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Steve Coleman and Five Elements at SFJAZZ

By Harry S. Pariser
December 24, 2014
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Steve Coleman and Five Elements
SFJAZZ
San Francisco, CA
December 14, 2014

"The main thing that I consciously try to follow is things I find in nature, in universe. Basically I see the universe as sort of giant palette of forms within forms."—Steve Coleman

He is a 2014 MacArthur Fellow. An alto saxophonist and bandleader who has taught at UC Berkeley. A disciple of Chicago saxophonists

Von Freeman

saxophone, tenor
1922 - 2012

" data-original-title="" title="">Von Freeman,

Sonny Stitt

saxophone
1924 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Stitt and

Bunky Green

saxophone, alto
1933 - 2025

" data-original-title="" title="">Bunky Green. A founder of M-Base, a movement seeking to combine non-western and contemporary musical concepts. An artist who has influenced pianist

Vijay Iyer

piano
b.1971

" data-original-title="" title="">Vijay Iyer and trumpeter

Ambrose Akinmusire

trumpet
b.1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Ambrose Akinmusire. A musician who has a large number of CDs under his own name, and who has recorded with artists as diverse as

Geri Allen

piano
1957 - 2017

" data-original-title="" title="">Geri Allen,

David Murray

saxophone, tenor
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">David Murray,

Chico Freeman

saxophone
b.1949

" data-original-title="" title="">Chico Freeman,

Dave Holland

bass
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Holland,

Cassandra Wilson

vocals
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Cassandra Wilson,

Sam Rivers

saxophone, tenor
1923 - 2011

" data-original-title="" title="">Sam Rivers and

Abbey Lincoln

vocals
1930 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Abbey Lincoln. Who is this individual?

Steve Coleman

saxophone, alto
b.1956

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Coleman, a Chicago-born and raised musician. Coleman appeared at SFJAZZ in the company of a youthful crew of musical collaborators: trumpeter

Jonathan Finlayson

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Jonathan Finlayson, guitarist

Miles Okazaki

guitar
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Okazaki, bassist

Anthony Tidd

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Anthony Tidd and drummer

Sean Rickman

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Sean Rickman, all of whom may be heard on Coleman's Functional Arrhythmias (Pi, 2013).

As holds true for nearly every contemporary saxophonist,

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane has influenced Coleman's musical development. Coleman appeared as part of SFJAZZ's commemoration of Coltrane's groundbreaking album A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965), recorded exactly 50 years before. SFJAZZ Director Randall Kline and Coltrane's son Ravi—who had performed twice that week and who has recorded with Coleman—introduced Coleman and Five Elements, while providing a bit of background on A Love Supreme which, he informed the audience, has sold half a million copies.

Taking their place onstage, the five musicians launched into Bunky Green's "Little Girl I'll Miss You." Clad in jeans, a caftan and a black baseball cap set with reversed brim, Coleman laid down an alto line and the four members joined in. Finlayson, sporting an Afro and wearing plastic-rimmed glasses, soloed. The overall mix brought to mind

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis' 1970s electric period,

Ornette Coleman

saxophone, alto
1930 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Ornette Coleman's harmolodics and the work of

Henry Threadgill

woodwinds
b.1944

" data-original-title="" title="">Henry Threadgill. Tidd, born in Britain to Trinidadian emigrant parents, lay down a funky bass beat alongside Rickman. Rickman is the son of R&B stalwart

Phil Upchurch

guitar
b.1941

" data-original-title="" title="">Phil Upchurch and has been the vocalist and drummer for the quiescent fusion-jam quartet

Garaj Mahal

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Garaj Mahal. While indubitably dynamic, Rickman's rock-influenced playing was hardly subtle.

On his website, Coleman, reflects that M-Base, his musical philosophy, "is a way of thinking about creating music" but is not the music itself. One of the main ideas in M-Base is growth through (conceptual) creativity. Coleman goes on to relate that "when people hear my music they are listening to a musical expression of how I view the world" and that his performance "is in many ways a non-western conception of how to use music to express experience. For example, for me the western concepts of time signatures (including so-called 'common' and 'odd time signatures') largely do not exist and have no place in creating music." Coleman further maintains that "the concepts of M-Base are based primarily on music from Afrika and creative music of the Afrikan Diaspora," and his music clearly reflected that influence, especially during some interludes which featured chanting and cowbell percussion by Coleman and Finlayson.

John Coltrane's ballad "Compassion" followed, and Coleman's group also played a version of the seminal saxophonist's classic "Giant Steps." Addressing the audience, Coleman related that "We're making a lot of oblique references to my man John all through the music."

Playing second fiddle to Coleman yet most definitely a first-rate musician, Finlayson has been playing with Coleman since the saxophonist's days teaching at Berkeley, where their association began. In this highly charged electric band, the pair's rapport was most evident during the quieter interludes. Finlayson, in turn, has worked closely with guitarist Okazaki, who appears on Finlayson's leader debut, Moment and the Message (Pi, 2013).

After 90 minutes of hard-driving playing, Finlayson introduced the band members. After "Change the Guard," the band exited to a standing ovation and then returned to encore with a rollicking version of "Pad Thai." A short coda brought the evening to its climax.

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