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 HSC Concert Series Past ProgramsThe Berkeley Hillside Club Concert Series has been proud to host some of the finest artists performing today. Scroll down this page to view some of the past programs in our series.  The Randy Vincent Quartet The Berkeley Hillside Club is delighted to present the Randy Vincent Quartet in a concert of original jazz and jazz standards. Don't miss this rare performance by these noted artists in our acoustically warm and welcoming hall! The Ensemble: The Randy Vincent Quartet was formed in 2005 when Bay Area veteran guitarist Randy Vincent and bassist Chris Amberger collaborated with two up-and- coming talents in the area, drummer Alex Aspinall and vibraphonist Tyler Blanton. Tyler and Alex, both Sonoma State University Alumni, had the opportunity to work with and learn from Randy in the classroom, as well as on the bandstand. Randy, one of the founding faculty members of Sonoma State's jazz program, has a long standing reputation for mentoring young musical talents. The group plays mostly original music composed by Tyler and Randy, as well as a handful of jazz standards which have been arranged to suit the group's instrumentation. They have frequently performed throughout the Bay Area since 2005 including The Benbo jazz festival and The Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco, to name a few. The groups first full length album, "Nisha's Dream" was released in 2007 on the Triangular music label. The Artists: Randy Vincent began his career in Florida and moved to the San Francisco Area in 1980. Since then, he has divided his time between performing and teaching. Among the many musicians with whom he has performed and recorded are: Joe Henderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Hutcherson, Leny Andrade, Stephanie Ozer, Mel Martin, Benny Barth, Mel Graves, Bennett Friedman, Larry Baskett, Peter Welker, Chris Amberger, George Marsh, Smith Dobson, Bill Watrous, George Cables, Tony Dumas, Akira Tana, Billy Childs, Bob Sheppard, Steve Smith, Harold Jones, Bob Badgley, Ernie Watts, Warren Gale, Herb Pomeroy, the Bay Area Jazz Composers' Orchestra, the New Oakland Jazz Orchestra, Dave Eshelman Jazz Garden Big Band, and The Turtle Island String Quartet. He plays on a regular basis with many local musicians throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He has performed at numerous jazz festivals such as Monterey Jazz Festival, Mount Hood Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival, Telluride Colorado Jazz Festival, Space Coast Jazz Festival, North Coast Jazz Festival, Fairfax Jazz Festival, Benicia Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, Sacramento Jazz Festival, Cotati Jazz Festival, Jazz on the (Russian) River, Harvest Festival, San Miguel de Allende Jazz Festival in Mexico, and at the Hollywood Bowl for Dizzy Gillespie's 75th birthday celebration. Randy has taught jazz guitar at Sonoma State University (in Sonoma County, California) since 1981 and has conducted clinics throughout the U.S. While on tour with Joe Henderson, he taught at Taller de Musicos in Madrid, Spain. Randy's students include Julian Lage, the young prodigy who appeared on the 2000 Grammy Awards show. Randy has also taught Dave McNab, who has worked with Shelby Lynne and has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman; and Liberty Ellman, who works on a regular basis with Greg Osby and Henry Threadgill. Bassist Christopher Amberger's has studied music at Merritt College in Oakland, Berklee College in Boston, Cowling Institute in England, and Cal State, Los Angeles. Chris has made several tours around the United States and Europe with The George Shearing Quintet and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and has also made tours with Rosemary Clooney in South America, to mention just a few. He has worked with Helen Forrest, Vaughn Monroe, Bobby McFerrin, Helen O'Connell, Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson, Maria Muldaur, Jimmy Witherspoon, Red Garland, Stan Kenton, Art Pepper, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Dorham, Herb Ellis, and many other outstanding performers. Some of the musicians that Chris has recorded with include Red Garland, Art Blakey, Noel Jewkes, and Rosemary Clooney. He has also performed with the Buffalo Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and the Milwaukee Symphony. Alex Aspinall is one of the San Francisco bay area's up and coming jazz drummers. Alex graduated from the music department at Sonoma State University in 2002. While earning his BA at SSU Alex studied extensively with drum legend George Marsh. Alex keeps a busy schedule performing, recording and teaching. He currently performs with the Randy Vincent Quartet , Edo Castro, the Erik Lindquist Trio, Shea Breaux Wells, Michael Lamacchia, and SF swing band Lee Press On and the Nails. Alex has also performed with Mel Graves, Julian Lage, and award winning vocalist Kathleen Grace. Jazz vibraphonist Tyler Blanton moved to New York in 2007 from the San Francisco Bay area where he quickly gained recognition as an up and coming talent on the instrument. He has shared the stage with Randy Vincent, Mel Graves, Eddie Marshall, and Chris Amberger, among many others. In 2006, his long standing musical collaborations with veteran Jazz guitarist Randy Vincent was documented with the release of 'Nisha's Dream" on the Triangular music label. As a bandleader, Blanton performs regularly both in New York and abroad with his trio featuring original music and arrangements of known Jazz Standards. Blanton's repertoire ventures into swing, bebop, brazilian, modern jazz styles, and everything in between.  Mitch Marcus Quintet + 13 The Berkeley Hillside Club is excited to present the Mitch Marcus Quintet + 13 in a remarkable evening of original jazz. This award-winning ensemble will fill our stage with virtuoso players and our acoustically-wonderful hall with sublime sounds. Don't miss this event! The Mitch Marcus Quintet + 13 Big Band is a highly energetic, innovative group featuring 18 of the best musicians in today's jazz scene. After receiving the 2004 Subito music award from the American Composer's Forum, the Mitch Marcus Quintet was expanded to form this super-group. The MMQ + 13 Big Band will be performing new arrangements of the quintet material as well as other cutting-edge compositions stretching beyond the post-bop idiom. The group features works by collaborators Mitch Marcus and Sylvain Carton. Their arrangements and compositions experiment with dense harmony, polyrhythmic ideas, and altered song forms, bringing the exploratory spirit of the underground jazz scene into a traditional big band setting - juxtaposing improvisation with orchestration. Every musician, being a distinguished soloist, enables the music to reach new heights through improvisation and personal interpretation. "Mingus meets Prokofiev at a luncheon with Gunther Schüller hosted by Duke Ellington and 70's cop show heroes Starsky and Hutch. Art Blakey is the chef." The Band: Mitch Marcus - tenor sax  John Butcher & Carla Kihlstedt Sixth Annual Matthew Sperry Memorial Concerts Thursday, June 5th at 8:00 pm Friday, June 6th at 8:00 pm The Berkeley Hillside Club is proud to host the Sixth Annual Matthew Sperry Memorial Concerts. Matthew Sperry was a talented bass player and beloved member of the local avant garde music community who was tragically killed while bicycling in 2003. Since then his friends and fans have gathered annually to honor his memory in music. Thursday's Program: John Butcher - saxophone Friday's Program: Carla Kihlstedt - violin & vocals Featured Artists' Bios: John Butcher's music ranges through free improvisation, composition, multitracked saxophone pieces and work with live electronics, amplification and feedback. He is well known as a solo performer, recently exploiting extreme acoustics, and has composed pieces for Chris Burn's Ensemble, Polwechsel, the Elision Ensemble and the Rova Saxophone Quartet. He started playing the saxophone whilst studying physics, but, after finishing a doctorate on quantum chromodynamics he left academia in 1982 and went off with music - working with Burn, John Russell, Phil Durrant, Paul Lovens and Radu Malfatti. In the early '90s he joined what became the final version of John Stevens' Spontaneous Music Ensemble and also began playing with Derek Bailey and Phil Minton. Electronic music was an early influence on his approach to saxophone playing, and became explicit in his electromanipulation duo with Durrant, and, more recently, in duos with Christof Kurzmann and Toshimaru Nakamura. Some current projects include Thermal with EX guitarist Andy Moor & Thomas Lehn, The Contest of Pleasures with Axel Doerner and Xavier Charles, and duos with Steve Beresford, Gerry Hemingway, Rhodri Davies, Paal Nilssen-Love, Gino Robair, John Edwards and Eddie Prevost. Butcher continues to play in many occasional, sometimes just one-off encounters - ranging from large groups such as Butch Morris' London Skyscraper, Radu Malfatti's Orkestra and the EX Orkestra, to duo concerts with Fred Frith, Akio Suzuki, and Otomo Yoshihide. For more info on John Butcher check out www.johnbutcher.org.uk. Carla Kihlstedt enjoys many kinds of music with many kinds of people. Most recently, these people have included Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Matthias Bossi, Colin Jacobsen, and Lisa Bielawa. She also enjoys what happens when people form groups. Some of her favorite such groups that she works with are The Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, 2 Foot Yard, Tin Hat, The Book of Knots, The ROVA Saxophone Quartet, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and Cosa Brava. She is in the process of starting her own label for her own music (Twelve Cups), as a way of sidestepping the evils of the recorded music industry and losing her own damn money. In three days time, she will make a record with Matthias Bossi and Shahzad Ismaily called Causing a Tiger, based on field recordings that she has collected on her travels. Later this month, she will record with one of her favorite musicians, Satoko Fujii. (The resulting cd will come out on Tzadik later this year.) She has also been working very hard on a staged song cycle called Necessary Monsters (featuring Nina Rolle, Theresa Wong, Freddi Price, Michael Mellender, Matthias Bossi, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, and the words of Rafael Oses) that she hopes to bring to the Bay Area next year.  Larry Karush and Gyan Riley The Berkeley Hillside Club is delighted to present pianist Larry Karush, guitarist Gyan Riley, and drummer Scott Amendola in concert. These virtuoso artists, each celebrated for his own individual musical achievements, will collaborate in a concert featuring new works and improvisation. Don't miss these three wonderful players performing in our acoustically-excellent hall! The Program: For Larry Karush, improvisation is integral to the genesis and performance of compositions created out of his roots in jazz, world, and western classical and 20th century music. This concert of "comprovisations" will feature new works, and selections from original repertoire, including "The Salsa Way", "The 5-Star Rag", and "Meditation: American Granite". Based in Los Angeles, Mr. Karush's last Bay Area appearance was in a shared concert with Maestro Terry Riley. For this event, he will share the stage with M. Riley's son, guitarist/composer Gyan Riley, in a program including solo and duo works by both artists. Joining Karush and Riley for this evening's performance will be the celebrated Bay Area jazz drummer, Scott Amendola. The Artists: Larry Karush is an improvising pianist/composer with roots in Jazz, 20th century western music, African-based percussion, and the classical music of North India. From Carnegie Hall to the Purple Onion, he has performed Jazz with John Abercrombie, Jane Ira Bloom, Jay Clayton, Bennie Wallace, and Oregon, World Music with Kanai Dutta, Francisco Aguabella, and Glen Velez, and New Music with Steve Reich and Terry Riley, in addition to his solo piano performances. His compositions and improvisations have been recorded on the ECM, Vanguard, Inner City, AudioQuest, Music of the World, and NAXOS labels. He has received grants and commissions from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the NEA/Arts International, Meet the Composer, the California Arts Council, and the City of Los Angeles. