There is nothing to do on Sunday that is not Pride, so good luck if you’d like a pass on Virgin America floats and daunting crowds. Well, except one really, really awesome thing: the debut of Jazz Mafia‘s second orchestral composition “The Emperor Norton Suite” at Stern Grove Sun/26. Charlie 2na will be there too, welcoming you to the Outer Sunset — and maybe even Lyrics Born.
Sneak peek behind the scenes of Emperor Norton’s Suite
Have you been to Stern Grove? You need to go, because if you live in one of the central neighborhoods, it’s a great opportunity to see what the vast majority of the city of San Francisco looks like: avenues, families, houses! Ample parking! Well, this last one not so much for you, unless you and your automobile arrive at the festival ways far in advance, like mabye 11 a.m. for the 2 p.m. start. Tips: hella picnic snacks, mimosas, a soft blanket for when you inevitably get stuck sitting in a bramble bush halfway up the park slope, a sharp knife, and cutting board. Please don’t attempt to have a picnic without these last two items, sweartagod.
Back to the tunes. Composer, horn player, bandleader, and all-around overachiever Adam Theis has been working his ass off to put together a follow-up to the excellent work he did on his first symphony, entitled Brass, Bows, and Beats. Theis has had his hands all over the hip-hop-jazz-etc. scene, with recent collaborations with everyone from Beck to Zion I’s Amp Live (he told us after rehearsals today in the Grove he’s headed down to an LA gig with Blackalicious).
But believe Sunday show, that’s going to be his baby up there. And motormouth stage stealer Lyrics Born (check out his thoughts — at 00:34 — on this weekend’s venue at his Stern Grove press conference last year), has announced on his Facebook page that he’ll be hosting, though the fact hasn’t made itself known on the Stern Grove site yet.
Anyway, if you’re looking for a pass on Pride’s hypetastic explosion (that said with nothing but love and vogue in my heart), you could do worse than a long bike ride out to see some of the Bay’s most solid soul machines.
UPDATE: Just rolled through the JM rehearsals in the grove. This from Aima the Dreamer, who said there is a major difference between the creation of Emperor Norton’s Suite and the first Jazz Mafia orchestral piece. “For Brass, Bows, and Beats, all the emcees wrote and performed their parts separately,” she says. But for Emperor Norton’s, the piece’s three emcees (Aima, Shotgun Wedding Quintet’s Dublin, and Soulati) collaboratively wrote all the flows, then divided them up among themselves. The result? “Not common, to be noted” says Aima — at times she feels like she’s “channeling” Dublin’s “hip-hop mathematics” and Soulati’s different styles.
Jazz Mafia’s self-titled “trombonist, composer, and librarian” Jeanne Geiger was one of the composers of Emperor Norton’s, which involved a writing process she says started last summer. Like Aima, Geiger says in contrast to the all-encompassing effort put forth by Theis for the first symphony, the goal of the second one was “to be collaborative.”
In sum: it’s going to be dope. Martin Luther will be performing with the family, Lyrics Born is confirmed as host, and SF schoolkids will even take the stage for a song or two.
Jazz Mafia feat. Charlie 2na, Martin Luther, and Lyrics Born
Sun/26 2 p.m., free
Stern Grove
19th Ave. and Sloat, SF