Rarely does Los Angeles find itself getting a residency by a single artist. That’s just one thing that makes this 15-day residency by saxophonist Steve Coleman, starting Friday at bluewhale in Little Tokyo, so exciting. At various points in his career he has played with Abbey Lincoln, Sarah Vaughan, Sting, Dizzy Gillespie and others. But it is his career as a composer and bandleader that is really amazing. He has made 30 albums and his most recent record, Morphogenesis, was recorded last year and release in June of this year.
With so vast a career behind him, the 61-year-old Chicago native has a vast catalog of work to draw from during these concerts. Expect to be challenged by this innovator who said in his essay , “We live in a world of immense beauty. There are a multitude of forms with countless variations on simple themes.” Which may mean, even if you hear the same song over the course of their shows, you are unlikely to ever hear it the same way twice.
Here is a clip from their residency in 2015 at bluewhale: