Arts & Entertainment

Mill Valley Musicians Go Global with Latest Project

Jimmy Dillon and Lorin Rowan's new San Francisco Music Club seeks to incorporate a range of international flavors with show at Throckmorton Saturday night.

Through an array of sounds and an assortment of configurations, Jimmy Dillon and Lorin Rowan have been musically attached at the hip for the better part of three decades.

Now the Mill Valley guitarists and songwriters are embarking on a new project together, the San Francisco Music Club, which at Saturday night.

Drawing inspiration in both moniker and philosophy from the famed Grammy-winning Buena Vista Social Club, the group seeks to incorporate a broad sonic palette into its material and serve as a platform of sorts for guest musicians.

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“It’s a travelogue of music,” Dillon says. “It is very danceable and high energy and the common thread is that it has a world beat, international sensibility to it.”

Dillon’s Ascension of the Blues project first sparked the idea for doing a music club project, he says, and the Ry Cooder-helmed Buena Vista project of 1999 provided a hugely successful blueprint.

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“I loved that it incorporated a whole consortium of fabulous talent that have never really worked together,” he says. “I’ve always thought, ‘what a great idea Ry Cooder had to bring together those incredibly talented people together for Buena Vista – singers, dancers, musicians and energy. My concept for San Francisco Music Club is the same thing.”

But he also promises more than a party band. He and Rowan, the central members of ska band the Edge for decades, have written a new album of material called Love and Freedom. Saturday’s show serves as a CD release party.

“We share this very special bond in that besides singing and playing together very well, we also love to write together,” Dillon says. “We have this collaborative flow with one another that we both love.  We’ve taken the heart and soul of the Edge and expanded it. It’s the Edge on steroids.”

While Dillon promises an ever-changing cast of musicians, Dillon and Rowan on guitar and vocals backed by keyboardist Ozzie Ahlers, bassist Eric McCann, drummer/percussionist Matt Willis, trombone player Mike Rinta and saxophonist/harmonica player Michael Peloquin, and R&B vocalist Sakai. They’ll be joined by the Wild Tribe dancers, which includes Dillon’s wife Kelly, making for a packed stage with at least 13 people on it.

Dillon says a second CD release party will follow at George’s in San Rafael in February, followed by a West Coast tour.

The 411: performs at on Saturday, Nov. 19, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 General Admission; $28 General Day of Show; $35 Reserved Seating and can be purchased by calling the box office at 415.383.9600 or on the Throckmorton's website.


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