Jack Dejohnette

The concert was very slow moving. All the players were great but this concert bored me to death. It was like I heard them warm up for an for the duration of the concert. It was an honor to be in the same room as these amazing players but their song selection if that is what you want to call was not appealing to me at all. There was confusion of when to clap because we didn't know if they were playing a solo or the melody of a song. The concert only last about an hour. I paid $63 to hear them piddle.

Our grandson is a "hoofer". His dream was to see Savion Glover tap in person. This dream came true on February 26th. He could not believe what he saw and will never, ever forget it. He is still in awe of that excellent performance. The mix of tap and drums was extraordinary. Thank you for a very perfect evening. By the way, our grandson is 16 years old and is performing in the Kiski Area high school musical, 42nd Street, in April.

I had just arrived from the Netherlands, at noon that day. But since somehow all my previous attempts to visit an Esperanza Spalding concert had failed (always had the tickets, and always something came up), I was determined to go here. I liked the venue. Didn't actually know it was at the UCLA campus before I entered the location in the Garmin of my rental car. The only disadvantage of the venue is Garmin turned out to be unable to find the address. (It told me to go to San Jose.) The concert was great, but I would probably have enjoyed it way more if I wouldn't have suffered from the jetlag. I actually didn't know any of the other artists, which proves I hardly know anything about jazz at all, I guess. ;-) Another thing I loved is that were already artists playing outside. Even though that didn't actually have anything to do with the actual concert, that was a nice extra.

It was an absolute pleasure to see Jack DeJohnnette, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding & Leo Genovese perform at the Royce Hall - UCLA.

Loved the rythem section!! However, I'm not too fond of saxophonist Joe Lavano. Even though he's got good tone and may have talent, I'm not into his style of playing. As a sax player/ leading voice, I believe his improvisations can be much more melodic. Jack, Esperanza, and Leo on the other hand were AMAZING!!!

Enjoyed the performance, it was a little over my wife's head as she enjoys mainstream jazz, this offering was more avant garde.

Four virtuosic multi-talented musicians, playing entirely original material, with all pieces composed by one of The Spring Quartet members--definitely stretching the envelope presenting challenging forays into jazz "not for all." This is a group in its infancy, just beginning a world tour, "getting better each time we play," according to remarks from the bandstand by TSQ's leader, Jack DeJohnette. There were a number--maybe 75-100-- of walkouts, beginning about 1 hr into the 90+ minute set. These self-deports were, most likely, expressing their frustration with the--for them--inaccessable nature of the music, plus the fact that Esperanza performed only one vocal, a stunning piece composed by Ms. Spalding. "Leave 'em wanting more" might have been the underlying reason that the remaining, highly enthusiastic audience"s pleas for an encore were denied, with DeJohnette explaining "we have to be up early, sorry, we have a concert tomorrow in Portland."

Fabulous musicians and tunes. DeJohnnette surprised us with playing wind instrument, as did Spalding, playing Sax - everybody on sax for her tune, Shake the Shark. Genovese piano was astounding, coordinated perfectly with Spalding o bass. Lovano was equally brilliant in all of their tunes. Esperanza is the most fun loving, animated, talented jazz musician and had the audience howling. We loved all of them, but Esperanza is our main squeeze.

Jack's new Spring Quartet is one of his edge-ier efforts -- nothing like the Standards Trio with Jarrett last October (or his birthday party at Catalina with Chick and Stanley -- unforgettable!!). It's a lot of chaotic indulgent blowing by his bandmates that only occasionally gels into something that resonates. Having said that, Jack is such an interesting musician that, no matter what's going on elsewhere on stage, he's always worth watching.

I was looking forward to hearing a fusion of the above artists. I chatted with a dozen people before the event and after and we were disappointed in the simple fact that we were not able to hear more from Esperanza. (To be honest...every single person I spoke with were there for Esperanza!) I feel her music is so amazing and unique that the event should have included more of her performing. What added to the evening being disappointing was the fact that Jack announced that there would not be an encore! He should have been present to hear the comments as disappointed fans were leaving!