Stanford Jazz Festival

I received complimentary tickets and event invite as part of a Unilocal promotion.
This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed listening to some great musical talent. I only wish we were allowed to bring our snack purchases (from the lobby) into the theater. Oh well…

Thanks to Unilocal I got the complimentary ticket to the Ruth Davies’ Blues Night featuring Henry Butler at the Stanford Jazz Festival.
The music and performers lineup was great, especially the headliner Henry Butler. I don’t usually listen to blues but the music was very upbeat and Butler plays great jazz piano, which I love. You would definitely not fall asleep during this concert and may even feel tempted to stand up and dance at your seat. I thought about that and was amazed that everybody could still sit still at the concert hall.
This concert would probably work well as an outdoor concert so that people don’t have to sit down to enjoy the music.
The only «complaint» I have is for the festival organizers to put more signs of the festival on campus. I got lost as my phone navigation sent me to the wrong spot. When I asked students on campus they sent me to another location one mile away from where I was. But they were wrong too. So eventually I googled the driving directions from Stanford website on my phone and got there and saw that the signs were only on one side of the road. So if people were coming from the opposite direction they would not see any signs. **sigh** so I missed the pre-​concert cocktail hosted by Unilocal.
Other than the above, great concert and efforts put up by the organizers to introduce and promote jazz music.

Warning: You may experience symptoms of uncontrollable head-​bobbing.
I don’t usually listen to jazz, but I received complimentary tickets and event invite as part of a Unilocal promotion. I couldn’t get off work in time to pregame at the reception, but my friend and I made it just in time for the concert!
The star pianist, Henry Butler, is super charismatic and takes you on a ride powered by fingers playing at light-​speed. All the other players (bass, drums, guitar, sax) were great at all chiming in at exactly the right moment, and it felt so comfortable, like they’d been playing together for decades.
As if this arrangement wasn’t sweet enough, we also filled out a survey and got See’s truffles for it!

Great jazz and blues concert tonight at Stanford.
All the musicians were excellent and the music was lively.
The student organist was awesome; he was in the groove.
The guest pianist was mind-​blowing; playing the piano and keyboard at the same time (he is blind).
Very sweet!

Awaiting an awesome line up, as always the SJWS is stellar in scope and musical scale. The best and the brightest teach and perform. Yet another treasure of living in the Bay Area.

Updating after I attended four concerts this season:
* Luciana Souza and Romero Lubambo
* Victor Wooten, Ndugu Chancler, Geoffrey Keezer
* Akira Tana and his Secret Agent Band
* Le Jazz Hot
If you’re interested in attending the SJF in the future, but don’t know where to start, I recommend just reviewing the calendar, seeing what sounds good to you, and checking it out. Or heck, just pin the schedule to your wall, toss a dart at it, and vow to attend the concert you hit. Either way, you won’t be disappointed.
Sound quality is good in both places they’ve held the concerts (Dinkelspiel and Campbell). It’s not Yoshi’s, but it’s solid.
A few critiques:
* At a couple of the shows, I ended up sitting near some students who were talking through a lot of the music. I don’t mind a comment here or there — it’s expected — and I know they need to come and go due to their training times, but talking through whole songs, even if about their camp stuff, is not cool for the others around them who also paid for their tickets. SJW folks, if you are reading this, perhaps you can address it with the students?
* They had assigned sections in Campbell Recital Hall and it was kind of confusing. Ushers were on hand to help, but it was still not easy to tell where reserved was, where the students were supposed to sit, and where the great unwashed GA folks (i.e. me) could sit. My recommendation is to just not have premium seating in there, and rope off (rather than put tape on) the rows intended for students.
But please, don’t let the above dissuade you from attending. Just some feedback on an otherwise extremely worthwhile festival! Check it out when you can! And thanks to See’s, Unilocal,KCSM, and other sponsors who keep EXCELLENT JAZZ alive in the south bay!

Last night I was fortunate enough to be taken to the Stanford Jazz Festival where we heard the AMAZING Taylor Eigsti (jazz pianist extraordinaire and Menlo Park native). My friend sees him annually when he comes to town to perform as well as teach at the Stanford Jazz Workshop (where he was once a student).
In addition to Eigsti, the sextet was comprised of the following incredible and independently successful musicians:
Gretchen Parlato, vocals
Becca Stevens, vocals
Gerald Clayton, keyboards and piano
Harish Raghavan, bass
Aaron McLendon, drums
(Julian Lage, guitar — guest performer)
Though this group has not played together long, their beautiful music melded together in ways that gave me chills. Each was handpicked by Eigsti as they make up a collection of his favorite musicians; how cool is that? Taylor is adorable, humble, gracious, and always deferring to his peers. Honestly, he has more talent in his hands than 99.9% of us will ever see manifested collectively in our lifetime. Also, he is 85% deaf in one ear. Unbelievable! He is so talented and I’ve downloaded much of his Grammy nominated material onto my mp3.
I want to mention that Dinkelspiel Auditorium was a great venue for this show! Incredibly comfortable seating and the volunteers were very gracious. I look forward to going back for more great jazz.

I went for the Nicholas Payton Quintet concert this year. The concert is being held on the Stanford Campus in Dinkelspiel Auditorium, right opposite the student union.
The auditorium feels a little to «cold» a location for a jazz concert. The acoustic is fine, but the surround looks like a lecture hall. However, for a chance to see some famous performers in the south bay/​peninsular area, it is worth it.
By the way, on Saturday night, the only store open in the student union was Jamba Juice. I had wanted to get a quick bite before the concert, but had to wait until after the concert to get dinner:)

As part of the annual Stanford Jazz Workshop, Jazz concerts are held every week on Stanford campus during the summer. Jazz musicians such as Cyrus Chestnut Trio, Chris Potter, Phil Woods were at the 2006 Festival.
The concerts are normally held in Dinkelspiel Auditorium or in one of the recital halls. Ticket prices range from $ 20 to $ 40. Here is a trick, students get 50% off, so if you have a student id which you think is still good, use it.
The concerts normally last for 2 – 2.5 hours, with a 15 min or so intermission.
You can purchase tickets at the door, but sometimes they are sold out very fast one week prior to the concert. so you will need to be quick.
Note: 2007 Stanford Jazz Festival performer lineup announced Spring 2007 (
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