401 Van Ness Ave
San Francisco, California 94102

Paula West, the San Francisco jazz phenomenon who coaxes extraordinary character from each note, launches her own bi-coastal season with a San Francisco Performances event on Oct. 8 at the Herbst Theater.

"Paula is a musical treasure whose turns of phrase can mine whole new meaning from songs," said SFP President Ruth Felt. "It is very fitting that we start off our fourth decade with one of our essential artists introducing her new program that she will take to Feinstein's at the Regency Hotel in New York."

West-whose starry career began with her waiting tables full-time while taking singing classes, attending jam sessions and pursuing gigs-appears with her frequent collaborators, the George Mesterhazy Quartet from New York. Bandleader and pianist George Mesterhazy leads guitarist Ed Cherry (14 years with Dizzy Gillespie), bassist Barak Mori (who also collaborates with singer Madeleine Peyroux and pianist Eric Reed) and drummer Jerome Jennings.

Mesterhazy, who has worked with Shirley Horn, Bernadette Peters and other greats, said West comes at cabaret "with a jazz attitude, and she's one of the best approachers to a lyric I've heard. She's in the Top 5 with Carmen McRae, Shirley Horn, Blossom Dearie and Peggy Lee. That's why Paula can turn a Dylan song into cabaret and people come up afterward and say, 'I finally got the lyrics.'"

Dylan songs are a staple of a West program, and she unveils a new interpretation each season as well as repeating audience favorite "Like a Rolling Stone." Other popular material includes Cole Porter classics, Oscar Brown, Jr.'s "The Sanke," Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Waters of March," and more obscure gems from the cabaret and jazz tradition.

Attending a West show is to be part of her always-morphing programs and is an experience that can't be replicated. Tickets start at just $30 (Premium: $50/$40)

Official Website: http://sfperformances.org/performances/1011/PaulaWest.html

Added by FullCalendar on September 24, 2010

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