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When films were modern art

By Jerome Tarshis By way of calling public attention to its 75th anniversary this year, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is making a major advertising push all over town. The lion’s share of advertising mentions “The Anniversary Show,” a survey of seven and a half decades of painting, sculpture, and photography in the…

It’s St. John Coltrane’s Church

By James DeKoven Without hestitation, the Rev. Wanika King-Stephens can name her favorite John Coltrane song: “What’s New?” Then, true to form for any music obsessive, she provides additional knowledge: The song was originally on the album Ballads, released by the Impulse! label. Jazz records and churches are not usually an easy fit. But this…

A lifetime of loving film

“What should I see?” It’s the question the eminent film critic and historian David Thomson is asked most often — sometimes even as he walks his dog in Alta Plaza Park or runs errands on Fillmore Street. Now, more than three decades after he published his landmark Biographical Dictionary of Film, Thomson has responded to…

At Yoshi’s, beauty and the bass

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…

The evolution of a songsmith

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…

Yoshi’s opens, a dream comes true

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…

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