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition, and a nominee for the 2008 Alpert Foundation Prize in Creative Music. He has performed concerts of original music for solo piano and his piano/bass/three world percussion ensemble, The Combination, throughout the United States in addition to festival appearances in Europe, Canada, and South Africa. Mr. Karush has been an artist-in-residence at the University of California Santa Barbara, a composer-in-residence at the Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, and has presented lecture/demonstrations of his approach to integrating composition and multi-stylistic improvisation at the Universities of California, Tufts, Brandeis and New York, Reed and Berklee Colleges, and the California Institute for the Arts. He is currently on the faculty of Occidental College in Los Angeles. "In Art of the Improviser, a riveting set of solo piano tracks, Karush draws together such disparate elements as bluegrass banjo, stride, tinges of Erik Satie, boogie-woogie, country and the blues. But his own vision - one of the most fascinating in current jazz - remains constant." --Los Angeles Times (Don Heckman) "Elegant and earth... (Karush's) music travels around the world carving out some real poetry. Highly recommended." --Cadence Gyan Riley brings together elements of American fingerpicking, Indian raga, jazz, flamenco, and classical guitar techniques to form a highly compelling compositional and performance style unto itself. In 1999, Gyan became the first guitarist ever to be awarded a full scholarship from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. While still studying at the conservatory, he received a recording contract for his debut CD of original works, Food for the Bearded (New Albion Records). Gyan's awards include First Prize in the Portland International Guitar Festival Competition and First Prize in the San Francisco Conservatory Guitar Concerto Competition. Concert tours have taken him to some of the world's most prestigious concert halls in the UK, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Norway, Ireland, and throughout the United States. Gyan tours regularly with the Los Angeles based Falla Guitar Trio, the Feinsmith Quartet, and father/composer/pianist Terry Riley. Gyan has received commissions from the Carnegie Hall Corporation, the New York Guitar Festival, the San Francisco Foundation, and the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center. Gyan served as the artistic director for the San Francisco Classical Guitar Society from 2002-2004, and as professor of guitar at Humboldt State University for the 2005-2006 academic year. This year he serves on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. "Gyan Riley is the future of guitar, now." --Guitarra Magazine, Dec. '02 "(Riley's) musical range reaches well beyond standard idiomatic cliches with almost improvisatory freedom." --Gramophone, Feb. '03 While rooted in the San Francisco Bay Area scene, Scott Amendola has woven a dense and far reaching web of bandstand relationships that tie him to influential figures in jazz, blues, groove, rock and new music. An organizer by nature, he has become a creative nexus for a community of musicians stretching from Los Angeles and Seattle to Chicago and New York. While he first gained widespread notice a decade ago for his work in eight-string guitar ace Charlie Hunter's trio, in recent years Amendola has stepped forward as the leader of several compelling bands that showcase his supremely supple trap work. He continues to work as a sideman, accompanying artists such as the tart-toned vocalist Madeleine Peyroux, guitarist and singer/songwriter Kelly Joe Phelps and the Nels Cline Singers (a volatile instrumental trio without a vocalist), but it's as a bandleader that Amendola's dynamic, ever-evolving style is best showcased. Around the Bay Area, Amendola explores the many facets of his expansive rhythmic sensibility in an intriguing series of small combos. As a jazz player, for instance, he's performed extensively with the cooperative group 'plays Monk', a trio featuring clarinetist Ben Goldberg and bassist Devin Hoff that focuses on the brilliant, knotty composition of modern jazz giant Thelonious Monk. "We've created certain moods for tunes, more than developing set arrangements," Amendola says. "What really makes the trio its own thing and opens up possibilities is the lack of a chordal instrument. We've all played and listened to a lot of Thelonious Monk. One could really study Monk's music for a lifetime Amendola's past musical connections are vast and varied, including recordings, tours and performances with artists such as Bill Frisell, Wadada Leo Smith, Shweta Jhaveri, Larry Goldings, Jeff Parker, Sex Mob, Larry Klein, Darryl Johnson, Carla Bozulich, Robin Holcomb and the Joe Goode Dance Group, Wayne Horvitz, Johnny Griffin, Viktor Krauss, Tony Furtado, Julian Priester, Jessica Lurie, Sonny Simmons, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Pat Martino, Peter Apfelbaum, Jim Campilongo, Bobby Black, Paul McCandless, Ben Goldberg, Noe Venable, and Mark Turner. He considers all of these formative experiences, but singles out a few gigs as particularly inspiring, including a six-week European tour with pianist Jacky Terrasson, and a performance at the Jazzschool in Berkeley with saxophonist Dave Liebman that was documented on a live recording. "If Scott Amendola didn't exist, the San Francisco music scene would have to invent him." -- Derk Richardson, San Francisco Bay Guardian "Amendola, certainly the most accomplished and inventive drummer on the local scene, maintains a constant flurry of percussive sounds - drums, cymbals, tom-toms - smoothly shifting dynamics and rhythmic emphasis." - Phil Elwood, San Francisco Examiner  Lily Storm & Dan Cantrell's MegaBand The Berkeley Hillside Club is pleased to present a fabulous double bill with Lily Storm in a concert of folk songs from Eastern Europe and neighboring countries, and Dan Cantrell's MegaBand featuring a set of original compositions inspired by traditional Romani (Gypsy) Jewish, and American Folk music. Don't miss this innovative new acoustic music in the sonic splendor of our hall! The Program: Lily Storm will open the night with song selections from Eastern Europe accompanied by the Indian Harmonium. Then she be joined by vocalists Briget Boyle and Dan Cantrell to premier a new set of Greek polyphonic vocal music from Epirus. Dan Cantrell's MegaBand features an amazing cast of musicians specializing in World music traditions. These songs are presented with modern compositional complexity and sung primarily in the English language. The group will be joined by special guest dancers to premier some tasty collaborative treats for the eyes. The Artists: Lily Storm is a singer specializing in traditional music, with particular experience in Eastern European styles. She has studied with many traditional singers (Donka Koleva, Kremena Stancheva, Merita Halili, Mariana Sadovska, Christos Govetas, Carl Linich, Tsvetanka Varimezova, Radostina Kaneva, Tatiana Sarbinska), and has traveled extensively, living for some months in Hungary and Greece and visiting Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia and India. She also makes use of archival recordings to study ancient styles preserved into the early 20th century. Lily performs with several ensembles in the Bay Area, working with musicians including Ryan Francesconi, Dan Cantrell, Aya Davidson, Beth Bahia Cohen, Eric Perney, Peter Maund, Shea Comfort, Leslie Bonnett, Dan Ziagos, Bill Lanphier, Bryan Bowman, and Lucia Comnes. She also performs early music with Shira Kammen, Tim Rayborn, and Kit Higginson; Scandinavian folk music with the Swedish duo Dråm, and she has collaborated with Kane Mathis, an accomplished kora and oud player. Highlights of the last year include singing with the Toids to open for Joanna Newsom, and performing in Greece with Lucia Comnes at the Voices of Stone Festival, sharing the stage with Petro-Loukas Halkias and Domna Samiou, among others. Previously she sang with the Bay Area vocal ensemble Kitka for 5 years. As part of Kitka, she recorded as a soloist (The Vine, Wintersongs), collaborated in concert with ensembles including Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Ziyia, Ensemble Alcatraz, Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, Davka, and Mariana Sadovska, and appeared on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion and then-NPR's Performance Today. For more information about Lily, visit http://songbat.com Dan Cantrell's Mega Band: Dan Cantrell - Accordion, Voice For more band info, visit http://www.myspace.com/dancantrellsmegaband Dan Cantrell began composing at age 11. Since that time he has continued performing and writing music of all kinds featuring his main instruments, accordion, piano and musical saw. Dan received a rigorous training in Classical, Jazz, and improvisational performance styles as well as extensive formal composition training from an early age. He attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), and the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts studying piano performance and musical composition. Drawing from his rich musical experience, he strives to bring exciting new sounds to the world in collaboration and composition for interdisciplinary art. In recent years his attention has been focused on the study and performance of Eastern European folk music as well as compositions for film, dance, and theatre. As a composer, Dan has scored over thirty films and numerous plays. He has been commissioned by several dance companies and circus arts groups to produce live and recorded scores. His work has been premiered by a variety of ensembles ranging from brass bands, to chamber orchestras, Balkan women's choirs, to the California Shakespeare Festival ensemble cast. Dan has been musical director for ensembles in theatre, dance and for television with the PBS children's series Mark Kistler's Imagination Station. In recent years, Dan received an Emmy award for his soundtrack to KQED documentary Home Front, as well two Golden Gate awards from the San Francisco International Film Festival for his work on local films. He is excitedly now writing the score for a new television series "The Misadventures of Flapjack". This new cartoon produced by the Cartoon Network which will air this Summer. As a performer, Dan recently had the honor of recording with legendary songwriter Tom Waits. He has also recently toured and recorded with emerging and internationally celebrated independent artist Joanna Newsom. For more information about Dan, visit www.bellowhead.com  Carl Ludwig Hübsch & Gino Robair The Berkeley Hillside Club excited to present German tuba virtuoso and composer Carl Ludwig Hübsch, and Bay Area percussionist and composer Gino Robair in a concert of improvised music that will stretch your ear and your mind. Don't miss this exciting exposition of sound on the cutting edge of creativity in our acoustically-wonderful hall. The Concert: Carl Ludwig Hübsch plays accoustic music that melds the traditional brass sound of the tuba with the extended sound/noise music genre, along with strong influences from electronic and contemporary compositions. Perhaps one could say Hübsch plays electronic music with mechanical means. In composition Hübsch's work focuses on interweaving improvisation and ideas written in advance of the performance. In the concert at the Hillside Club he will play in a duo with the renonwned percussionist Gino Robair. Together with the audience they step into the unknown and let music grow from there. The Artists: Carl Ludwig Hübsch's early musical encounters were with Punk, Rock and a local brass band. He later studied at the University of Freiburg, earning diplomas in voice, percussion and classical theory. He has studied composition and New Music with Johannes Fritsch. He composes and performs in concert halls, studios and theatres lending his talents to ensembles and orchestras. He is well known for his unique solo concerts. Hübsch concentrates on Improvised Music and Composition. He also leads workshops for tuba and improvisation. "Considering the dearth of good solo tuba recordings in recent years Carl Ludwig Hübsch would be in a field of his own even if he didn`t try to be different. DER ERSTE BERICHT ("the first report") acknowledges the inevitable novelty charge with a Cover of Kashmir-we don`t get many Led Zeppelin covers in these pages either but what persists is Hubsch`s control, and, yes, poetry with an instrument that, for jazz, was long relegated to huffing in the end zone, Creating overtones by singing through his horn, he extends his instrument the way Albert Mangelsdorff stretched the trombone, while his drumming on the side of the instrument in M5 and Ross 780 adds a third party. Away from those extensions, he has astounding control of his instrument`s softer range, as the reverie of Groombridge 34 affirms so handsomely. -Coda Magazine July 2000" Gino Robair is a percussionist, music journalist, and published composer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gino frequently tours North America and Europe as a soloist and often improvises in ad-hoc groups. He has performed and/or recorded with Anthony Braxton, Tom Waits, John Butcher, LaDonna Smith, Otomo Yoshihide, Eugene Chadbourne, John Zorn, Nina Hagen, Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, Myra Melford, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, The Club Foot Orchestra, and he is a founding member of the Splatter Trio. Gino Robair ...holds the listener captive as he oscillates between the accidental and the intentional; between the tiniest, most delicate noise and a torrential outpouring of sound." -San Francisco Bay Guardian "Robair is an enormously talented percussionist, with a thorough-going musicality and an instinct for the unexpected." -The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD "Robair has taken the notion of open-ended improv to its logical endgame; milking maximum-impact rhythms from the most unlikely sources." -Jazziz  The Second Annual Bay Area The Berkeley Hillside Club pleased once again to host the Second Annual Bay Area JazzPoetry Festival. As only the great Count Basie could put it: "Let's try it one more once!" he called out at the end of his classic "April in Paris." April in Berkeley will once again be filled with jazz and poetry. Building on the enthusiastic crowd response to its 2007 debut, the Second Annual Bay Area JazzPoetry Festival returns to celebrate April's intersection of Jazz Appreciation Month and National Poetry Month. "The mix of spoken word with the soundscape of music was incredible. It was like painting on a canvas with emotion-colored paints. Strikingly beautiful." (from an attendee at the First Annual Bay Area JazzPoetry Festival.) The Festival continues its mission of presenting jazz and poetry collaborations from both New York and the Bay Area. This Year's Featured Artists: The New York based Jessica Jones Quartet featuring poet Arisa White. Berkeley High "jazz factory" alums Jessica Jones and Tony Jones, are perhaps the only avant-garde, tenor-sax playing husband-and-wife tandem in jazz. Their 15-year track record revolves around experimental composition, freer forms and collective improvisation. Singer-poet Lisa B (Lisa Bernstein) and Her Trio. Mentored by saxophonist Jackie McLean, Lisa B grew up in NY and California. With two poetry books authored and three CDs released "daring, dexterous singer, songwriter, and poet Lisa B...appeals to both traditional and contemporary jazz tastes and even...hip-hop hipsters." (Philadelphia Daily News) Yancie Taylor Quartet featuring poet Julian Carroll. A genuine Bay Area treasure and acclaimed vibraphonist, Yancie has entertained audiences at numerous clubs and festivals with jazz giants such as Pharaoh Sanders and John Handy. Whether he's performing here or in Tokyo, France, Holland, or Germany, Yancie spreads the truth of his motto: "Love, Peace, and JAZZ GREASE!" Berkeley-born, Oakland-based jazzpoetry group, UpSurge! is "an ensemble that earns its exclamation point with dynamic performances that capture the soul, humor and off-the-cuff inventiveness of a cascading saxophone solo." (Andrew Gilbert, Contra Costa Times) --- This event is supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from the James Irvine Foundation. The Festival also appreciates support from Poetry Flash, KPFA, KCSM, KALW, KPOO, Cafe de la Paz, Berkeley Public Library, Berkeley City Councilmembers Max Anderson, Kriss Worthington, and Laurie Capitelli, Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) and National Poetry Month. For more info: www.upsurgejazz.com/newsletter.  John Blakelock
