Live jazz has been a hit-or-miss proposition in San Francisco for the last few decades. But at one point, we were a major destination for touring musicians, with a thriving and competitive club scene providing a range of intimate venues.
For evidence, and also because it's one of the greatest live jazz albums ever, check out Miles Davis performing at the cherished Blackhawk club in 1961, "In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk." A couple of years after the release of the epochal "Kind of Blue," Davis was touring with a seasoned group that included "KOB" veterans Wynton Kelly on piano and Jimmy Cobb on drums and the overlooked Hank Mobley on sax.
The quintet runs through a heavenly selection of standards, "Kind of Blue" gems and earlier works, showing tremendous instincts and versatility as they move from a near-screaming rendition of "Walking" to a gossamer reading of "Round Midnight." Davis is even in fairly good spirits -- his solos are economical to the point of chintzy in places, but at least he doesn't cuss at anyone.
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