FLY WITH JOSHUA REDMAN (8/9)
When four artists of the cutting edge’s sharpest steel collaborate, the propeller they together create—bassist Larry Grenadier, drummer Jeff Ballard, and tenor saxophonists Mark Turner and Joshua Redman each forming a blade—lifts jazz above and beyond the horizon, so light, fast, and star-bound that the chordal support of a grand piano lay abandoned on the tarmac below. All familiar with the pianoless format, Grenadier, Ballard and Turner comprise the trio Fly, the sax and bass alternating harmonic and melodic assignment; Redman alloys an extended-technical ability to the effort, breaking his instrument’s range through falsetto heights and guttural lows for a groove inflected sound sans piano.
Fly with Joshua Redman
8 p.m., $40
Cambpell Recital Hall
541 Lasuen Mall (Palo Alto)
650-725-2787
www.stanfordjazz.com
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ROBIN THICKE (8/12)
Raised by a father ranked #37 on TV Guide’s list of the “50 Greatest TV Dad’s of All Time,” an award won for the role he played as Jason Seaver, the father on Growing Pains, soul singer Robin Thicke proves his parental upbringing strong. Growing Pains aside, Thicke senior also composed the original score to Wheel of Fortune, The Facts of Life, and Different Strokes—this bloodline seems most apparent in Thicke junior who began his career composing hits for such artists as Christina Aguilera, Mya, Brandy, Marc Anthony and Jordan Knight. Shortly thereafter, this sapphire-eyed stud’s own album The Evolution of Robin Thick topped Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart.
Robin Thicke
7 p.m., $45
Mezzanine
444 Jessie St. (SF)
415-625-8880
www.mezzaninesf.com
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BILL MAHER (8/8 )
There are holes in the American worldview. As comedic political commentator Bill Maher sarcastically quips, “Maybe every other American movie shouldn’t be based on a comic book. Other countries will think Americans live in an infantile fantasy land where reality is whatever we say it is and every problem can be solved with violence.” With surgically scalpeled speech he sets about excising the tumors, ulcers and other ills of the American psyche. His fiery tongue sets ears aflame and boils tempers to melt away facades and fakery on the aptly named Real Time with Bill Maher. Expect an evening of honest hilarity.
Bill Maher
8 p.m., $39.50 – $65.50
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness Ave. (SF)
415-621-6600
www.apeconcerts.com
