Dave Mihaly And Shimmering Leaves Light In The Ring: The Ali Suite

At a Boxing Day concert in San Francisco some years back, composer Dave Mihaly and his spirit jazz ensemble, the Shimmering Leaves, did a number of thematic pieces dedicated to well known, and not so well known, prize fighters. Boxing Day seemed a perfect day to honor some of Mihaly’s favorite boxers. The piece dedicated to Muhammad Ali was particularly energetic that evening and after the performance the members of the ensemble talked about Ali and discovered that they all had an affinity for the man. Mihaly immediately began re-working the material to present a sonic narrative arc of Ali’s life and a month later debuted Light in the Ring, the Ali Suite during an engagement at San Francisco’s Elbo Room. The brilliant performance of the suite that evening inspired a member of the audience to suggest that the band record it as an album. The seed was planted. The suite had legs. Dave Mihaly, best known for his drum and percussion work with Jolie Holland and SF improvisational collective Mushroom, has long been recognized as one of San Francisco’s premier musical collaborators, educators, and multi-instrumentalists.