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SFAS & SFJAZZ First Event Report

Alón Sagee | Published on 3/4/2015

First of all, let me say, unequivocally, I had a great time going to see Taj Mahal with the 32 SFAS members who attended our inaugural event at the SFJAZZ Center. The wonderful feeling it left me with was of a beginning of something special… a community of audiophile friends who like to hear live music and now, through this first collaboration with SFJazz, have the added social incentive of a group outing. At our next show in the SFAS Concert Series, we won’t be doing a reception so we’ll have time to meet for dinner beforehand or drinks afterwards. Above everything else, I’ll remember the smiles, the warmth of being with kindred spirits, not to mention the satisfaction of being able to openly talk audio and sound at a concert, with people who get it — without having to adjust or apologize for loving to discuss the acoustic signature as well as the music and performance.

I imagine that SFJazz Technical Director Michael Graphix (yes, his real name) who gave us an extensive and detailed acoustic design tour of the hall, has rarely, if ever, been surrounded by an audience of knowledgable audiophiles peppering him with good questions! I loved that he didn’t have to dumb it down and answered every question fully. He was very impressive in his knowledge, and our group, well, we ate it up, didn’t we?!

As for my impressions of the concert, well, go figure… on the night I most wanted to have everything work, the sound was pretty bad, certainly the worst I’ve ever heard at SFJazz. I don’t think it was the venue’s fault, but it was too loud at times, and badly mixed at others… I wanted to strangle the sound man (it wouldn’t have been hard to sneak up behind him because he was obviously deaf). So when things are totally out of my control, I just switch into non-audiophile mode and sway in my seat to the familiar music I love.

I’m a lifelong fan of Taj, and I enjoyed the concert and the overall experience, but honestly, after 50 years on stage, Mr. Mahal is showing some signs of burn-out. To add to that, Taj’s “band” sounded like a couple of session musicians that were just sitting in with little to contribute except a rhythm. Their sound was uninspiring — and the songs, which I have been singing in the shower for years, were sounding kinda all the same to me (except for my favorite part when he played electric piano, mostly with one hand. To my ears, THAT sounded really good!). I’ve learned a long time ago to not compare live, amplified music to my stereo system. Usually, the concert doesn’t stand a chance in sound quality against my set-up, for many reasons that we can talk about another time.

Many years ago, I happened to be at the ballet (my first and only such venture) and it turned out to be Rudolph Nureyev’s last performance. His fellow dancers had to literally drag him around the stage through his sequences, which was heart-breaking. You gotta know when to quit a long and outstanding career while you’re still on top. It feels that this may be close to Taj’s final tour in a remarkable run… and despite what he called his “old man walk” and his somewhat monotone performance, it wasn’t heartbreaking — so I’m glad to have had the opportunity to see the iconic elder play one last time.

Such are the dangers of live music, and so it will be with any venue. Overall, I’ve never heard a better one than SFJAZZ, and our next show in the concert series is going to be in May with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a young, vibrant African-American String Band led by the the wonderful Rhiannon Giddens. Stay tuned for reservation details.

Thank you to all who came out to play! More coming… we’re just getting started.

Cheers,

Alón

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