Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does jazz. With an intimate venue in the Hammer Theatre Center largely unused, San Jose Jazz realized that it offered an ideal space for a concert series augmenting the organization’s signature summer and winter festivals.
And so comes the Black Cab Jazz Series, booked by San Jose Jazz’s Bruce Labadie in the 120-capacity Hammer 4 theater, a cabaret room with four-top seating. The series kicks off Sunday, Oct. 20, with drummer Kendrick Scott and his group Oracle. As part of the engagement, Scott is also conducting a workshop with students in the San Jose State University big band led by baritone saxophonist/arranger Aaron Lington.
“Aaron made it clear he wanted artists more on the cutting edge,” Labadie says. “It’s really a win-win. For the Hammer, we’re putting that space to use. For San Jose Jazz, it’s giving us exposure betweenSummer Festand Winter Fest, and it’s a real boon for the university program, so it checked all the boxes.”
The four-concert series also includes rising vocalist Quiana Lynell (Nov. 9) and the brilliant New York drummer Matt Wilson’s Honey & Salt Quintet (Feb. 21), which focuses on his material inspired by the poet Carl Sandburg. TheBlack Cab Jazz season closeswith the trio of award-winning Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana (March 8).
While Wilson has been a familiar presence on Bay Area stages for decades — he’s also a founding faculty member of the San Francisco Conservatory’s Roots, Jazz and American Music program — and Aldana has played half a dozen memorable gigs in the area in recent years, Lynell is making her Bay Area debut.
Like Scott, the New Orleans-based vocalist got her first big break with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who tapped her for an orchestral tribute to Spike Lee after hearing her play an uproarious set at Jazz Fest in 2017. Released in May, Lynell’s impressive debut album, “A Little Love,” released on康科德爵士乐, introduced a singer as versed in soul and R&B as jazz.
“It’s my first statement, and my main focus was to make sure I didn’t lose who I was,” says Lynell, who is also scheduled to performNov. 10 at SFJazz Center’s Joe Henderson Lab. “I enjoy many different genres, and I approach them with a jazz sensibility. I wanted to cover all the different facets of my voice.”
Scott had a very different kind of missionwith his new Oracle album, “A Wall Becomes A Bridge.” The title might sound like a dispatch from the front lines of the nation’s roiling debate over immigration, but the drummer, one of the elite jazz artists of his generation, had a different fault line in mind.
Like many players, he’s a perfectionist who has trouble tuning out the nagging voice of his inner critic. His self-doubt became so fierce after the release of his critically hailed 2015 Blue Note label debut, “We Are the Drum,” that Scott found himself unable to start recording a follow-up.
“When I sit down at the drums, nothing is good enough,” says Scott. “Some of that makes me a better musician. But when it gets out of balance, it can stifle my life.”
With a dozen original tunes, “A Wall Becomes A Bridge” explores an array of moods and spaces, moving from pensive and brooding themes to unbridled joy. Turntablist Jahi Sundance, a frequent collaborator with bassist Christian McBride and pianistRobert Glasper, adds sharply etched textures and almost subliminal spoken-word samples on about half the tracks.
Scott credits bassist/producer Derrick Hodge with helping him break through the, well, wall, turning his obstinate insecurities into a creative opportunity.
“When I first met with Derrick, I didn’t like any of this music,” Scott says. “He said, ‘We have to make art about what’s happening to you in your life.’ We made a record about insecurities and looking at things in a different way. About optimism. A wall is a provocation. Something for you to break down.”
For Sunday’s gig, Oracle features a superlative quartet with Menlo Park-raised piano starTaylor Eigsti, Scott’s fellow Houstonian Michael Moreno on guitar, and bassist Brandon Owens. Expanding to a quintet with saxophonist and bass clarinetist John Ellis, Scott’s Oracle is also expected to play Yoshi’s in Oakland on Monday, Oct. 21, and the Mondavi Center’s Vanderhoef Studio Theatre fromWednesday, Oct. 23, through Oct. 26. The group finishes its California run Oct. 27 at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay.
Editor’s note: Quina Lynell’s concert date was rescheduled after the initial publication of this article. The information below has been updated to reflect this change as of Oct. 21.
Black Cab Jazz Series:Kendrick Scott Oracle. 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20; QuianaLynell. 7 p.m. Nov. 9; Matt Wilson Quintet. 7 p.m. Feb. 21; Melissa Aldana. 7 p.m. March 8. $20-$25. Hammer 4, Hammer Theatre Center, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose.sanjosejazz.org