Jazz Dog

Jazz in the Neighborhood

ART • EQUITY • ACCESS

art • equity • access

Oaktown Jazz Mentors

Thursday, May 31 at 7:30 pm, Piedmont Center for the Arts

The Oaktown Jazz Mentors are the instructors of Oakland’s renown community based after-school program for young musicians, Oaktown Jazz Workshops. All active members of the San Francisco Bay Area’s music scene, the Workshops’ instructors are proud to represent their cultural education organization at this special Jazz in the Neighborhood concert, which will feature compositions by some of jazz music’s most celebrated composers – Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk and Wayne Shorter. The line-up for this performance includes Ron Marabuto (drums), Ravi Abcarian (bass), Andy Ostwald (piano), Danny Armstrong (trombone), Richard Howell (tenor sax, soprano sax and vocals), Rafa Postel (trumpet), and will showcase the talents of emerging artists Ashanti Johnson (alto sax and vocals) and Anthony Mills-Branch (alto sax and bass).

 

Piedmont Center for the Arts, 801 Magnolia Avenue, Piedmont
$20 advance / $25 day of show / $5 student rush

 

The Destiny Muhammad Project – “Celtic 2 Coltrane”

Wednesday, May 30, 7:30 pm at Rendon Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory

Harpist Destiny Muhammad’s sonic journey ventures into the soul of the Celtic Realm and then delves into works of American jazz composer legends Alice and John Coltrane and jazz harp genius Dorothy Jeanne Thompson Ashby. Destiny invites strings in from her group Strings of a Nubian Groove (SONG) to reimagine the tone of her jazz heroes’ music and adds her own original compositions to the mix. Joining Destiny will be Leon Joyce, Jr. on drums, Chico Lopez on bass, and Tarika Lewis and Sandy Poindexter on violin.

Joining the Project will be Emerging Artist Tai Min. Though she’s not yet in high school, Tai is already a familiar presence to Bay Area music fans as a vocalist who can seize and hold an audience’s attention from the region’s biggest stages. Possessing a powerful voice and a passion for soul, jazz and pop music, she combines deep natural talent with a rigorous work ethic.

Jazz in the Neighborhood’s Wednesday night series at CJC is presented with financial support from AFM Musicians Union Local 6.

Rendon Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory
$20 general admission / $10 full-time students

 

Aaron Germain Chance Ensemble

Saturday, May 26, 7:30-10pm at Bird & Beckett

Aaron Germain, bass — Mary Fettig, saxophone — Murray Low, piano — Jon Krosnik, drums

This is a Guaranteed Fair Wage Fund event where each musician will be paid $150 in advance, regardless of ticket sales. Jazz in then Neighborhood makes this possible by subsidizing 40% of their pay. Bird & Beckett and the Jazz Philanthropists Union guarantees the rest. For tickets and other information, please contact Bird & Beckett.

Bird & Beckett — 653 Chenery Street, San Francisco

Pascal LeBoeuf’s “Ritual Being”

Wednesday, May 23, 7:30 pm, at Rendon Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory

Grammy nominated composer, pianist, and producer PascalLe Boeuf’s works range from modern improvised music to cross-bred classical with production-based technology, with a polyrhythmic approach to chamber music. Le Boeuf returns to the Bay Area for a special performance of his large-scale work “Ritual Being,” a 9-piece jazz/classical collaboration between San Francisco’s Friction String Quartetand LeBoeuf’s own quintet. This work explores the propitious and disastrous rituals of the manifestation of human behavior at micro/macro levels and asks what happens when we project our individual behaviors and routines onto the whole of our species?

Performers in this special performance include Friction Quartet’s Otis Harriel (violin), Kevin Rogers (violin), Taija Warbelow(viola), and Doug Machiz (cello), plus a jazz quintet comprised of Remy Le Boeuf (alto saxophone), Jonathan Rowden (tenor saxophone), Pascal Le Boeuf (piano/composer), Giulio Xavier Cetto (bass), and Malachi Whitson (drums). “Ritual Being” was made possible by support from Chamber Music America’s 2015 New Jazz Works program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

“Ritual Being” was made possible by support from Chamber Music America’s 2015 New Jazz Works program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Rendon Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory
$20 general admission / $10 full-time students

 

