Celebrating Hadley Caliman Memorial Jam with The Bobby Hutcherson Group, Larry Vuckovich, Eddie Marshall, Jeff Chambers, Pete Yellin, Vince Wallace and many more October 11, 2010

Besides the world-renowned vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and his group, the lineup of outstanding musicians includes: Larry Vuckovich, Eddie Marshall, Akira Tana, Jeff Chambers, Bill Douglass, Mel Martin, Pete Yellin, Andrew Speight, Vince Wallace, John Santos, Benny Velarde, a dazzling headliner mystery vocalist who performed with Hadley, and others. The musicians being featured have played with Hadley and will feature some of his originals, as well as standards he liked to play.

Larry Vuckovich, Jeff Chambers and Eddie Marshall will open the show at 8 PM. Then Pete Yellin and Andrew Speight will play some of Hadley’s originals, joined on bass by Bill Douglass, who with Larry, played on Hadley’s first recording. Two tenors, Mel Martin and Vince Wallace, will play a segment. The mystery vocalist will sing a few tunes, and then, John Santos and Benny Velarde, with whom Hadley performed in a Latin band, will close the set. Bobby Hutcherson and his band will play from 9 to 9:30 PM. These same musicians will jam on the last set, finishing with a Jazz at the Phil blow out.

Hadley, affectionately dubbed Little Dex, was a student of Dexter Gordon’s, and later played with him as part of the 1950s Central Avenue jazz scene in Los Angeles. Hadley recorded/toured with Dexter and other jazz leaders, Freddie Hubbard, Gerald Wilson, Elvin Jones, Mongo Santamaria, Joe Pass, Joe Henderson, Don Ellis, and Bobby Hutcherson, as well as the rock/fusion bands of Carlos Santana, Flora Purim, The Grateful Dead, and others.

Hadley was an important musician on the San Francisco scene in the ‘70s and 80s before moving to Seattle, where he led his own band and appeared as a featured soloist with the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra. He was on the music faculty at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle for more than 20 years.

His influence on the sound of modern jazz music can be heard on his early LP albums as a leader as well as his three recent CDs for the Seattle-based label, Origin, released consecutively from 2008 to his current one released this past August, featuring vibraphone master Joe Locke, drummer Joe LaBarbera, and trumpeter Thomas Marriott.

We know this concert will be filled with the soulfulness and warmth that characterized Hadley’s playing, as well as his personality that we all loved and admired. His loving and highly supportive wife, Linda Caliman, is expected to be present. Linda helped keep Hadley’s health in balance during his two-year struggle with liver cancer. In spite of his illness, he played with the same brilliance, as well as youthfulness and spirit as he always played, until just before his passing on September 8th at age 78.

Official Website: http://www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco/jazzclub/artist/show/1533