Jazz musicians Earl Blue and Steve Shain are ‘Alone Together Again’

There are two things to remember about Sonoma jazz pianist Earl Blue in the short term: he once sat in with jazz guitar legend Django Reinhardt and he’s playing this Saturday in a showcase dubbed “Alone Together Again” with bass virtuoso Steve Shain.
Presented by the Bear Flag Social Club, the evening of improvised jazz will be presented as three sets – the first, according to impresario Ken Brown’s promotional matter, features Blue playing solo and “schmoozing with the audience,” followed by a set of original works performed by Shain. The third set will find the performers “cutting loose together in a spontaneous frenzy, including poetry and audience participation.”
“When I first played with Steve many, many years ago, I was blown away because he could look at my hands and tell in advance what I was going to do,” said Blue. “He’s got a great sense of structure and an even greater sense of perception of who he’s playing with. That’s grown over the years.”
Blue and Shain are both preparing for their night of improvisation by not preparing – a strategy the duo expects to keep their performances fresh.
“We’re going for no structure at all. As a matter of fact, we’re not playing our instruments for two weeks before we go out for this. We just meet surreptitiously in the plaza and say ‘What do you want to play? I’m not going to tell you, I’m going to surprise you,’ and that kind of stuff,” laughed Blue, who claims he can play any tune, in any key, any place, any time.
Though Blue and Shain have played together intermittently over the last 20 years, the pianist is confident that Saturday’s show will trump much of their previous shared efforts. He attributes this to the fact that he has finally learned how to “listen good.”
“It’s only been the last couple years that I’ve been able to settle down enough,” the 80-year-old said wryly. “We did one concert about 15 years ago that was really great, but in retrospect we were dumb kids that really didn’t know what we were doing. Now we’re ‘mature-conscious’ musicians.”
Doors open for “Alone Together Again” at 8 p.m., Saturday, March 31 at the Backstage Theater, Sonoma Community Center, 276 E. Napa St. Tickets are available at Pharmaca, Readers’ Books, and Sonoma Valley Music. Tickets are $15 and will be available at the door. For more information call 707.938.8623 or e-mail ken@bearflagsocialclub.com.