Spotlight on Local Composers The Berkeley Hillside Club is proud to present a new feature in our Concert Series. Recognizing that the Bay Area is a hotbed of new musical creativity, both in academic programs and on the part of talented individuals, we have decided to shine a spotlight on the work some of these wonderful local artists. The first of what we hope will become a regular part of our Concer Series features the world premieres of four new works by composer John Blakelock. Come join us for a remarkable evening of new music performed by stellar artists in our acoustically-wonderful hall. The Program: The Burning Barn - piano solo The World is Charged - four settings of poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins for mezzo-soprano and piano Piano Sonata No. 2 To My Father's Father The Artists: César Cancino enjoys a musically diverse career as pianist, musical director and conductor. He graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and then studied piano with Alain Naude, a pupil of the great Dinu Lipatti. He was for many years the musical director/pianist for "Teatro Zinzanni" (a european style circus-cabaret in San Francisco) and for several years toured with singer/songwriter Joan Baez as her musical director and pianist. He is also a recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critic's Circle award for "Outstanding Musical Director." Mr. Cancino has performed throughout North America, Europe and Australia in such venues as "Montreux Jazz Festival," Carnegie Hall, "Int'l Music Festival of Mexico City," Atlanta "Summer Pops" Symphony and the "New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival." He has appeared with such diverse artists as singers Liliane Montevecchi, Thelma Houston, Maria Muldaur, Mercedes Sosa; cellist Ron Leonard; and violinists Pierre d'Archambeau, Martha Caplin and Tracy Silverman. Local credits include "Menopause, The Musical", "Spelling Bee", Broadway By The Bay, 42nd Street Moon, Theatreworks, Beach Blanket Babylon, Plush Room in San Francisco, Monterey County Symphony, Alameda Civic Light Opera, Circus Center/New Pickle Circus and Musical Director/Conductor of Morrison Theatre Chorus. He is currently the new musical director for "Palazzo", a German company that produces a variety of circus-cabaret shows in Europe. Leighton Fong is a longtime member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and serves as Principal Cello with the California Symphony. He plays regularly with the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players and the Empyrean Ensemble and is an active freelancer in the Bay Area. He has taught at UC Berkeley since 1997. Mr. Fong studied at the San Francisco Conservatory, the New England Conservatory, the Bern Conservatory in Switzerland, and the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark. He joined the San Francisco Contemporary Players in 2006. Australian violinist, Graeme Jennings, formerly a member of the legendary Arditti String Quartet (1994-2005), has toured widely throughout the world, made more than 70 CDs, given over 200 premieres and received numerous accolades including the prestigious Siemens Prize (1999) and two Grammaphone awards. As a recitalist, Mr Jennings has a wide repertoire ranging from Bach to Boulez and beyond. HIs main focus these days is on chamber music, as well as being an enthusiastic proponent of new music. He has worked with and been complimented on his interpretations by many of the leading composers of our time. After hearing him give the Australian premiere of his "Partita" in 1987, Lutoslawski described Graeme as an "inspired performer". In recent seasons, he has given performances of Berg's Violin Concerto, and in 2003, the first Australian premiere of Ferneyhough's "Terrain" with the Elision Ensemble. Graeme is now based in San Francisco where he enjoys pursuing a wide range of musical activity. Mezzo-Soprano Kathryn Miller began her vocal studies at UC Santa Barbara and the San Francisco Conservatory, before obtaining a post-graduate diploma from the Royal Academy of Music in London. She focuses primarily on early music, and has performed with the Vancouver Early Music Festival, where she sang Dido; MusicSources, where she performed re-constructed court ballets from France and Italy, and Bay Area Classical Harmonies with whom she sang alto solos in the St. John Passion and Cantata 80. Opera roles include the Messenger from Monteverdi's Orfeo and Menotti's Mrs. Nolan, both with BASOTI and Hansel, with both the San Francisco Conservatory and the California Opera Association. She currently studies with Michael Sokol. A resident of Berkeley, California, violinist Anna Presler plays in several Bay Area chamber ensembles. For ten years she has played with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, bringing contemporary and classical works to San Francisco audiences. She is a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, where she has recently served as a soloist. As a member of the Sun Quartet, Ms. Presler is on the faculty of Sacramento State University. She has participated in programs at the Banff Art Center, the International Music Seminar at Cornwall, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Ms. Presler holds a degree in history from Yale University and studied music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the North Carolina School of the Arts. The Composer: Composer John Blakelock began studying composition with Dr. Gary Clarke as an undergraduate student at Washington College. It was there that he received thesis honors for his senior composition recital and the Alpha Chi Omega Award for Outstanding Music Major. He went on to attend The Catholic University of America where he studied composition with Dr. Helmut Braunlich and Dr. Stephen Strunk and earned a master's in music composition. In 2004 Mr. Blakelock moved to Berkeley to pursue his compositional interests and recently studied compositon with Dr. Brian Kane. His piece Tribute to Johannes Brahms was premiered by the Menlo Brass Quintet in May of 2006.  Art Lande & Paul McCandless Duo The Berkeley Hillside Club is delighted to welcome back two illustrious alumni of our Concert Series. Art Lande and Paul McCandless, both internationally- renowned jazz artists in their own right, are teaming up for a fabulous duo concert that promises to be one of the hottest events of the season. Don't miss these two superb artists performing in our acoustically-excellent hall! The Art Lande and Paul McCandless Duo: Art Lande (piano) and Paul McCandless (saxes, bass clarinet, oboe, English horn) have been performing and recording together since the mid 1970's. They have had feature concerts in festivals world-wide including Montreal, Zurich (Switzerland) and Santa Fe. Their recordings for labels like ECM (German), Windham Hill, (U.S.) and Musidisc (France), also reflect their place in the international jazz community. Both prolific composers, Lande and McCandless weave their compositions together with improvisational interactions where rhythm, texture, mood and style can go in many directions. McCandless' wide variety of instruments give a signature sound to each piece. Many musical traditions show themselves in the course of an evening - from modern jazz to blues to Indian music to salsa to modern classical and gospel sounds. Both players' ftexibility on their instruments make it possible for the duo to feel truly orchestral- full, lush, and rhythmically alive, so that a rhythm section is never missed. Between their sense of humor, driving intensity and penchant for reflective beauty, their concerts satisfy a wide range of listeners whose ears will surely get freshened, tweaked and indulged. The Artists: An adventurous and subtle improviser who has established himself as a creative voice in jazz as a pianist, drummer, composer, arranger and educator, Art Lande was born in 1947 in New York City and studied classical piano there under Joseph Kahn. He attended Williams College before moving to San Francisco in 1969 and during the early 1970s played electric piano in a jazz quintet with Steve Swallow. In 1973 Lande recorded in a duo with Jan Garbarek and with the Ted Curson's septet and in 1976 he formed Rubisa Patrol, a quartet that regularly visited Europe and made its recording debut that year on ECM Records. He left Rubisa Patrol in 1983 to teach for three years at a jazz school in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and in 1987 moved to Boulder, CO, where he still resides, to teach at the Naropa Institute. Lande, whose work as a pianist considerably advanced the harmonic innovations pioneered by Bill Evans, has worked with Chet Baker, Woody Shaw, Kenny Wheeler, Gary Peacock, Ernie Watts, Charlie Haden, Eddie Harris, Joe Henderson, Sheila Jordan, Mark Isham and Paul McCandless among others and over the years has mentored emerging improvisers and composers in the Denver-Boulder area, North America and abroad. Art is currently a faculty member of the University of Colorado, Boulder. The son of two music teachers, Paul McCandless grew up playing with parts of musical instruments he found in his grandfather's repair shop. By age nine he was playing classical clarinet and was introduced to jazz in middle school when he took up the saxophone and his primary instrument, the oboe. McCandless continued his musical studies at Duquesne University and the Manhattan School of Music before embarking on a career as a multi- instrumentalist and composer that has spanned three decades beginning with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and continuing with the Paul Winter Consort which he joined in1968. In 1973 he left Winter to form the quartet Oregon with guitarist/pianist Ralph Towner, bassist Glen Moore, and percussionist Collin Walcott (now succeeded by Mark Walker after Walcott's death). Oregon's discography includes recordings on Vanguard, Elektra/Asylum, ECM, Epic, Chesky and Intuition Records and the ensemble has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Vienna's Mozartsaal and other intemationally renowned venues as well as at clubs and festivals around the world. In addition to Oregon, McCandless has had an eclectic and active solo career working with Jaco Pastorius, Carla Bley, Wynton Marsalis, Pat Metheny, Steve Lacy and Bela Fleck, among others. His recordings as a leader include All the Mornings Bring (Elektra), Navigator (Landslide), Heresay (Windham Hill) and he contributed to several Windham Hill anthologies including Bach Variations and The Impressionists. In addition to his ongoing association with Oregon, McCandless works with artists in both the jazz and classical worlds and appeared as a guest soloist with the LA Philharmonic in 2005.  Jerry Kuderna The Berkeley Hillside Club is pleased to present a celebrated local piano virtuoso in a brilliant program of 20th Century masterworks. Jerry Kuderna is well known as a solo performer, teacher and member of the popular Maybeck Trio. He has kindly consented to perform this program on short notice to help the Club showcase a stunning new Grotrian Concert Royal piano on generous loan to us from JB Piano Company of San Rafael. Don't miss the opportunity to hear this wonderful artist performing on this amazing instrument in our acoustically-excellent hall! The Program: Two Centenaries: Elliott Carter and Joaquin Nin-Culmell Claude Debussy: Etudes (1915) Milton Babbitt: Tableaux (1973) Elliott Carter: Night Fantasies Joaquin Nin-Culmell: Tonadas (selections) (1957-1972) Federico Mompou: Musica Callada (selections) (1959-1971) The Artist: Jerry Kuderna received his initial training in piano and conducting in Denver with Antonia Brico. After moving to California at age 10, he continued private studies with Laura Nast Nicolaisen and later worked with Adele Marcus at Juilliard and Robert Helps at the San Francisco and New England Conservatories. He holds a Ph.D. from New York University where he wrote his dissertation on the piano music of Milton Babbitt. He studied Webern and Schoenberg with Rudolf Kolisch at the New England Conservatory and while teaching piano at Princeton University during the 70's developed his commitment to the works of Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt. He was also assistant and accompanist for soprano Bethany Beardslee, whose groundbreaking recordings of Berg and Schoenberg were a decisive influence. Her encouragement led to the first performance of Babbitt's Phonemena and its subsequent recording on New World Records by Kuderna and Lynn Webber. Mr. Kuderna has performed numerous concertos for piano and electronic sound, including the American premiere of Philippe Manoury's Pluton, under the auspices of CINMAT at the University of California, Berkeley. He substituted for the listed performer at the last minute in a performance of Babbitt Reflections for Piano and Tape at the SCREAM Festival, LA County Museum. He has premiered the work of Bay Area composers, Edwin Dugger, Richard Swift and Herb Bielawa , and has performed with Composer's Inc., Earplay, and Cal Performances . Jerry Kuderna is known to Berkeley Symphony audiences for his 2001 premier of Daniel Brewbaker's Piano Concerto No. 2, "To Kalon," which occurred in the weeks following 9/11. The following year he performed with the Berkeley Symphony in the U.S premier of Galina Ustvolskaya's 4th Symphony under Kent Nagano. Most recently, in January 2006 he gave the west coast premiere of Elliott Carter's Piano Concerto under the baton of George Thomson. Jerry gave the Irving Fine memorial concert at Brandeis University and a program of 20th century nocturnes (including Carter's Night Fantasies) at the Berkeley Arts Festival. He performs with the Maybeck Trio and teaches at Diablo Valley College where he recently conducted its orchestra. He continues to give open classes on the classical and contemporary piano literature which he has taught in the communities of Berkeley, Concord and, currently, Walnut Creek. Mr. Kuderna lives in Berkeley.  