SFJazz Beacon Award
Thursday, November 2, 2000
SFJazz Presents: A Salute to Eddie Marshall
In this specially priced event, the Festival honors a drummer of international stature who makes his home here in the Bay Area: the great Eddie Marshall. A longtime collaborator of jazz masters like Stan Getz, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and the stellar musicians on this bill, Marshall has had an incalculable influence on the evolution of jazz in San Francisco over the past quarter-century. He continues to move the music ahead with his latest band, Holy Mischief, which performs in this concert.
Joining Marshall on the Masonic stage is world-renowned vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin, who credits some of his "most cherished memories of making music" to his 20-year history with Eddie Marshall. Also performing with and in honor of Marshall are jazz vibraphone great Bobby Hutcherson and his quartet, with trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard as special guest. The evening is capped off with the historic reunion of Marshall’s influential fusion band, The Fourth Way.
The Beacon Award, presented by Stella Artois, is intended to recognize those who have influenced and helped to preserve a place for jazz in the San Francisco Bay Area. Marshall was quoted as saying the award was "totally unexpected. It's not often a side man, like a drummer, gets an award."
Reviews
Stella Cheung Houston, JazzNow
"Eddie Marshall is still my favorite drummer, it was wonderful to watch him play. To hear drums so sensitively played is mesmerizing. How can one play drums so softly and unobtrusively even to the softly spoken bass, and yet keeping perfect time! His sticks and brushes danced on the instruments. It was so graceful! It seemed so effortless!"
Thomas Lindley, JazzTimes
"Jazz Drummer Eddie Marshall was chosen to receive the first Annual SFJazz Beacon Award at the 18th Annual San Francisco Jazz Festival this past November. Marshall was quoted as saying the award was "totally unexpected . . . It's not often a side man, like a drummer, gets an award." Yet according to SFJazz, "he is the embodiment of the beacon ... he's extended jazz in the Bay Area into exciting new areas and inspired countless other musicians."
Wayne Saroyan, JazzWest
"Marshall enthralled the audience (and his fellow musicians) with his superb skills on alto recorder. Holy Mischief led the evening with a comfortable mainstream trio of tunes. He then returned for two quartet reunion groups. The first was fronted by Bobby McFerrin (with pianist Paul Nagel and Jeff Carney on acoustic bass). Their three-song set was capped by a sublime rendition of Miles Davis' "Selim". The second reunion was of The Fourth Way (Michael White on violin, Mike Nock on piano, and Bob McClure on bass). The night finished with an all-star finale, "Sandu." With jazz this fine in our own neighborhood, who needs New York?"