By Matthew Kassel
Eric Harland and the other members of the SFJazz Collective will be at McCarter Theatre Oct. 5. (Photo by Walt Denson.)
“Usually an all-star band happens for a season or two and it dissipates,” said drummer Eric Harland of playing in the SFJazz Collective. ”This is the first time that something like this has been introduced in the music, and it’s just so great to be able to compose, to rehearse, to play, to tour.”
Every year since 2004, the members of the evolving eight-piece SFJazz Collective have each been commissioned by SFJazz, the Bay Area organization, to write one original composition and to arrange a piece of music from the songbook of a jazz icon. Past arrangements have included those of John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman.
This year, the collective has interpreted the songs of pop-soul icon Stevie Wonder—“Superstition,” “My Cherie Amour,” “Sir Duke.” They will be taking their 16 new songs on the road, inaugurating a fall tour with a performance at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, on October 5 at 8 p.m.
“It’s totally leaderless, it’s a collective, hence the name,” Harland said of the group. “The beauty about the band is that everyone is bringing in a different dynamic of the music,” he added.
Different members have filtered in and out of the group since it was founded. This year the collective includes such jazz luminaries as tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, vibraphonist Stefon Harris and trombonist Robin Eubanks—all fans of Stevie Wonder.
“We came to Stevie because he himself is such a great composer and a great musician,” Harland said. “I think over all we just wanted to see—it was just pretty much an experiment, a new direction to see how it would sound.”
And perhaps Stevie Wonder does not sit in the same evolutionary line as a Coltrane or a Monk, but according to Harland, that is no impediment.
“It’s music and the beauty about jazz is that you’re open to trying other things, not necessarily trying to always come up with the perfect solution,” Harland said. “It’s about the journey, the experience.”