Dan Zemelman Quartet The Berkeley Hillside Club is pleased to present the Dan Zemelman Quartet in a concert of great contemporary jazz. This excellent ensemble has been one of the most popular acts in the three years of our Concert Series. Don't miss the return of this great group to our acoustically-outstanding hall! The Dan Zemelman Quartet: This ensemble is comprised of four of the finest local jazz artists playing today. Each has achieved individual recognition, but when they come together to make their music the results are truly magic. Each of the quartet members brings something special to the ensemble, including unique original compositions and arrangements, as well as a wide range of musical influences. The music thus created is a tasty blend of the different creative visions and musical backgrounds present including jazz, afro-latin influences, rock, blues, and classical music. The Artists: Dan Zemelman maintains a very busy jazz life in the bay area. He has performed numerous times with the bay area's great bassist, Marcus Shelby, and also appeared on the last John Lee Hooker album made, 'Face to Face'. Dan currently teaches at the JazzSchool and Jazz Camp. Erik Jekabson is one of the hottest trumpet players in the Bay Area jazz scene. Jekabson, a conservatory-trained musician with a master's degree in composition, currently works as a freelance composer, arranger and trumpeter, leading his own bands as well as playing with bands like the Realistic Orchestra, Mitch Marcus Quintet +13 and the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. Erik also teaches at the Jazzschool in Berkeley. Fred Randolph is a busy freelance acoustic/electric bassist, composer, and educator who works with top local and national jazz artists. He has also turned out several great albums of his own that feature some very talented bay area jazz players. Alan Hall is among the finest drummers on the local jazz scene. A first-call player, Hall has also performed and/or recorded with such jazz luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Harris, Paul McCandless, and Art Lande, among others.  Thomas Pandolfi The Berkeley Hillside Club is honored to present international prize winning pianist Thomas Pandolfi in a brilliant program of music by Liszt, Scriabin, Chopin, and Gershwin. Lauded for the "intensity, technical brilliance and clarity of his playing," Thomas Pandolphi has been described as "one of the finest young pianists of his generation." Don't miss this wonderful recital in our acoustically-excellent hall! The Program: This program features "Apres Une Lecture du Dante (Fantasia quasi Sonata)" by Franz Liszt, "Nocturne in D-Flat Major, Op. 9, No. 2 for Left Hand Alone" by Alexander Scriabin, "Four Etudes," "Fantasy-Impromptu, Op. 66," and the "Polonaise in A-Flat Major, Op. 53" by Frederic Chopin, as well a selections from the work of George Gershwin. The Artist: American pianist Thomas Pandolfi is emerging as a prodigious virtuoso who excels in reviving the core repertoire from the golden age of pianism. Praised for his interesting and innovative programming, his recitals regularly include works by Busoni, Godowsky, Dohnanyi and Chasins, and his orchestral appearances often feature concerti by Paderewski, MacDowell, Moszkowski and Anton Rubinstein. The young pianist's career has already included performances with such European orchestras as The George Enescu Philharmonic, The Moravian Philharmonic, and The National Philharmonic of the Republic of Moldova, as well as the American symphony orchestras of Mississippi, Cedar Rapids, Asheville, Princeton, and San Angelo, to name but a few. He has collaborated with such conductors as Dimitru Goia, Peter Schmelzer, Mihail Agafita, Andreas Delfs, Christian Tiemeyer, Ron Spigelman, William Kushner, Nicholas Palmer and Robert Hart Baker. Following a performance of Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Asheville Symphony, The Asheville Citizen-Times remarked, "Pandolfi is a standout among today's young pianists, demonstrating a great technician's grace, finesse and polish...his virtuosity and strength might have had some believing that Liszt himself had taken over the keyboard." After a recent recital, The Washington Post described him as "an artist who is master of both the grand gesture and the sensual line. Pandolfi possesses first-rate technical skills, an unerring command of phrasing, a quicksilver touch and cunning legerdemain when it comes to pedaling...etched with calm and crystal clartiy...outstanding." In the "Pops" genre, Thomas is also considered a leading interpreter of the works of George Gershwin. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Pandolfi earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees as a scholarship student. For more information please visit the artist's website: www.thomaspandolfi.com.  Faik Ibragim ogly Chelebi The Berkeley Hillside Club is privileged to present Faik Ibragim ogly Chelebi, virtuoso of the Azeri Tar, an 11-string traditional instrument, in a concert of classical music from Azerbaijan. Don't miss this opportunity to hear this rarely-played repertoire performed by a master musician in our acoustically-wonderful hall. About the Artist and the Performance: Faik Ibragim ogly Chelebi, originally from Sheki, Azerbaijan (of the south-east Caucasus), is a well-known folklorist and an outstanding tar player. Chelebi holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology (his 1999 dissertation was dedicated to the Azeri instrumental genre called "reng"). Chelebi has written many scholarly articles in the Russian and Azeri languages; currently he is Professor in Music at the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia and a research fellow at the Russian Institute for History of the Arts, both located in St. Petersburg. At the same time, Chelebi has a long and very successful career of solo performance on the Azeri tar, an 11-string version of the original Iranian 5-string tar. His repertoire consists of the instrumental mughams. The Azeri mugham is a highly original Azerbaijani version of the well-known Iranian classical cycle dastgah. This Islamic art music, based on modal principles, is emotionally deep and beautiful, and represents an amazing typological parallel to European baroque music. Faik Chelebi will present the unique solo "poem" version of the traditional mugham suite usually performed by a singer accompanied by an instrumental ensemble. However, the mughams, tantamount to classical tradition, can be performed on the tar alone when the musician is a deep connoisseur of the genre and a great virtuoso and improviser. Faik Chelebi is a gifted pupil of a famous Azeri musician Bahram Mansurov (1911-1985), one of the most distinguished tar performers and teachers of the last hundred years. Chelebi as a tar-player performed in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, and many other places. In the USA he is, for the first time, performing at the invitation of Indiana University in Bloomington, City University of New York (CUNY), CREEES at Stanford University, and the Silk Road House in Berkeley. His visit is sponsored by the Silkroad Foundation. During his presentation, Dr. Faik Chelebi will offer an improvisational set of various mughams. Dr. Izaly Zemtsovskyi, currently visiting professor in music at Stanford University, will be introducing and commenting his performance.  Members of the Mirage Ensemble The Berkeley Hillside Club is thrilled to present two members of the aclaimed Mirage Ensemble in a program of masterworks from popular song composers, performed in the classical idiom, and featuring arrangements, improvisations and homages. Don't miss this fabulous evening of music in our wonderful hall! The Ensemble: The Mirage Ensemble members in this performance are clarinetist Rob Bailis, and pianist Hadley McCarroll. Critical acclaim for these two artists is glowing: Rob Bailis has been lauded for his "sweet, singing tone...and technical wizardry" (S.F. Classical Voice). "Robert Bailis' memorable debut performance in London, doubtless the first of many appearances in this country, was the highlight of our summer season." - Matthew Greenall, Director, British Music Information Centre Hadley McCarroll, a familiar face in our Concert Series, has been hailed for her "...lively and exhilarating..." pianism, (San Francisco Classical Voice). "Hadley McCarroll is one of the most expressive pianists I have heard. She is a technically intuitive and sensitive musician who plays magnificently..." - Matthias Kuntzsch, Conductor: Previously the General Music Director, Opera and Symphony of Lübeck; State Theater and Orchestra of the Saarland, Saarbrücken. The Program: Songs Without Words: great instrumental music inspired by song. This program features an evening of great music, paying homage not just to popular song but also to the composers who produced memorable classical vocal music as well as major instrumental chamber music works. Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" for solo piano was the most popular song in its day. George Gershwin had such success with his songs that he published improvisations for solo piano on "I Got Rhythm" and "Clap Your Hands", in addition to arranging his wildly popular "Three Preludes for Piano" for clarinet and piano. In 1942 Leonard Bernstein published his first work, Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, which looks ahead to the musical "West Side Story" with its Cuban and jazz rhythms, and to his opera "A Quiet Place" with its intimate, poignant melodies. In 1920, while studying in Paris with Nadia Boulanger, Aaron Copland was delighted and shocked that he could sell a quickly composed piano piece "The Cat and the Mouse" (Scherzo Humoristique) to Debussy's publisher! Gerald Finzi composed nine vocal cycles, countless choral works and, sadly for us, few chamber music pieces. The Five Bagatelles for clarinet and piano are a cornerstone of the clarinet and piano literature by one of the most popular 20th century British composers. The Artists: An emerging leader of major arts organizations in his native northern California, Rob Bailis is artistic director of San Franciscor's acclaimed ODC Theater and a founding director of Accendi Performances, a presenting/service organization for independent musicians in the Bay Area. Previously he held posts at the Perry Mansfield School for Performing Arts in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, California, as well as the San Francisco Community Music Center. In addition to his activities as a performing arts curator, Mr. Bailis is an accomplished touring clarinetist, appearing regularly with orchestras and in chamber recitals across the U.S., Canada, Asia, and the U.K. He was appointed to the Napa Valley Symphony in 1999; he performs as well with many other symphony orchestras and chamber groups throughout Northern California. A proponent of contemporary music, he has premiered many new works, including pieces from Luciano Berio, Martin Bresnik, Jack Perla, and Arlene Sierra. Mr. Bailis received his early training from San Francisco Symphony clarinetist Don Carroll. He went on to earn degrees from Northwestern University School of Music, where he was a student of Russell Dagon, and the Yale School of Music, where he studied with David Shifrin. The recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, Mr. Bailis was recently nominated for an Isadora Duncan Award, honoring his performances in service to dance for the Composers' and Choreographers' Consortium at the West Wave Dance Festival. Highlights of past seasons have included recitals in Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and at Cambridge University. Pianist Hadley McCarroll appears regularly throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, the United States, and internationally as a solo and collaborative artist. An active vocal coach, Hadley enjoys collaborations with local companies San Francisco Opera and Opera Center, Festival Opera, Berkeley Opera, and West Bay Opera. She has frequently collaborated with conductor Kent Nagano, serving as musical preparer for concert performances of operas by Elliott Carter (West Coast premiere of "What Next?") and Phillip Manoury (West Coast premiere of "The 60th Parallel"). An active teacher, Hadley has served on the faculty of the San Francisco Community Music Center since 1997, in addition to running a private music studio in Oakland. In the spring of 2006 and summer of 2007 Hadley was invited to serve on the musical staff of the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. Other projects in 2007 included assisting in preparing, for Kent Nagano, Unsuk Chin's staged vocal work Sopranica Cantatrix, for two sopranos, countertenor and chamber ensemble; Hadley was a featured pianist at a forum on the music of George Gershwin at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, moderated, among others, by conductor Michael Morgan and George Gershwin's nephew Michael Strunsky; she finished the year with performances throughout the Bay Area as a member of martha & monica, a piano-cello duo. In March of 2008 Hadley will accompany a major concert of Wagner and Strauss arias at the Marin Center featuring local heldentenor Roy Stevens, and in April she will perform concerts at Old First Church in San Francisco and in Point Reyes. Hadley received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with Danielle Martin. Ms. McCarroll has also coached with Richard Goode, Mike Reynolds, Samuel Sanders, Martin Katz, Warren Jones, and Isaac Stern.  