though I don’t have any tickets yet: Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, June 7 at the Fox Theater in Oakland, and Adrian Belew, September 17 and 18 at the Chapel in San Francisco…