Hi-De-Hi

I knew I'd get a naughty surprise last night. Pals Shotgun Wedding Quintet could not disappoint when given the task of finding their interpretation on the music of Cab Calloway. As with many of the collections of tunes for the SF Jazz Hotplate Series, local musicians often choose a mix of straight-forward tribute and contemporary spin. While I'm not intimately familiar with the bulk of Cab Calloway's catalog, I have a definite grasp of his thing. So when sax/keys player Joe Cohen opened with some freaky, red-lacquered synth my eyebrows went up and stayed there. SWQ frontman, Dublin took his usual position as crooning auctioneer and matched Cab in charisma and cinematic appeal, if only a little less physical. A fun little call-and-response incorporated the listeners on "Reefer Man," and vocalist Crystal Monee Hall laid down the well known "Hi-De-Hi." Blistering grooves and tenuous bass riffs patterned the entire performance, but the essence of Calloway was never lost; particularly when Shock G of Digital Underground fame approached the stage in a white, windowpane plaid suit and perfectly coiffed afro.

It couldn't have been planned, it's literally how planets just freaking align sometimes. SWQ had been doing a little work with Shock G this past week, and damn if it didn't just make sense. His humor and physicality echoed Cab all the way, and the tiny club lit up like a Christmas tree at a New Year's bonfire when breaking into "Freaks of the Industry." When it couldn't get anymore germane, Ray Love of 2Pac's crew and grandson of Cab Calloway himself took the stage and humored the crowd with a little "California Love." Take a second to wrap your head around that. I'll be here all day.

So all of this musty, nostalgic vision was getting manhandled into hip hop on a Thursday for about 100 people, in a club so small I had to take a leak with Shock G's ass against the bathroom door, isn't even that unusual for what's going on in the Bay right now. This area is steadily churning out some of the most progressive music available, and is only honing its form. As eclecticism becomes more and more popular and genres fade into looser descriptors, the Bay area, and particularly Jazz Mafia, is leading the pack and mastering the delivery.

The Bay being a bit smoother overall than the New York scene, much of the material Jazz Mafia produces emerges from a general posit another writer captured about bandleader Adam Theis, "wouldn't it be rad if...." The maturation of the core members of the collective is upon us, and the chemistry is at that boiling point. It's thrilling to watch it all come together and gain momentum, as these folks have been working, living, and creating at an exhausting pace with one another for a decade or so. The Shotgun Wedding Quintet drops a new album soon, and the Jazz Mafia Symphony premieres its 2nd work, The Emperor Norton Suite at Stern Grove this June. Gonna be a hot summer, even in the Bay.