Hemispheres The Berkeley Hillside Club is tickled at the thought of presenting Hemispheres, in concert. This ensemble is the musical collaboration of some of the best jazz artists playing anywhere today. Each of these stellar players has achieved recognition in his own right, and their gathering for this performance can truly be called a super-group! Don't miss the rare appearance of this ensemble in our acoustically-wonderful hall. The Ensemble: Blending African, Middle Eastern, Asian and South American instruments with more traditional Jazz instrumentation, Hemispheres merges myriad elements of Jazz with colors and flavors from around the globe. Woodwind virtuosi Sheldon Brown and Paul McCandless, blazing world percussionist Ian Dogole, master bassist/flutist Bill Douglass, pianist extraordinaire Frank Martin, and special guest vocalist Hossein Massoudi collaborate to take their listeners on an unforgettable aural journey, replete with humor and a spirit of high adventure. Original compositions by Hemispheres members, plus pieces from the Jazz and "World" traditions will be featured at this special performance. The Artists: For over 25 years, Ian Dogole has articulated his vision of Global Fusion Music as a multipercussionist, bandleader, composer, recording artist, producer and educator. He has released five records and a DVD as a leader - Along the Route, Dangerous Ground, Ionospheres, Night Harvest, Convergence and Ian Dogole & Hemispheres In Concert (DVD). Dogole has recorded and performed with artists such as Hamza el Din, Paul McCandless, Alex DeGrassi and Ancient Future. Dogole's compositions are available on the recordings, Dreamchaser and Asian Fusion by Ancient Future, and have been used by the San Francisco Giants, the Philadelphia Phillies, Brown University and the Indonesian Park Service. Dogole performs on a wide variety of percussion instruments, including udu, cajon, hang, talking drums, global drum set, mbiras and dumbek. He received a Jazz Performance Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1991and Marin Arts Council grants in 1994, 1995 and 1998 for his educational program, Adventures in Global Fusion Music. Dogole has been a frequent participant in the San Francisco Symphony's Adventures in Music program, presenting assemblies to more than 20,000 elementary school students throughout the San Francisco Public School system. He is currently a faculty member of the Sierra Jazz Society's summer Jazz Camp and is a contributing writer for JazzTimes Magazine. Composer and woodwind multi-instrumentalist Sheldon Brown formed the Sheldon Brown Group in 1993, and in 1996 he released the jazz/fusion CD Shifting Currents. Brown has performed internationally (most recently with pianist Omar Sosa) at world-renowned venues such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, Moers Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Jazz d'Or, Toronto Jazz Festival and the Spoleto Festival. He is featured on Omar Sosa's CDs Prietos, Bembon, Spirit of the Roots and Free Roots and on Ian Dogole's CDs Ionospheres and Night Harvest. Brown is a member of San Francisco's Club Foot Orchestra, for whom he has composed scores for Film Roman's cartoon series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat and silent films such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Buster Keaton's Sherlock Jr. and Cops, G. W. Pabst's Pandora's Box and Robert Wiene's Hands of Orlac. Club Foot has performed at New York's Knitting Factory, Walter Reade Theater, at Lincoln Center and the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. Brown performed in Anthony Braxton's Composition No. 132 at Grace Cathedral as part of the 1986 San Francisco Jazz Festival. Brown currently teaches composition at Jazzschool in Berkeley, California. Bassist/flutist Bill Douglass was influenced early in his career by Rafael (Don) Garrett, who inspired him along his lifelong path of pursuing both bass and bamboo flutes. In the 1970s, Douglass joined Rubisa Patrol, led by pianist Art Lande and later joined The Flowing Stream Ensemble, a Chinese music group in which he played bamboo flutes. Douglass is noted for his flute work both in concert performances throughout the world and in soundtracks for many highly acclaimed films, including 1000 Pieces of Gold, The Black Stallion and Never Cry Wolf. Over the last three decades, he has performed and recorded on double bass with world-renowned musicians such as Marian McPartland, Mose Allison, Mark Isham, Terry Riley and Art Lande and has performed at many of Europe's major Jazz festivals. Douglass has also performed Chinese folk and classical music for over 20 years and has served as a Jazz instructor at the Cazadero and Aptos Jazz camps. Currently, Douglass is the artistic director of the Sierra Jazz Society, which presents the annual summer Jazz Camp, along with year-round concert performances and educational programs to the community in Nevada County, California. During a distinguished career spanning three decades, Paul McCandless has brought a soaring lyricism to his playing and composing that has been integral to the ensemble sound of two seminal world music bands, the original Paul Winter Consort and the relentlessly innovative quartet, Oregon. A gifted multi-instrumentalist and composer, McCandless has specialized in an unusually broad palette of both single and double reed instruments that reflect his grounding in both classical and jazz disciplines. With the innovative quartet Oregon, McCandless has performed at major festivals throughout the world such as Kool Jazz, Telluride, Berlin, Montreux, Montreal and Pori. Oregon was also presented with the St. Paul Chamber and Philadelphia Orchestras and traveled to Asia for the U.S. State Department. McCandless's career includes appearances on over 200 albums and scores or performance collaborations with artists such as Steve Lacy, Nguyen Le, Jaco Pastorius, Wynton Marsalis, Carla Bley, Pat Metheny, Elvin Jones, Mark Isham, Al Jarreau, Stephanie Mills, Bruce Hornsby and Bela Fleck. His solo recordings include All the Mornings Bring, Skylight, Navigator, Heresay and Premonition. He plays a vast array of instruments, including: soprano and sopranino saxophones, oboe, English horn, penny whistle, wood flutes and bass clarinet. Keyboard virtuoso/arranger/musical director Frank Martin has amassed a very impressive track record working with world-class performers in a diverse array of musical styles. In the pop arena, Martin has performed and/or recorded with stars that include Sting, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Steve Winwood, Whitney Houston, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Chris Isaak, Andrea Bocelli, Cheryl Crow, Philip Bailey, James Taylor, Joe Cocker, Billy Joel, Madonna and Ricki Martin. In the jazz world, his performance credits include Flora Purim & Airto Moriera, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Dizzy Gilespie, Mel Torme, Bobby McFerrin, John Handy, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Farrell and the Slide Hampton Big Band. Orchestra performances have included concerts with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and the "Orchestra of St. Lukes" (New York Philharmonic Orchestra). As a producer, he has worked with high-profile artists such as Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin's "Voicestra," SoVoSo," Joey DeFrancesco and Alex Acuña, Jazz guitarist Mimi Fox, vocalist Angela Bofill and the Turtle Island String Quartet. As musical director, he has toured with such artists as Patti Austin, Angela Bofill, Narada Michael Walden, Mickey Thomas, Roy Ayres, and Clarence Clemens. Currently, Martin is on staff at the University of California in Berkeley as well as the Jazzschool in Berkeley, California. He is in demand as a clinician both in the United States and in Europe. Steeped in the folkloric Kurdish vocal tradition of his native Iran, vicalist and percussionist Hossein Massoudi integrates his knowledge and love of Persian Classical with his Kurdish roots, resulting in a musicality which is rarely heard. Hossein is largely a self-trained and intuitive singer. He was a member of the San Francisco City Chorus for four seasons, and attended San Francisco State University vocal Jazz Combo under jazz singer Molly Holm for over a year. Hossein's style reflects a union of these diverse traditions with his original interpretations and an improvisatory approach that moves effortlessly from the soulful to the whimsical. He is a founding member of Aleph Null (world, middle eastern, and jazz)ensemble since 1997.  The Los Angeles Electric 8 The Berkeley Hillside Club is intrigued to present the eclectic Los Angeles Electric 8, in concert. These artists meld the sensibilities of a classical chamber ensemble with the modern tones and timbres of the electric guitar. This promises to be a superb evening of unique music; don't miss it! The Ensemble: Upon hearing Italian virtuoso Mauro Giuliani play, Beethoven remarked, "The guitar is a miniature orchestra in itself." What would Beethoven have said had he heard Derek Bailey, Eddie Van Halen, or Jim O'Rourke? What would he have said had he heard eight? The Los Angeles Electric 8 is a group of eight guitarists who bring the electric guitar to a chamber ensemble, channeling their classical backgrounds into an instrument usually reserved for rock. They rectify the electric guitar's absence in classical music, revealing the instrument's enormous potential in the world of art music. The 8's founding principle is to showcase the variety of rich sounds made by guitars and vacuum-tube amplifiers. They draw from and adapt a variety of art music including organ works, string arrangements and Indonesian gamelan pieces. The effect is an exploration of a greater potential of the electric guitar with both intentional and accidental nods to the rock characteristics of the instrument -- Mendelssohn meets Mogwai. The 8's sound is a lush interweaving of clean and occasionally overdriven guitar figures that often conjure harpsichords, bells, massive pianos and choral textures. Their repertoire spans the late Renaissance to today, including new works written specifically for the ensemble. The Program: Felix Mendelssohn: Organ Sonata in F minor Wayne Siegel: "Domino Figures" Dmitri Shostakovich: Octet, Op.11: Prelude & Scherzo Randall Kohl: "Balinesa" Nathaniel Braddock: "Ill Tempered Lancaran" The Artists: Philip Graulty is a native Los Angeleno. As a soloist, he has performed works ranging from the Pavans of Luys Milan to Steve Reich's "Electric Counterpoint." As a chamber musician, he has participated in numerous festivals including MicroFest and the Minimalist Jukebox Series. Philip received his M.M in Guitar Performance from UCLA and his B.A. in Music from California Polytechnic State University Pomona. Chelsea Green is completing her Doctorate in Musical Arts at UCLA where she has received both the Mimi Alpert Feldman Scholarship and the Randy Rhoads Memorial Scholarship. California Guitar Archives publishes her transcriptions of art songs for guitar and voice entitled Erik Satie: Four Songs from 1886. Chelsea currently performs, teaches, transcribes and plays in the alternative band SuperDuperStar. Ben Harbert directs the Electric 8 and is the primary arranger for the group. He studied classical guitar with three Andrés Segovia protégés: Benjamin Bolt, Philip Rosheger and José Luis Rodrigo. In Chicago, he led the guitar department at the Old Town School of Folk Music where he taught classical guitar and played the electric guitar and bass in rock bands Mezodigm and OX. Brandon Mayer studied guitar at UCLA with Theodore Norman and Peter Yates. He has performed extensively as a solo and ensemble artist. He has composed music for theater productions and films that have been performed/screened at festivals throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Mayer lives and works as a teacher in Los Angeles, primarily working with blind and autistic students. Andy Nathan is a bassist/guitarist/composer who spent his formative years training in big band jazz, funk, classical guitar, free improvisation, rock and blues. A graduate of Mills College, Andy has studied with Fred Frith and Joëlle Léandre, Joel Ryan, Konrad Boehmer, and Ken Benshoof. Performance master classes with Cecil Taylor, Merideth Monk and Leo Smith; performed with Joe Louis Walker and the Bosstalkers. Andy currently teaches guitar full time while pursuing interests in film composition and country guitar. Marc Nimoy recently graduated from CalArts with an MFA in Music Composition/Experimental Sound Practices and received his B.A. in Classical Guitar Performance from UCLA. He is a working musician, teacher, and programmer, performing regularly with laptop as well as guitar. He has received the Randy Rhoads Memorial Scholarship and the STEIM artist residency in Amsterdam. Felix Salazar is a Los Angeles-based composer-guitarist whose music ranges from works for solo guitar to large ensemble. After graduating from the California Institute of the Arts, Felix collaborated with world-renowned DJ, Paul Oakenfold, where he composed and conducted arrangements for an unprecedented live performance of dance DJ with live orchestra. In every manifestation, Felix fuses contemporary classical music, improvisation, and popular music into his own unique, empathic and emotionally driven compositions. JohnPaul Trotter has been playing on records since he was 20, playing electric and acoustic guitars for arists such as folk/rock singer Courtney Chambers, hip-hop/reggae group Grand Marquis, and funk/rock group the Dialectics. He holds a degree from Cal Poly Pomona in Music with an emphasis on classical guitar. He teaches guitar full-time and performs frequently with his rock band and jazz quintet.  