Email Author Sam Prestianni

2000 Stories by Sam Prestianni

• Tears of a Clown

  published December 6, 2000

  Over the last decade, Peter Whitehead has gained a reputation as an... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 29, 2000

  "Sound is all," says cornetist and electronics manipulator Rob Mazurek by way of explanation for his two groups, Isotope 217 and Chicago... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 22, 2000

  The Kirby Grips saved my life. It happened one evening a few months back while I was... More >>

• Charlie Parker

  published November 15, 2000

  The hipper-than-thou scholarship that fuels the jazz industry is both its savior and its bane. For self-styled hepcats and academics who long for... More >>

• Hear This

  published November 15, 2000

  The music of Oakland pianist Kimara flows like a narrative episode one might experience just before waking, when the dreamer begins to direct his... More >>

• Sleepytime Gorilla Museum

  published November 8, 2000

  Infamous Bay Area innovators Idiot Flesh used to open shows with a lively processional ironically dubbed "Dead Like Us." A madcap act of guerrilla... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 25, 2000

  The name Cecil Taylor is synonymous with the concept of avant-garde jazz piano. One of the few genuine living legends of the art form, Taylor has... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 18, 2000

  Tuba-driven, quirky, and fun, Kingcake is a Left Coast version of New York's infamous Spanish Fly, or better yet, a miniature model of composer... More >>

• Pollock on the Guitar

  published October 18, 2000

  Unlike typical guitarists, who generally approach their instrument as a tool for strumming chords, picking solos, or making a ruckus with lots of... More >>

• Hear This

  published October 4, 2000

  It's no secret that the Bay Area arts community is fighting for its life. The logical fallout of dot-com development -- greedy landlords... More >>

• Hear This

  published September 27, 2000

  Jazz fans may know saxophonist James Carter as the brash upstart Wynton Marsalis unceremoniously fired a few years back for stealing his spotlight... More >>

• The Black Heart Procession

  published September 27, 2000

  Feeling blue because your lover left you for another? Social Anxiety Disorder got you so down low that the once-vibrant water cooler gossip seems... More >>

• Hear This

  published September 20, 2000

  Issues of identity have marked jazz music of the late 20th century in profound ways. In the '60s and early '70s, the Black Power and... More >>

• Hear This

  published September 6, 2000

  Less self-consciously goofy than Willem Breuker's off-kilter Kollektief, Instant Composers Pool Orchestra is arguably Europe's leading big... More >>

• Hear This

  published August 30, 2000

  Veteran saxophonist John Tchicai is an excellent example of the old tenet that most improvisers only sound as good as the company they keep. In... More >>

• Hear This

  published August 23, 2000

  Maybe it happened when he hit the big four-oh last summer, or perhaps it was merely the natural evolution of a creative life taken seriously.... More >>

• Hear This

  published August 16, 2000

  Picture a dusky barroom pungent with ale, sweat, familiarity. Its odd mix of strangers and strange friends feels like a second home. Sight and... More >>

• Hear This

  published August 9, 2000

  As if you couldn't tell from India ink-decorated arms and piled-high, platinum blond DA, former Stray Cats bossman Brian Setzer's got attitude.... More >>

• Hear This

  published August 2, 2000

  It's tempting to say that the lineup for the 11th annual Eddie Moore Jazz Festival is the best one yet. After more than a decade of... More >>

• Border Crossings

  published July 26, 2000

  To take advantage of her artist-in-residence tenure this past spring at the Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco kotoist Miya Masaoka had... More >>

• Tin Hat Trio

  published July 26, 2000

  Tin Hat TrioHelium(Angel)Tin Hat Trio blew up with the power and exuberance of a firestorm on last year's recording debut Memory Is an... More >>

• Hear This

  published July 12, 2000

  What arguably gives the blues its universal appeal is its premier players' lack of pretense. Born on the back porches of backwater towns in the... More >>

• Hear This

  published July 5, 2000

  It's strange that one of the giants of modern jazz guitar doesn't play much jazz anymore. But then neither do his popular contemporaries. While... More >>

• Hear This

  published June 28, 2000

  It's tempting to say that saxophonist Jon Raskin is the strong, silent Buddha of the Bay Area's veteran jazz/new-music combo Rova Saxophone... More >>

• Tales from the Junkyard

  published June 21, 2000

  At the first sight of Alco Iron & Metal Co, Gino Robair's heart rate spikes and his eyes glass over like a Toys R Us kid on a holiday bender. The... More >>