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06/13 Friday

7:00 PM The Shimon Ben-Shir Group

Like a summer breeze that lifts a seagull over a tropical beach, the music of the Shimon Ben Shir Group is warm, inviting and takes the listener on a journey to destinations that reflects the far reaching places around the globe that the group represents. A highly unique soundscape that blends jazz with Middle Eastern and South American influences... touches on the canon of cultures that the Shimon Ben-Shir Group encompasses in their playing. The Groups compositions are warm, lyrical, inviting and memorable.

Review: By John Book, Music For America
The bio for Ways (Ben-Shir Music) says the album is like encountering a friend you haven't seen for a while. While I had never heard of The Shimon Ben-Shir Group before, their brand of laid back jazz does sound familiar and warm, but not too lazy to where it becomes smooth jazz. The core of the music is Ben-Shir's bass work, where he goes back and forth between fretless and fretted, and he surrounds himself with an incredible range of musicians who fortunately know what they're doing. A piece such as "Jochebed" shows how diverse his music can be, where the meat of the song (the melody) sounds beautiful like a Pat Metheny song, but the soloists add their own flavor, especially trumpeter John Frazee. When he plays, he adds a bit of color to an already vibrant portrait, and in a way sets himself from the rest for about a minute before moving away and allowing everyone else to play. Everything on this album is fairly mellow, nothing excessive or out of the ordinary. While some of these songs could appeal to smooth jazz fans, there's a bit more going on than the usual. One can say that Ways is jazz on cruise control, moving the seat back and letting things come as they may, but Ben-Shir pushes himself and everyone to do their best, and they all play for the sake of beautiful jazz unity.
More Reviews at www.ben-shir.com/reviews.html

10:00 PM The Jesse Scheinin Quartet

Jesse Scheinin Quintet
The Jesse Scheinin Quintet is comprised of some of Berklee's top players and features original music. Israeli/Mexican guitarist and composer Ilan Bar-Lavi has his first album coming out on Sunnyside Records in September, pianist Julian Shore has played with Chris Cheek and Hal Crook, bassist Dan Carpel performs regularly at Wally's Jazz Cafe, and drummer Hamir Atwal is featured on saxophonist Greg Osby's upcoming album.

Here's a quote about Jesse from a recent article in the Mercury News:
'''There are a lot of talented kids out there, but there's something special about him that goes beyond what he's playing on the saxophone,'' says tenor sax star Joshua Redman, who has worked closely with Scheinin as artistic director of SFJazz's spring season. ''He's got this natural storytelling ability. He's not afraid to improvise."