SFJAZZ Center Is Open for Business

Chick Corea and Bill Frisell, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, 1-13

Chick Corea with Esperanza Spalding and Jeff Ballard, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, 1-13

Matt Penman, Joshua Redman, Joe Lovano, Jeff Ballard and John Santos, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, 1-13

Esperanza Spalding and Eric Harland, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, 1-13

McCoy Tyner with Bill Cosby, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, 1-13

McCoy Tyner, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding and Eric Harland, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, 1-13

McCoy Tyner and Bobby Hutcherson, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, 1-13

McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, Bill Frisell, Joshua Redman, Matt Penman, John Handy and Eric Harland, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, 1-13

The SFJAZZ Collective: Guest Chick Corea (far left) with, l. to. r., Edward Simon, Stefon Harris, Robin Eubanks, Avishai Cohen, Matt Penman, David Sánchez, Jeff Ballard and Miguel Zenón, SFJAZZ Center, San Francisco, 1-13

Well, that didn’t take long. San Francisco’s highly anticipated SFJAZZ Center opened for business Wednesday night (Jan. 23) with a gala performance. Within minutes the music felt right at home in the sumptuous new $64 million building in the bustling Hayes Valley neighborhood, a hotbed of culture and cuisine.

The money seems to have been well spent. The building is breathtaking, a human-scale glass box that sweeps you in off the sidewalk. Inside, there are interesting design elements everywhere you look, often referencing the city’s rich jazz history. Most importantly, the 700- seat Robert N. Miner Auditorium’s sound was clean and clear with every note audible no matter the size of the ensemble.