SFJAZZ Celebrates Opening Of Spring Season - Print This Story News Story - KTVU San Francisco 2/20/10 4:22 PM

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SFJAZZ Celebrates Opening Of Spring Season
Posted: 10:34 pm PST March 15, 2006Updated: 2:54 pm PST February 19, 2010

Local non-profit cultural preservation group SFJAZZ celebrates the tenth anniversary of its ever growing Spring
Season with an incredible string of performances spotlighting an impressive array of the greatest jazz and world-
music talents on the planet. What started as a handful of concerts a decade ago has expanded into a series of
special events taking place on weekends stretching from late February through June.

This year's season has offered up a number of exciting programs including special performances by such
luminaries as funk-soul giants Booker T and Maceo Parker, vocal greats Dianne Reeves and local hero Bobby
McFerrin as well as significant stars on the world music scene like South African vocal group Ladysmith Black
Mambazo, Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso, rising fado singer Ana Moura and much more.

The 2010 Spring Season kicks off with a global flare this weekend as SFJAZZ offers up three wildly varied
concerts spotlighting a trio of unique world-music acts. Friday night features two performances at Bimbo's by
Latin music hero Issac Delgado. One of Cuba’s most famed stars, Delgado pioneered the island nation’s tough
funky style on salsa known as timba. A dazzling live performer who was mentored by the legendary Cuban jazz
pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Delgado is a magnetic stage presence who deftly navigates the complex, interlocking
music of his fiery 13-piece band.

Restlessly inventive, Delgado keeps rewriting the sometimes restrictive rules of Caribbean dance music,
incorporating adventurous time signatures and tempo changes, virtuosic jazz passages elements of modern urban
rhythms and avant-garde electronics. Despite having defected to the U.S. in 2006, Delgado remains beloved in
his native land and revered by Latin music fans the world over (Fri/19, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. $35-$40).

On Saturday, the festivities move over to the East Bay as SFJAZZ presents a return engagement by Max Raabe
and his Palast Orchester at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. Resurrecting Germany’s glamorous early 1930s
époque with authentic detail and subversive intent, Raabe and his elegant ensemble recreate theatrical Weimar
Era cabaret. The glorious art deco environs of the Paramount will be a perfect match for Raabe’s journey back into
time (Sat/20, 8 p.m. $25-$75).

The weekend is rounded out by a Palace of Fine Arts Theatre show featuring otherworldly Saharan guitar
ensemble Tinariwen. Drawing its members from the Touareg -- a much repressed tribal people exiled from their
native Mali -- Tinariwen developed an expansive guitar sound over years spent in desert isolation. An amalgam of
North African, Western blues and psychedelic rock influences converge organically to forge the trademark
Tinariwen sound that has earned the bands such high-profile supporters as Robert Plant, Carlos Santana and U2.
Tinariwen delivers songs from it's hypnotic 2009 effort 'Imidiwan: Companions' when it headlines this SF Concert
(Sun/21, 7 p.m. $25-$65). For more information on these concerts and future scheduled Spring Season events,
please visit the official SFJAZZ Web site.

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