Carla Zilbersmith The Berkeley Hillside Club is delighted to open our new year with the critically-acclaimed vocalist, Carla Zilbersmith, previewing material from her upcoming CD, "Extraordinary Renditions". Carla will be accompanied by an ensemble of the finest local jazz artists, including John R. Burr (piano), Michael Zilber (sax), David Rokeach (drums), and Robb Fisher (bass). Don't miss these stellar artists performing in our acoustically-wonderful hall. The Program: Carla's upcoming CD is heavily influenced by some of Herbie Hancock's recent recordings including The New Standard, River - The Joni Mitchell Letters, and Gershwin's World. She is intrigued by finding the jazz standards within the work of artists like Prince, James Brown, the Beatles and of course fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell herself. Carla's singing marries her Canadian folk upbringing with her love for singers from both the jazz and R&B world, including Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Betty Carter, Sarah Vaughn and others. She is joined by musicians who are equally comfortable straddling those worlds and who share a commitment to exploring the new American Standard. The Artists: Carla Zilbersmith has been performing professionally for over 15 years as both a singer and actress in Canada, Boston, New York, and presently in Los Angeles and San Francisco, where she has performed at The Coronet Theater, The Hayworth Theater, Steinway Recital Hall, Gardenia Lounge, Anna's Jazz Island, Yoshi's, Slims, Mr. E.'s, The Marsh, Venue 9, Theater Artaud, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Don't Tell Mama, The Strand, Prism and elsewhere. Carla has performed in diverse settings ranging from the Boston Symphony Orchestra to solo performance to folk/rock bands to sketch comedy. She is the founding member of We're Redheads, a women's sketch comedy troupe, Lighten Up John, a musical improv group and was the Artistic Director of the College of Marin Drama Department for many years. Carla is the vocalist for The SubUrbans and was one of the year 2000 Lilith Fair finalists. The band's CD is entitled Paradise . Lee Hildebrand of the East Bay Express calls Carla "a superb singer." Carla"s new CD "Extraordinary Renditions" will be released January 2008. Carla's one-woman musical, Wedding Singer Blues has received rave notices up and down the west coast, including a Best of the Bay award(under Best Solo Flights). The LA Times compared her favorably to Lily Tomlin. Carla has written several plays and solo pieces: A Motherhood , which debuted at The Luggage Store Excess Baggage Festival , Car Sex , developed with Charlie Varon and performed at The Marsh, and License to Drive , also developed with Charlie Varon, a piece chronicling her 15-year journey to learn how to drive. License to Drive was a regular feature in The Marsh's Saturday night series Night Schtick . Carla's off-Broadway production Notes , won her the Washington Square Players Young Playwright's Award and was produced at the Intar Theater in Manhattan. She is currently writing a new solo piece as well as performing with We're Redheads, a sketch comedy duo with Gina Ottobini-Stahl. John R. Burr is that rare pianist who combines jazz technique with a genuine love for folk music. The Philadelphia Weekly said, "Pianist extraordinaire John R. Burr has the most sparkling style since former Allman Brother-turned-Rolling Stone hired hand Chuck Leavell." Discology wrote, "John R. Burr ranks with the best of the elegant jazzers." Burr was first drawn to the piano at the age of 10 when he heard Vince Guaraldi's playing on the Peanut's animated TV specials. He started out as a child prodigy drummer; he was the only child out of 5 siblings not forced to study the piano. It wasn't until he was in high school that his focus turned to the keyboard. He then discovered that there were too many drummers to compete with and the piano became his instrument of choice. After years of touring with such artists as Maria Muldaur, The Alison Brown Quartet, Paul McCandless, Michael Manring and Kathy Kallick and recognition including a feature spot on Windham Hill's Piano Sampler II, Burr is stepping out with his first solo album, Piedmont Avenue. His playing is as likely to be inspired by James Taylor or Doctor John as by Oscar Peterson or the Yellowjackets although he says it is his love of folk music that has influenced him most. His musical diversity has enabled him to tour and record with a variety of artists and has made him the ideal pianist for the ground breaking folk/jazz group, The Alison Brown Quartet. Burr explains, "I play a sort of jazz piano version of the vocal music that I love to listen to. That's what influences me. I love to play and study jazz but I listen to vocal, folk/singer/songwriter music. I'm always searching for that melodic song-like quality when I improvise." Burr's playing is engaging and his breezy style blending jazz and folk influences makes for a rare and articulate debut album. Piedmont Avenue is cohesive in its conception, inspired in its execution and serves as an excellent introduction to the wonderfully original piano voice of John R. Burr. Saxophonist Michael Zilber, whom jazz great David Liebman calls" one of the best players and composers around anywhere, period", has recorded 7 CDs as a leader, including an independent music award finalist in 2000 and a Billboard pick of the month in 1993 and over 20 as a sideman. He has performed and/or recorded with too many leading artists in Jazz to list here, co-led a band with drumming legend Steve Smith for 8 years and has received multiple Downbeat awards as a jazz educator. His current projects include a song cycle of poems by poet laureate Billy Collins, as well as recording projects with guitarist's guitarist John Stowell, a two sax-two drum CD with Liebman, Steve Smith and Marko Marcinko, a collective project with the group Happy Hour and leading the Jazzschool Composers Collective, a big band made up of the bay Area's best musicians. He is very proud to be part of Carla Zilbermsmith's new CD project, believing her to be the best singer he has ever worked with. A long time Bay Area resident, drummer David Rokeach has been working primarily in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas for more than 20 years. David toured nationally and internationally with Ray Charles from 1990-91. This included concert videos and many television appearances, including an appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the Doc Severinson Orchestra. In recent years he has performed/recorded with Patti LaBelle, Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples, Lou Rawls, Grammy winner Joe Henderson, Down Beat Poll winner Mark Murphy, Bluesman Charlie Musselwhite, The George Brooks-Zakir Hussain Group, Wilson Pickett, Linda Tillery, Steve Miller, Joe Satriani, Joyce Cooling, Maria Muldaur, Calvin Keys, Barry Finnerty, Merl Saunders, David Grisman, Melvin Seals, The Family Stone Experience, Louis Bellson, Wayne Wallace, The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, Paula West, Brazilian Master Marcos Silva, Bluegrass Grammy winner Alison Brown, Ernestine Anderson, Oscar Brown Jr., award-winning trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, acclaimed composer and Grammy winner, Maria Schneider, and many more. Since 1998 David has had the honor of playing with the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. In addition to live concerts, this has included television appearances on the Rosie O'Donnell Show, The View, Good Morning America, and VH1's Divas Live 1998, where he also performed with Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain, and Carole King for the show's finale. For the past few years, David has been working with Bay Area Composer Joel Evans. Their recordings have appeared in numerous motion pictures and television shows, including Universal's For the Love of the Game, Paramount's What Women Want, Showtime's Seventeen Again, Fox's Say It Isn't So, The Young and the Restless, All My Children, Nash Bridges, The District, The X-Files, Sex and the City, Frasier, The Osbournes, Desperate Housewives, The West Wing, The O.C., LA Doctors, The Chris Isaak Show, and many others. David currently teaches at the Berkeley Jazz School, and has also been a regular faculty member at the Stanford Jazz Workshop and at the Rhythmic Concepts Jazz Camp West. Recently he played the Broadway Shows "Les Miserables," "Ragtime", and the Janis Joplin show "Love, Janis" during their San Francisco runs. He also plays on many commercial jingles, and film and television soundtracks, both in the Bay Area and Los Angeles.  Roberta Piket and Eric km Clark The Berkeley Hillside Club is tickled to host the return of piano phenom Roberta Piket, joined this time by talented violinist Eric km Clark, along with some special guest artists, performing their exciting blend of classical, jazz and experimental music. Don't miss these stellar artists performing in our acoustically-wonderful hall. The Program: Roberta Piket is a superbly talented and accomplished jazz pianist and composer whose music blends neo-classical and post-modern jazz influences. Her musical relationship with violinist Eric km Clark lies at the nexus of classical music and improvisation. They will perform original works in duo and with special guests including drummer Billy Mintz. The Artists: In the time since Roberta Piket returned to her native New York, the pianist/composer has played professionally as a sidewoman with David Liebman, Rufus Reid, Michael Formanek, Lionel Hampton, Mickey Roker, Billy Mintz, Harvey Wainapel, Eliot Zigmund, Benny Golson and the BMI/NY Jazz Orchestra and has twice been a featured guest on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, on National Public Radio. It is in her work as a composer and bandleader, however, that the depth of Roberta's talent becomes most evident. Roberta, who holds a B.S. in Computer Science which she earned concurrently with her music degree, turned away from a future as a software engineer after a year in that field to pursue an inevitable path in creative music. A gifted composer, Roberta placed second in the first annual Thelonious Monk BMI Composers' Competition. Roberta's trio has toured Japan and Spain as well as the U.S. She has performed her music at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., at the Earshot Festival in Seattle, at the Rochester (NY) Jazz Festival, and in New York at Small's, the Blue Note Club, Birdland, the Knitting Factory and the Kitano. Roberta's CDs frequently make the "best of" lists of the major jazz magazines. Whether performing her original compositions or highly personalized reworkings of standards, Roberta's daring rhythmic modulations and vast harmonic expansiveness set a new standard for the piano trio. "September of Tears", released in Japan, finds Roberta joining forces with Rufus Reid and Billy Hart for an adventurous program of originals and reworked standards. A new release features the virtuosic gifts of Roberta's new trio: bassist Ratzo Harris and drummer Billy Mintz. A new release features the virtuosic gifts of Roberta's new trio: bassist Ratzo Harris and drummer Billy Mintz. This working group has toured the West coast during the past two autumns and performs regularly in New York. Roberta maintains an active schedule as an educator. She
has held master classes at the Eastman School of Music (where
she performed solo and in duo with Marian McPartland), Rutgers
University, Cal Arts, Duke University, the Northwestern University
Composers' Colloquium, and many others in the U.S., Europe and
Japan. She has coached ensembles at Long Island University,
has several private students, has served as a panelist for the
Queens Council on the Arts grant review process and has taught
at the Litchfield Jazz Camp and the Vermont Jazz Center. She is
also the author of the Jazz Piano Vocabulary series of workbooks,
published by Muse-Eek Publishing. Eric Kenneth Malcolm Clark is a composer and violinist originally from Victoria, BC, Canada. A recent addition to New York, he spent the past two years in LA studying composition with James Tenney. Eric has also worked privately or in masterclass with artists as diverse as Charles Castleman, Dave Douglas, Stefano Scodanibio, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Kronos Quartet, the Alcan Quartet, and the Purcell Quartet, among many others. Over the years, he has been fortunate enough to collaborate in performance with artists such as Han Bennink, Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris, Mark Dresser, Jurg Frey, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and Julia Wolfe. Eric recently played lead violin with Ensemble Sospeso in a series of performances of filmmaker Guy Maddin's silent film Brand Upon the Brain!, which included live foley sound effects and guest narrators, including: Tunde Adebimpe, Laurie Anderson, John Ashbery, Justin Bond, Crispin Glover, Edward Hibbert, Anne Jackson, Joie Lee, Lou Reed, Isabella Rossellini, Peter Scarlet, and Eli Wallach. Eric has enjoyed success performing in many genres, though most often in new music, experimental, and improvisational settings. He has performed throughout Canada, the US, Europe, and Australia, recently completing a tour of Belgium and Oslo with his high octane group Skakk Trio. Eric also enjoyed a series of performances as violinist with the legendary west coast new music group California EAR Unit last spring 2006. Other notable recent appearances include the premier of his New York band Passenger Fish, the 2006 Minimalist Jukebox festival in Walt Disney Concert Hall, Michael Gordon's new opera What to Wear and Decasia, and the Creative Music Festival at RedCat. Eric just completed a recording in LA of Anne LeBaron's Opera Pope Joan, to be released November 1st 2007 on New World Records. Compositionally, Eric is an extremely diverse composer, ranging
from writing for hearing-deprived musicians to improvisational
works for his bands in New York and Europe. He has recently