Kat Parra Latin World Ensemble

Friday, May, 11 at 6pm, Copperfield’s Books in San Rafael

Kat Parra is an award-winning jazz vocal musician, composer, lyricist and arranger with an international perspective. In 2006, she quit her job as a graphic designer at Cisco Systems, Inc. to pursue her passion for music and she’s never looked back. Since then she has performed in Amsterdam, Brazil and Mexico as well as top-tier venues throughout the United States, earned the designation of “Best Latin Jazz Vocalist of 2010 and 2008” by Latin Jazz Corner, and received a 2008 nomination for “Latin Jazz Album of the Year” from the Jazz Journalists Association. She has created an engaging and unique repertoire with fresh and exciting new arrangements. Kat is as comfortable singing the American songbook as she is singing songs from across Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond. She sings fluently in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Ladino (Judeo-Espanyol).

Kat is celebrating the release of her 5th CD as a leader, SONGBOOK OF THE AMÉRICAS. In addition to Parra’s original music and lyrics, the CD pays tribute to women composers from North, Central and South America. With this multi-lingual and multi-musical experience, Kat Parra is able to transport her audiences to an exciting and vibrant journey of world and latin music.

Joining Kat Parra for this event will be Murray Low (piano), Masaru Koga (woodwinds), David Belove (bass), and Dan Foltz (drums).

Watch Kat in performance here.

This free concert is a collaboration between Jazz in the Neighborhood and Copperfield’s Books, which provides use of their space. Though there is no income from ticket sales, Jazz in the Neighborhood pays each musician a guaranteed fair wage. The concerts are made possible through contributions from our JITN membership, audience members, and sponsors such as the Magic Flute and Bananas at Large.

Let’s Call This – Anderson/Mezzacappa/Modirzadeh

Wednesday, May 9, 7:30 pm at Rendon Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory

LET’S CALL THIS is a new meeting of three improviser-composers who have developed singular voices as longtime members of the Bay Area creative jazz community. Saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh joins bassist Lisa Mezzacappa and drummer Vijay Anderson to explore original compositions, structured improvisations, and conceptual flights, born from a shared sense of curiosity and possibility. Modirzadeh is known for developing a unique poly-tempered approach to jazz based on the music of Iran. Anderson composes tightly knit music with interweaving melodic lines and a driving momentum. Mezzacappa’s compositions combine asymmetrical grooves with sonic abstractions and free zones of exploration. This performance is a special opportunity to hear the debut of this inventive and adventurous new trio.

Vijay Anderson is a freelance drummer, bandleader, composer, and teacher based in Oakland, California. He has performed and recorded with LA-based multi-instrumentalists Lynn Johnston and Vinny Golia; Bay Area composer/performers Ben Goldberg, Sheldon Brown, Graham Connah, Darren Johnston, Smith Dobson V, Lisa Mezzacappa, Aaron Bennett, Ava Mendoza, Hafez Modirzadeh, and saxophonist Marco Eneidi. He has worked extensively with Brooklyn bassist Adam Lane as part of Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra, the Adam Lane Trio, and Adam Lane’s Blue Spirit Band. Anderson has composed and performed original scores for filmmakers Jeff Kao and Tim Hicks, as well as for projects by the Facing East Dance Company. He leads the Vijay Anderson Quartet, the Touch and Go Sextet, and the Silverscreen Sextet.

Lisa Mezzacappa is a Berkeley­-based composer, bassist, and bandleader. Called “one of the most imaginative figures on the Bay Area creative jazz scene” by The Mercury News and “a Bay Area treasure” by KQED, she has been an active part of California’s music community for more than 15 years. Mezzacappa writes music for groups from duo to large ensemble, acoustic and electric, and has collaborated with film, dance, sculpture and installation art. Recent projects include ORGANELLE, a chamber suite for improvisers; Glorious Ravage, an evening-length song cycle for large ensemble and films; and TOUCH BASS, a collaboration with choreographer Risa Jaroslow for three dancers and three bassists. avantNOIR, a suite of compositions for jazz sextet, was released on Clean Feed records in 2017 and earned 4 1/2 stars in Downbeat Magazine.

