Stanley Clarke was happy to be back at SFJAZZ Center, sharing the stage with immensely talented pianist Hiromi.
“I don’t know about you, Hiromi, but this is one of my favorite places,” said the legendary bassist, reflecting on his experience with the staff, the audiences and other facets of this venue that opened in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood in 2013. “Everything is great.”
And, most certainly, it was particularly great on Thursday (Sept. 5), as Clarke and Hiromi kicked off the 2024-25 SFJAZZ season in grand style. The two jazz musicians delivered a thrilling duo performance that ran 90 minutes and deftly illustrated why both musicians are absolute masters on their respective instruments.
It was a brilliant beginning to Terence Blanchard’s official inaugural season as SFJAZZ’s executive artistic director — a role he took over last year from Randall Kline, who co-founded the arts organization in 1983 and guided it over the decades to become one of the top jazz presenters on the planet.
The 2024-25 season will consist of a staggering 350-plus shows over nine months.
Bassist Stanley Clarke performs during opening night of the SFJAZZ 2024-25 season at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Clarke and Hiromi took the stage just after 7:30 p.m. for the first of two sold-out shows — Thursday’s was a member-only event, while Friday’s follow-up was open to the general public. The pair came together at the front of the stage, embraced each other and smiled broadly to the fans before continuing on to their instruments.
They kicked off this opening night concert with a look back at “Jazz in the Garden,” the first Stanley Clarke Trio album from 2009 that featured Hiromi and drummer Lenny White (the bandleader’s old pal from the Return to Forever days), drawing up an exuberantly playful version of “3 Wrong Notes.”
“If one of you guys can spot those three notes,” Clarke commented, “I promise I will buy you pizza.”
(Spoiler alert: No pizza for this reviewer.)
If you’ve never seen Hiromi in concert then — well, you’re just plain missing out. She is a remarkable force of nature on the live stage, delivering powerful passages of music that resound with equal amounts of musical virtuosity and undeniable joy.
And, really, it’s the latter that truly separates her from the pack. Her joy of playing is utterly contagious, drawing in fans with playful flourishes, blindingly fast runs and so much more.
Pianist Hiromi performs during the opening night of the SFJAZZ 2024-25 season at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Truth be told, jazz crowds will occasionally applaud after a solo just to be polite — and because it’s the right thing to do. Yet, that’s not why they do it for Hiromi. They do it because they just can’t help themselves, having been swept away by the sheer talent, energy and enthusiasm of her work.
The first of those moments came partway through “3 Wrong Notes,” as the approximately 700 fans in attendance just bubbled over in pure amazement after she finished one mind-blowing segment.
The adrenaline picked up yet another notch at the start of “Paradigm Shift,” which hails from Clarke’s “D-Stringz” from 2015, as the two musical giants engaged in a manic, fast-paced and highly circular workout that sounded like something that could have been used in one of those chase scenes in a old silent movie. Then, however, the paradigm indeed shifted — and Hiromi and Clarke leisurely wondered off into ballad land.
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Midway through the set, Hiromi left the stage so that Clarke could show off his otherworldly talents on his upright acoustic bass, using those giant mitts of his to slap, pick and otherwise coax out sounds that simply amazed. He covered a lot of ground in this fairly short moment — as he’s known to do — moving from percussive to melodic and back again, playing fast, slow and everywhere in between.
Bassist Stanley Clarke performs during opening night of the SFJAZZ 2024-25 season at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Then the roles would reverse and Clarke journeyed out of sight so that Hiromi could have the spotlight all to herself. She’d definitely make good use of the segment, uplifting hearts and touching souls with her undeniable passion for her music.
Truly, I have never heard a jazz pianist consistently play with such joy as Hiromi.
Pianist Hiromi performs during the opening night of the SFJAZZ 2024-25 season at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
As she finished her breathtaking solo, the crowd leapt to its feet and showered the star with the kind of huge mid-show standing ovation that you almost never seen at a jazz concert.
Clarke then returned to the stage and steered back to his mighty Return to Forever roots as he called upon the Chick Corea composition “No Mystery.” That song has been a real winner — literally speaking — for Clarke over the years. First off, it was the title track to the 1975 Return to Forever record that earned Clarke his first Grammy. Then, decades later, it would be a key piece of “The Stanley Clarke Band” record (also featuring Hiromi) that won the 2011 Grammy for best contemporary jazz album.
And it would continue its winning ways on Thursday night, wrapping up the main set in fine fashion before the duo returned for a well-deserved encore highlighted by Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil.”
Clarke appears through the weekend at SFJAZZ. Following Friday’s second duo date with Hiromi, he combines forces with fellow bass icon Marcus Miller on Saturday and then appears with his with his Stanley Clarke N 4EVER band, with a tribute to Chick Corea and Return to Forever, on Sunday. Visit sfjazz.org for tickets and details.
Bassist Stanley Clarke performs during opening night of the SFJAZZ 2024-25 season at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Pianist Hiromi, left, and bassist Stanley Clarke perform during the opening night of the SFJAZZ 2024-25 season at the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)