returned from the neither/nor new music festival in Toronto,
in which he performed and presented his works Mein Schatz
and Slaughter Series I-IV. Eric's music has been performed by
numerous ensembles and soloists, such as ARRAYMUSIC, Bang on a
Can, the California EAR Unit, the ANAlog Arts Ensemble, and the
Bozzini Quartet. In an extraordinary career spanning nearly 40 years, drummer Billy Mintz has played with some of the biggest names in the jazz and pop worlds. Mr. Mintz was born in Queens, New York in 1947. By the age of 15 he was firmly entrenched in several of the show bands of the Catskill Mountain resorts, and as his musicianship developed he would eventually tour with jazz artists such as Lee Konitz, Eddie Daniels, Harold Danko, Mike Garson, Mose Allison, Mark Murphy, and the Kim Richmond Sextet. He also toured and recorded extensively with Bobby Shew. At the same time, his credentials grew in the pop arena, leading to tours with Juliette Prowse, James Darren, Gloria Gaynor, and a stint with the show band for the Merv Griffin Show. In 1986, Mr. Mintz toured Japan with the Los Angeles Symphonic Jazz Orchestra (having relocated to Los Angeles in 1981). In 1988 he toured Europe with saxophone great Charles Lloyd, and from 1989 to 1995 he performed with the Alan Broadbent Trio. Throughout his life Mr. Mintz has taught privately and done clinics at schools around the world, including the Berklee School of Music, the Dick Grove School of Music, Bloomingdale House of Music, Long Island Drum and Percussion Club, Eagle Rock H.S., Arizona State University at Tempe, University of Arizona at Phoenix, and North Texas State University. He also taught extensively while on tour with various artists in Sydney, Australia, Tel Aviv, Israel and Wellington, New Zealand. Mr. Mintz has written two books: Different Drummers, originally published by Aamsco Music Publishing and Advanced Sticking and Sight-Reading (BM Publications). He has also had articles published in Not Just Jazz and Modern Drummer magazines. Mr. Mintz appears on records by the following artists, among
others: Bill Perkins/James Clay Quintet; Vinny Golia; Fred
Tompkins; The Cryers; Harold Danko; Eddie Daniels; Bobby Shew;
Bob Magnusson; Mike Garson; Art Resnick; Walking Wounded; Kim
Richmond; Clay Jenkins; Ken Filiano; John Woods; Joey Sellars;
Bruce Fowler. In recent years, Mr. Mintz has taken on new roles
as a bandleader and a composer, performing his own compositions
with various ensembles. He also performs solo drumset concerts
with increasing frequency. For more info on these artists, check out their websites:  Shoko Hikage and Yoko Hirano-Itatani The Berkeley Hillside Club is honored to present koto virtuosi Shoko Hikagei and Yoko Hirano-Itatani, along with special guest artists performing a concert of contemporary Japanese music. Don't miss this group of world-class artists performing rarely-heard repertoir in our acoustically-excellent hall. The Program: Selected Koto Works of Michio Miyagi (1894-1956) and Tadao Sawai (1937-1997) Known as the "Father of Modern koto music" Michio Miyagi (1894-1956) was a great koto performer, composer, and educator who revolutionized koto music through the utilization of new playing and compositional techniques and the invention of instruments. Tadao Sawai (1937-1997) has changed the koto from being a traditional Japanese instrument to an instrument of universal expressiveness, furthering the work of the late Michio Miyagi, the forerunner of the "New Japanese Music" movement. Recognized as the greatest composer/performer for the koto of the late twentieth century, Tadao Sawai had the keenest musical sense and most natural talent for bringing his instrument to life. Shoko Hikage and Yoko Hirano-Itatani will perform two great contemporary koto music composers, Michio Miyagi and Tadao Sawai. Compositions will include Haru no Umi (koto & shakuhachi), Hira (koto, shamisen and shakuhachi), Hakkafu (koto and bass koto) and more. Guests performers will be Shirley Muramoto (koto), Brian Mitsuhiro Wong (koto) and Robin Hartshorne (shakuhachi) The Instruments: Koto - Similar to the Chinese gu-zheng, this 13-string plucked zither entered Japan from the continent in the 7th century. The koto has been part of the gagaku court ensemble for over one thousand years, and today a varied repertoire along with a wide range of playing techniques makes the instrument appealing to audiences the world over. Players of the koto by tradition are also generally versed in the music of the shamisen. More recently the jushichigen (bass koto) has also become an important means for expression. Shamisen - Having entered Japan from the southern Ryukyu islands (present day Okinawa), this 3-string long-necked lute is generally played with a large plectrum. There are basically three different instruments used today, the distinguishing feature being the size of the neck. The jiuta shamisen featured here has a neck of medium thickness. Jushichigen - The 17-string bass koto was developed early in the 20th century by koto master Miyagi Michio. Originally intended to add depth to ensembles, the instrument now plays an integral role in contemporary music and as a solo instrument on concert stages. Shakuhachi - The shakuhachi is an end-blown Japanese bamboo flute. It was brought from China to Japan more than a thousand years ago by a Zen priest. During the Edo period (1615-1868) the shakuhachi was played by wandering monks called "komuso" or "priests of emptiness and nothingness." Today, performances of traditional solo meditative "honkyoku" and "sankyoku" chamber music with koto samisen, are common. The Artists: Shoko Hikage studied the koto with Chizuga Kimura, 2nd IEMOTO Seiga Adachi, 3rd IEMOTO Seiga Adachi of the Ikuta-ryu Sokyoku Seigen Kai. In 1988, she graduated from Takasaki College with a major in koto music, and was immediately accepted as a special research student in Sawai Koto School where she subsequently received her master's certificate. In 1992, she moved to Honolulu to teach at the Sawai Koto Kai Hawaii. There, she held her first American solo recital at the Honolulu Academy of Arts Theater as part of the "New Music Across America" series. In 1997, she moved to San Francisco, where she continues her pursuits in improvisational dance and music. www.ShokoHikage.com Yoko Hirano-Itatani was born in Kanagawa, Japan. She has graduated the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music in 1997, having majored in Japanese traditional music under the renowned musician, Professor Masateru Ando. She performed in Young Artist Concert in of 1995 in Chiba, Japan, and held annual recitals of her musical trio "Sonet" (violin, piano and Koto) in 1998-2000. She performed the Koto at the Tulip festival in Ottawa, the Music and People Festival in Montreal, and at several cultural events at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, Museum of Civilization, and the Parliament Hill. In Bay Area, she continues her music activity having several joint concerts and teaching Koto and Shamisen. Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, a native Japanese-American of Oakland, California, Muramoto learned to play the koto as a child. Koto music became a part of her family legacy, when during WWII, Muramoto's grandparents were incarcerated in internment camps. Her grandparents encouraged their young daughters to take up the koto to keep their minds occupied in a creative manner, and determined to keep the Japanese culture alive in their daughters' lives. In 1976, Shirley received her "Shihan" degree (instructor's license) with "Yushusho" (highest) honors from the Chikushi School in Fukuoka, Japan, and her "Dai shihan" Master's degree from the same school in 2000 for her mastery of the koto. Muramoto is also the director of the world jazz fusion group, the Murasaki Ensemble. Playing the koto for over 40 years, Shirley has the ability to perform in a variety of genres and styles. She has been teaching students privately and in koto classes since 1976, including koto classes at UC Berkeley, Montclair Elementary School and Nihon Gakko Japanese School in Oakland. Brian Mitsuhiro Wong carries on the musical family tradition inherited from his mother Shirley Muramoto and grandmother. Wong has played the koto since the age of 4. In the tenth grade, Wong experienced the most important musical influence of his young life; a concert performed by one of the top koto masters in Japan, Madame Kazue Sawai. Wong had the great fortune to meet Madame Sawai after the concert. She invited Wong to come to Japan to study the koto with her at her koto conservatory in Tokyo. In 2003, Wong became an 'uchi-deshi', a live-in student at the Sawai Soukyokuin. Last year, he achieved his "Koshi", or instructor's degree, winning the top award, or "Grand Prix", with the highest scores. He is the third generation koto teacher in his family, and also in the U.S. This spring, he will graduate from California State University, East Bay at Hayward with a bachelor of arts degree in music composition.  Pandit Anindo Chatterjee The Berkeley Hillside Club Concert Series is honored to present the world-famous tabla virtuoso Pandit Anindo Chatterjee in concert. Don't miss this sublime artist performing in our acoustically-excellent hall. The Artist: Pandit Anindo Chatterjee is a rare phenomenon in art of tabla playing. Throughout history, few artists stand out in each generation. They preserve a heritage while defining it anew, marking its evolution in time . Anindo Chatterjee is one of those few. The power and speed combined with the total clarity and sweetness of his playing is unparalleled and speaks of years of back breaking practice; his vast knowledge of repertoire and ability to improvise in every style of tabla playing make him an invaluable asset to Indian music and a reference for its scholars; the spontaneity and intuitiveness of both his accompaniment and his solo improvisations speak of the depth of his artistry and leave his audiences speechless. Anindo Chatterjee is one of the great musicians of our time. The guiding force of Anindoji's amazing musical journey was his beloved uncle Biswanath Chatterjee. His family was full of music and from the beginning Anindo was groomed to become a tabla player. Early childhood lessons were received from his uncle Amarnath Chatterjee. After receiving first prize in the all India Children's Music Competition at the young age of 6, he was accepted his technique and learned the rich repertoire of traditional tabla. He also received two years of taleem from Ustad Afaq Hussain Khan (1964-66) of Lucknow Gharana. Anindoji's tabla solo debut was at age 10. He has since developed one of the most dynamic and rich table solo performances of his generation. Infused with the legacy of the Farukhabad gharana yet enriched with aspects of all gharanas, his performances are unpredictable and extraordinarily diverse. With technical and artistic brilliance he presents some of the rarest and most difficult material in the tabla repertoire: this at extreme speeds with uncompromised clarity and beauty. In addition to his vast traditional repertoire, He himself is the composer of countless compositions, through which he explores the edge of possible and makes his timeless contribution to the art from. For the tabla lovers around the world his playing is the pinnacle. No Jawab. As an accompanist, Anindoji made his world debut in 1975 with one of the greatest musicians in the history of Indian Music, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. Anindoji's musical sensitivity and technical genius, combined with his majestic stage presence make him the favorite accompanist to all the preeminent musicians of India . He continued to perform with Pandit Nikhil Banerjee till his death and has shared the stage with the late Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Raise Khan, Ustad Imrat Khan, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, Parveen Sultana, Kishori Amonkar, Pandit Bhimsen Jhoshi, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Ram Narayan, Dr. L. Subramanium, Dr. Balmuruli Krishna and many others. In addition to performing on the great stages of over 60 countries, Anindoji had the honor of performing as a delegate for the Government of India in Japan , Mongolia , and Russia and in 1990 was the youngest tabla player ever to perform at the House of Commons in London . Anindoji has made countless recordings for both National and International recording houses touching the world with his music. As a guru and a teacher Anindoji is equally accomplished. He has taught at the American Center for the Performing Arts in 1978 in Berkley (USA), Texas University at Austin (USA), Bard College in New York ( USA ), Pittsburg University (USA), Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC , Ritburg Museum in Zurich Switzerland , Leeds University in the UK , and Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata. From years of dedicated teaching Anindoji has many very promising disciples making their way to the stage as stalwarts of the next generation. Among them are his only son Anubrata, who is making his mark as one of the finest tabla players of his generation, and several talented foreign students who are performing both in their countries and in India. From the very beginning, great musicians, scholars, and music lovers have appreciated and praised Anindoji's music. In honor of a lifetime of effort and achievement, Anindoji has received many awards and honors. Included among them are a Gold Medal at the All India Radio Music Competition at the tender age of 16, "Talsamrat" from Ustad Amir Hussain Khan Memorial Foundation of Bombay in 1991, the "Shiromoni Award" by Asian Paints of Kolkata in 1995, "Best Performer of the Year" in 1997 from the All India Critics Association, "Tala Rishi Samman" by Aurangabad State Academy in 1997, the "Guru Kelucharan Award" from the government of Orissa in 2003, "Swarsagar Puraskar" by the Maharastra Municipal Corporation in 2005, and the prestigious "Sangeet Natak Akademi Award" by the honorable President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in 2002.
