By Anthony Torres
Esperanza means hope in Spanish. After seeing bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding — who comes to Yoshi’s this month on October 14 and 15 — one cannot help but be hopeful for the future of women in jazz. Spalding is blessed with the ability to fuse instrumental licks and a multilingual voice through the vehicle of a gorgeous beauty. It makes this 23-year-old prodigy a joy to behold.
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Photograph of Kim Nalley by Walter Wagner
By THOMAS REYNOLDS
Sultry, soulful, swinging singer Kim Nalley remembers when she got her first big break in San Francisco. It was the early ’90s, and the manager of Harry’s on Fillmore called to see if she might fill a slot for a band that had cancelled.
But Nalley was otherwise engaged. She had a house to clean — a job that was helping to pay her way through UC Berkeley. She called her client and explained she wouldn’t be able to come. “How much are they paying you to sing?” the woman wanted to know. “Well, you make more here cleaning — and this is an ongoing thing.”
She called back Harry’s and told the manager she wouldn’t be able to make the gig, but that she hoped to sing another night. “This is your chance,” he told her.
So she gave up domestic work. And she started her rise to a place of prominence and respect in the jazz world, toured and lived in Europe, then came home triumphantly to take over Pearl’s, the North Beach jazz club.
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Photograph of Santana by Mark Brady
FILLMORE HAS ALWAYS had a claim on guitarist Carlos Santana, and not only because of his many appearances at the Fillmore Auditorium. For a number of years his studio was on Fillmore Street next door to the Clay Theater.
Now he’s back as part of the first special exhibition at the Fillmore Heritage Center. “A Tribute to Miles Davis and Carlos Santana” opened May 23 and continues through July 31, 2008, and includes items from Santana’s personal collection.
The man himself stopped by after his appearance May 20 up the street at the Fillmore Auditorium, reports the center’s executive director, Peter Fitzsimmons.
“Carlos came by and fell in love with many Miles images,” Fitzsimmons says, “and seemed delighted to visit with the many memories inherent in the memorabilia and photographs. Stopping in front of Mark Brady’s photograph of a Santana concert at San Quentin, Carlos recounted the concert and how he was able to reach across racial barriers to involve the hardest of the hard-core inmates in musical rapture. He mentioned, in what must have been a surreal moment, that he saw the machine-gun-toting guard up in the tower swaying to rocking rhythms. He was with us for a good 45 minutes, taking photos with his guest and the staff, and he seemed intrigued and open to learning more about the Jazz Heritage Center.”
Photograph of Santana at San Quentin by Mark Brady
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Jazzman Jesse Foster
By James DeKoven
The slow screech of a braking bus. Two voices in conversation. Police sirens and fire alarms and honking car horns. It’s noise to many, but singer-songwriter Jesse Foster finds these sounds of urban life inspiring.
“I discover ideas for harmony and melody in the sounds of everyday life,” he says.
Part of his everyday life is spent here in the neighborhood. You’ll often find him hanging out with the locals at Peet’s on Fillmore, tapping out a rhythm and shooting the breeze: politics, sociology — and music, of course. Pull up a chair and you might learn about his evolution as a musician, a 30-year journey of refining his craft and keeping the faith that has paid off with the release his first album and regular live performances in local clubs.
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Photograph of opening night at Yoshi's by Mina Pahlevan
The night the neighborhood has been waiting for arrived November 27, 2007, when the first horns blew at Yoshi’s, the elegant new jazz club in the Fillmore Heritage Center at 1330 Fillmore Street. A grand opening celebration the next night featuring legendary drummer Roy Haynes and an all-star band officially opened the two-level 420-seat club — and brought back big-time jazz to the Fillmore.
From Jimbo’s to Yoshi’s: a musical journey through the years on Fillmore
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