2007: Robert Anbian & The Unidentified Flying Quartet

with E. Doctor Smith & Charles Unger

From the San Francisco poetry underground comes the voice of Robert Anbian, backed by electronic percussionist E. “Doc” Smith and Bay Area sax legend Charles Unger, plus keyboardist Sam Peoples and bassist Mike Shea. UFQ makes its own magic inspired by the music of Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, and Bobby Hutcherson, with infusions of Brian Eno, the Grateful Dead, and something else. Notes Anbian: “I call the post-fusion, world beat jazz these guys play ‘acid-bop’ – it’s got more possibilities for poetry than the typical verse-chorus cadences of popular music.”

Known for his lyrical-epic “WE” series, and such topical effronteries as “Haikus for the White House,” Anbian has been described by fellow poet Richard Hack as “a passionate virtuoso steeped in these times and deep with tradition” [whose] “poetry crackles with currency – hiply linguistic turns of natural originality, rhythmically brimming with a tempestuous taste of ecstasy, reason, and love.” Dusty Dog Reviews declared him “a genius or a Venusian.”

E. Doctor Smith, inventor of the Drummstick, (born December 2, 1956 in Naples, Italy), began his musical journey as a E. Doctor Smithteenager playing percussion in the District of Columbia Youth Orchestra and in Maryland’s Montgomery County Youth Orchestra. Inspired by the Miles Davis fusion bands of the mid-70s, he continued his studies with Paul Sears, drummer of the Muffins. His first group, Oranus Rey, featured guitarist Paul Bollenback, bassist Ed Howard, and saxophonist Tim Chambers. In 1980 Smith moved to New York where he met fellow Music Building tenants Madonna (entertainer) and her co-writer, Stephen Bray. With Bray, Smith performed in the Breakfast Club (band) and The Same. The Same was produced by Brian Eno and featured keyboardist Carter Burwell, guitarist Chip Johannsen, singer Cloda Simmons, bassist Stanley Adler, and the motto "Semper Mutants." Now living in San Francisco, Smith performed at the Edgetone New Music Summit of 2006 with horn player Eric Dahlman. In March 2007, Smith will release a new Drummstick 2 CD, a long-distance collaboration with the original Drummstick band and other musical friends (and the re-release of his first Drummstick CD) on Edgetone Records.

Smith also produced and performed on an Edgetone release entitled Robert Anbian and UFQ: the Unidentified Flying Quartet. This timely and troubling work of jazz and poetry features poet Robert Anbian, saxophonist Charles Unger, keyboardist Sam Peoples, and bassist Mike Shea.

Charles Unger has performed for numerous years at Les Joulin's Jazz Bistro on Ellis, and the Rasselas Jazz Club on Fillmore, to the delight of regulars, tourists, purists and jazz aficionados alike. Unger first arrived in San Francisco in 1968, at the impressionable age of eighteen, and during the famed "Summer of Love." Unger stayed a week during that visit, and in 1969, he came back again, this time for a two week stay. According to "In Search of the City" writer Louis Martin, Unger "was hooked". "A year later he moved to San Francisco. He played mostly rock and R & B back then. He can't pinpoint exactly when he started playing jazz but says, "It's always been in the background. It's one of those things you grow up playing in school. In school bands they try to throw in a couple of jazz tunes."

Members of the group also include: Sam Peoples (acoustic & electric piano, samples) and Mike Shea (acoustic & electric bass).

Artist (photo by Photographer)