10/7: Vallejo's Jazz Giant Babatunde Lea and Friends
October 7, 9pm-Midnight, $10
Listen and Be Heard Poetry Cafe
818 Marin Street
Downtown Vallejo 94590
707-554-4540

In 2003, in an interview by Javier Antonio Quiñones Ortiz for allaboutjazz.com, our hometown master of percussion, Babatunde Lea, is qouted as saying: "After many years studying the rhythms of the African Diaspora, I have peeped that through many of the African cultures lies the understanding that there is no separation between mind, body and spirit. In fact, that is when health ensues. I contend that polyrhythms are a metaphor for universal culture. Polyrhythms are connected. So are we as human beings. We just dont fully realize it because it needs to be taught, just like one needs to be taught rhythms by a master drummer."

Yes folks, we need to be taught, and it is up to each of us to learn the lessons, or pay the price. What price? The price of lingering dissatisfaction, the price of regret, the price of boredom. I contend that the polyrhythms that Babatunde Lea refers to are not only heard, they are felt. But you have to take the steps leading to a place of community, where you can experience something real for yourself. When Tony and I opened the doors to Listen & Be Heard Poetry Café we made the commitment to support live jazz right here in Vallejo, to create a home for jazz musicians to come and be heard with the listener's respectful attention. We have been delivering on that promise every Saturday night when we feature live jazz with a poetry intermission. We have had several patrons exclaim that they "can't believe this is happening in Vallejo." But why shouldn't it be happening in Vallejo? It's happening in Tokyo. It's happening in Frankfurt and Amsterdam and Berlin and Paris. Why shouldn't it be happening in a place that has a rich history of Blues and Jazz musicians who were walking and playing these very streets? New Orleans knows its history, and has capitalized on it. If anything, it is its history more than anything else that will motivate people around the world to rebuild and preserve the city. Why shouldn't we be proud of our history and the musicians living among us? This particular Saturday will be extra special because we will be featuring seasoned masters.

You won't find him on television (yet), but Babatunde Lea is an internationally recognized performing artist. The truth is that the only reason you have the opportunity to hear him live and at a very reasonable price right here in Vallejo is because he lives here and makes the choice to support live Jazz here. Lea has forged a career steeped in the rhythms of the motherland of Africa and its Caribbean and South American Diaspora. Raised in New York and Englewood, New Jersey, he migrated westward to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960's. He was deservedly voted Jazz Musician of the year by SF Weekly in 2005. When he gets into the spirit, there is no denying feeling it. If you have never ventured out to a live jazz concert, this Saturday would be a perfect time for you to dip your toes in the water. You will not be disappointed. If you hold out with only the highest most discerning standards when it comes to Jazz, this will also be a night for you.

From All About Jazz: "We Are All Connected”
8:15pm - Garden Stage:

Babatunde Lea wastes no time as he takes his music back to the motherland. Hurling himself into action with his left hand on the congas and his right at the drum kit, he creates a rich carpet for Richard Howell's streetwise yet spiritual tenor sax. The pair look like brothers in their matching white robes and long dreadlocks, and it's easy to imagine them as shamen of a distant tribe.

But in a wink, the Afro-Cuban jam gives way to hip urban bop. Glen Pearson's piano mines an uptown groove as Howell begins to dig deeper. A passing airplane tries to obliterate Geoff Brennan's urgent bass solo—common hazard at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, which are adjacent to an airport— ut Brennan will not be denied as he sets up another black pearl of Afrocentric jazz. The crowd grows vocal in response, shouting encouragement to Lea's burning conga solo, their heads nodding as Howell tears into a searing line.

Later, Howell sums up the band's philosophy by leading the audience in a healing chant: “We are all connected / so we must treat each other right.” There's no doubt that they've treated the audience right.

This One Goes to Eleven!