Jaaaaazzzzzzzzz!

It's not often that you can see an octet that features the best jazz musicians playing today, but that's exactly what I enjoyed last night at the beautiful Strathmore Hall.

The group is the SFJazz Collective, which was started three years ago is still led by Joshua Redman--one of the highly touted "Young Lions" from the early-mid 90s who has gone on to produce an impressive body of music over the past decade. Redman has done something increasingly rare in this day and age--form a serious jazz band that gets together in the spring in SF, composes and rehearses original compositions, as well as those of a modern jazz master, and then goes on the road together to perform these works.

The lineup for the band is just overflowing with talent--Redman is a star in his own right, but he's surrounded himself with premier players, young studs and one certified legend, including Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Renee Rosnes on piano, Eric Harland on drums, and the venerable Bobby Hutcherson on vibes.

The original compositions that they played were disparate in style and character, ranging from the idiosyncratic "puzzle" of Payton's "Soduko" to the driving, muscular, rhythmic dynamism of Harland's own piece at the end of the second set. In between were sprinkled some gems from one of the great modern jazz musicians--the icomparable Herbie Hancock. The ensemble clearly delighted in performing pieces that ranged from early in Hancock's career ("And What if I Don't?"), to the gorgeous "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" from Fat Albert Rotunda and "Riot"--a heavy cut from his period with the groundbreaking Headhunters. If you're not familiar with Herbie Hancock, I suggest that you take a trip to your nearest independent music store and buy as many of his albums as you can--you won't be disappointed.

The playing was flawless throughout--with each member showing the kind of chops that one would expect, but always within the bounds of the ensemble, and always with the kind of swing that keeps feet pattin' and heads noddin'.

Truly a wonderful night of inspired live music. Jazz is well as long as guys like Redman can pull together legends from the Blue Note catalogue of the 1960s like Hutcherson and up-and-comers like Harland to rehearse and perform at this level.