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Quiet as it’s kept, too many of today’s finest jazz artists are given short shrift by an industry that seems to value product of a fleeting nature over true craft and a reverence for the jazz legacy. This makes it particularly challenging for a talent like Adam Shulman to break through to a wider audience. A fixture on the Bay Area scene since 2002, the pianist has a knack for accompanying singers such as Paula West and often performs as a duo with bassist John Witala. The past three years he has enthralled SFJazz audiences with his adaptation of Vince Guaraldi’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” For his new project, “West Meets East,” an all-star crew from the East Coast, including trumpeter Joe Magnarelli and trombonist Steve Davis, mates with Shulman’s West Coast sensibilities.
Cross Coltrane with The Clash and it would resemble the departure point Throttle Elevator Music leaps from on “Emergency Exit.” Tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington takes the lead and raises the bar of instrumental intensity on 16 original compositions, from shorter punk-minded 45-second flurries to thematic uptempo romps, and rounding out with a few expansionary journeys. Kamasi’s melodic tonality melds nicely into the electric undercurrent laid down by drummer/guitarist Mike Hughes, bassist/keyboardist/composer Matt Montgomery, composer/producer Gregory Howe and trumpeter Erik Jekabson.
Also this week, pianist and owner/operator of Smalls and Mezzrow jazz clubs Spike Wilner leads the SmallsLive All Stars, including trumpeter and Iowa native Ryan Kisor and saxophonist Joel Frahm, on “A Set of Originals”;
veteran drummer Berdard “Pretty” Purdie teams up with organist Ron Oswanski and bassist Christian Fabian for “Move On!”;
and saxophonist Grant Stewart recorded in the famous Rudy Van Gelder studio for his newest release, “Rise and Shine.”