Saxophonist/theorist Hafez Modirzadeh has performed, recorded, published and lectured internationally on original cross-cultural musical concepts which include “Convergence Liberation” (in Critical Studies in Improvisation, 2011), “Compost Music” (in Leonardo, 2009), “Aural Archetypes” (in Black Music Research, 2001), as well as “Chromodality” (for Wesleyan University, 1992). Twice an NEA Jazz Fellow, Modirzadeh received a Senior Fulbright Award in 2006 to work with Flamenco and Gnawan traditions in Andalucia and Morocco, and again in 2014, to research Turkish Makam harmonization in Ankara. He is a Professor of Creative/World Music at San Francisco State University.

WATCH:

For more information about the artists, visit their sites:

Hafez Modirzadeh – Vijay Anderson – Lisa Mezzacappa

 

Edward Simon Trio

Friday, May 18, 8:00 pm at San Francisco Community Music Center

Pianist Edward Simon – a native of Venezuela who has made a name for himself over decades in America as a jazz pianist, bandleader and composer-arranger, along with being a Guggenheim Fellow and member of the hit SFJAZZ Collective – has created fresh, supple interpretations of melodies from all over Latin America. His latest album Latin American Songbook won him an NAACP Image Awards for ‘Outstanding Jazz Album’. For this performance, Simon’s trio features two of the most distinguished players from the Bay Area: drummer Alan Hall and bassist Peter Barshay, whose subtly virtuosic performances brim with lyricism, color and groove.

The New York Times has praised Simon’s “light, warm touch” as a pianist, while the Jazz Journal International singled out “his deep emotional statements.” Listen to samples of Simon’s latest album here.

Community Music Center, 544 Capp Street, San Francisco
$18 advance / $20 day of show / $10 students & seniors

Peter Horvath Trio

Wednesday, May 16, 7:30 pm at  California Jazz Conservatory

Contemporary jazz pianist, keyboardist and composer Peter Horvath performs with his dynamic trio featuring Jeff Chambers on bass and Jason Lewis at the drums. The trio play Peter’s original compositions, along with arrangements of the standards.

Peter Horvath has been perfecting his craft since the age of six. He attended the Bela Bartok Conservatory of Music in his native Hungary, then attended the Vienna Conservatory of Music. He moved to the United States in 1983, where he studied at the Berklee College of Music. He has since performed and recorded  with a long line of world-class artists. ​Peter is currently on faculty at the California Jazz Conservatory, Saint Mary’s College of California and Stanford Jazz Consortium.

Jazz in the Neighborhood’s Wednesday night series at CJC is presented with financial support from AFM Musicians Union Local 6.

Rendon Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory

Tickets available through the CJC box office or at the door.
$20 general admission / $10 full-time students

Erik Jekabson Quintet

Wednesday, May 2, 7:30 pm at Rendon Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory

The Erik Jekabson Quintet performs original music by trumpeter Erik Jekabson.  The band plays modern jazz with funk, fusion and latin jazz influences.  Much of the music is groove-oriented and has lyrical melodies, but it also has modern and sophisticated harmonies. In addition to Jekabson, the band features Dave Ellis (saxophones), Dave MacNab (guitar), John Wiitala (bass), and David Flores (drums).

Erik has six CDs out under his own name: his most recent album is “Erik Jekabson Quintet” (2017) on the Wide Hive Record Label. Erik also co-produced and played on four other recordings which are widely available: The Electric Squeezebox Orchestra’s “The Falling Dream” and “Cheap Rent”, “Vista: the Arrival” and “New World Funk Ensemble”. He’s recorded as a sideman on numerous other jazz recordings, as well as doing session work in many other genres of music and on movie and video game soundtracks. He’s spent time on the road with Illinois Jacquet, John Mayer, Galactic, and the Howard Fishman Quartet, and has performed at such notable venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Algonquin Room, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Madison Square Garden, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman. When Erik Jekabson isn’t playing and composing, he’s teaching a wide variety of students and running the Young Musicians Program at the California Jazz Conservatory.

Jazz in the Neighborhood’s Wednesday night series at CJC is presented with financial support from AFM Musicians Union Local 6.

Rendon Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory

Tickets available through the CJC box office or at the door.
$20 general admission / $10 full-time students

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Phone:
415-737-JITN (5486)

Email:
info@jazzintheneighborhood.org