martha and monica martha & monica embark on their second concert season and the Hillside Club Concerts Series is delighted to host the return of these two superbly talented artists in our wonderful hall. The Program: On October 26th, 2007, the duo launches a brand-new program entitled Voyages - a journey traversing a wide stylistic territory while crossing new frontiers. The program sets off with songs from Banalites, Fetes Galantes and other cycles (transcribed by martha & monica) composed by Francis Poulenc and Claude Debussy, both masters of mood - always with the lightest of touches - balancing perfectly crafted phrasing and sensitive poetic nuance. Two works for solo piano and cello, respectively, show off some singular qualities of each instrument. Ondine, by Maurice Ravel, is from a larger suite for the piano entitled Gaspard de la Nuit. Ingeniously, the work creates a sublime reverie by conjuring an aural equivalent to "mist" by exploring the qualities in the tuning of the piano itself. Invece, by Pascal Dusapin was composed with the idea of trying out novel techniques on the cello that were not only unusual, but also breaking many of the composers' own conventions. The Italian word invece translates as "instead of", or "on the contrary". Stemming from a period in which Dusapin composed a series of solo works for various intruments, all beginning with the letter "i", Invece is an energetic tour de force. Nadia Boulanger was one of the most influential French musicians of the twentiethy century: teacher, composer and pianist, she counted Elliott Carter, Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland and Philip Glass among her many famous American students. 3 pieces for cello and piano offer a glimpse into Boulanger's musical soul. The journey ends with the great Sonata, Op. 65 by Frédéric Chopin. Despite requesting his heart be sent back to his native Poland after his death, that heart remained French to its core! His compositional aesthetic embodied all that was distinctly Parisian: elegance, embellishment, taste and refinement - all coupled with exquisite technical mastery. Chopin's friendship with the notable cellist Franchomme inspired him to write numerous works for cello, the only instrument besides piano for which he did compose solo works. The Sonata is a major work in four movements, exploiting the richness and depth of the cello's singing qualities, arabesquing around a beautiful, delicate yet forceful piano part. A performance featuring the Sonata, with Chopin at the piano and Franchomme on cello, was the last public concert Chopin ever gave! The Artists: Offering a rewarding and eye-opening experience, pianist Hadley McCarroll and cellist Monica Scott share an intense and passionate desire to communicate through music. As martha & monica, Ms. McCarroll and Ms. Scott come together to perform music from eras, styles, and cultures that run the gamut, their own curiosity leading them in repertoire choices and interpretation. Both artists have extensive chamber music and solo performing experiences, both in the U.S. and abroad. martha & monica is an affiliate of the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, and is generously supported by the Bay Area community. The 2007-08 season includes concerts in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Point Reyes. Monica Scotta, cellist, [monica] has had a varied career of solo, chamber music and orchestral work on both sides of the Atlantic. After completing her studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, she received her soloist's diploma from the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. Ms. Scott has played at numerous festivals in Germany and Switzerland, as well as in Prussia Cove, England, and Sarasota, Florida. After an artist residency at the Banff Centre, Monica performed for four seasons with the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa in Portugal, a position which included performing over 50 concerts per year with the Alcantara Quartet. During this time she was also a featured soloist with the Orquestra Metropolitana, performing concertos under the baton of Eduardo Alonzo Crespo, with whom she has also performed Dvorák and Haydn concertos in Argentina. Since moving to the Bay Area in 1997, Ms. Scott has concentrated on the presentation of little known twentieth century repertoire, and programming mixed recitals both on modern and baroque cello. Formerly the cellist in the Del Sol String Quartet, Monica performed countless premieres in that capacity, helping to develop an artistic vision for the ensemble which led to two consecutive Chamber Music America/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming. Monica has performed with Composer's Inc and the Composer's Alliance, is a member of the sfsoundGroup, and also has a duo with her mother, pianist Irene Schreier. She teaches cello both privately and in the Preparatory Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Hailed for her "...lively and exhilarating..." pianism (San Francisco Classical Voice), Pianist Hadley McCarroll [martha] appears regularly throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, United States, and internationally as a solo and collaborative artist and opera coach. Ms. McCarroll enjoys collaborations with local companies San Francisco Opera and Opera Center, Festival Opera, Opera San José, Berkeley Opera, North Bay Opera, West Bay Opera. Ms. McCarroll also serves on the music staff of the Royal Danish Opera, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Under the baton of maestro Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, she has served as musical preparer for concert performances of operas by Elliott Carter and Phillip Manoury. In the spring of 2007 she assisted in preparing Unsuk Chin's work Sopranica Cantatrix, a chamber work for two sopranos and countertenor. In addition to directing her own private piano and coaching studios in Oakland, she has served on the piano faculty of the Community Music Center since 1997. Ms. McCarroll has received an individual artist grant from the City of Oakland to perform concertos for piano and chamber wind ensemble. As a member of the acclaimed Bay Area vocalinstrumental trio The Mirage Ensemble, she has presented chamber music masterclasses and concerts at the Northwestern University School of Music. Kurt Ribak Ensemble The Berkeley Hillside Club is pleased to present the Kurt Ribak Ensemble in concert. Don't miss this talented group performing in our acoustically-excellent hall. The Ensemble: The Kurt Ribak Ensemble definitely qualifies as a local treasure; bassist Ribak and his group have been delighting Bay Area audiences for almost a decade. While their repertoir has a firm grounding in jazz standards and the Great American Songbook, much of the ensemble's performance features Kurt's original compositions. For this date the ensemble features Kurt's long-time collaborator, pianist Greg Sankovich, and the superb Bay Area drummer Bryan Bowman. Featured guest artists will include vocalist Sheilani Alix, and Johannes Mager on trombone. The Artists: Kurt Ribak grew up in Berkeley, CA. Early musical experiences included singing in the San Francisco Boys Chorus. In grade school Kurt began studying the cello. Kurt later studied with major cellists, including Bonnie Hampton, Susie Napper, and Elisabeth LeGuin. While a student at UC Berkeley Kurt began playing electric bass, buying his first good bass with money made working as a janitor. At Cal he continued to play classical music and studied jazz under Neal Heidler and Jeremy Cohen while playing in the UC Jazz Ensembles, where he met and first played with pianist Greg Sankovich. Kurt also studied West African drumming with C.K. Ladzekpo and spent summers teaching at Cazadero Music Camp, where he played with trombonist Julian Priester, guitarist / composer Paul Dresher, and steel drummer Andy Narell, as well as working in the local early music scene. Kurt subsequently earned a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, after a bout with tendinitis. He graduated with top honors, studying bass with Whit Browne, Bruce Gertz, and John Repucci. Kurt spent many hours transcribing and absorbing the styles of bassists Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, and Charles Mingus, but also spent hours dissecting the compositions and arrangements of African bandleader Fela Kuti and R&B giant James Brown. Kurt first learned of his love of composition while at Berklee College of Music. His early tunes often reflected a strong Thelonious Monk influence, while others reflect his love of the great bassists/composer/bandleader Charles Mingus, whose music he studied intensively at Berklee. Later tunes bring to mind the South African composer Abdullah Ibrahim a.k.a. Dollar Brand, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, and Cannonball Adderley. After graduation from Berklee Kurt returned to the San Francisco Bay area. Drummer Bryan Melvin, formerly with the great electric bassist Jaco Pastorius, said Kurt plays bass "the way it should be played." R&B legend Johnny Otis sought him out to say Kurt's playing reminded Otis of the late bassist Curtis Counce, a favorite sideman of Otis. Kurt has played with many prominent musicians. Among them are jazz/blues vocalist Faye Carol, new music composer Paul Dresher, Broadway singer Lillias Brooks, JC Hopkins (writer and former bandleader for Norah Jones), guitarist Adam Levy, sideman with Tracy Chapman and Norah Jones, and with Ralph Carney, best known for his work with Tom Waits. Kurt's also played with prominent non-jazz musicians, including Danny Carnahan of Wake the Dead and Eric and Suzy Thompson, who have received international acclaim for their performances of bluegrass and Cajun music. Kurt also appeared as an actor in commercial videos and films, including Erica Jordan's "In the Wake" (released in 2001) and Rob Nilsson's upcoming release "Scheme." He also contributed music to both films. In 2001 Kurt started his own group, the Kurt Ribak Trio, which
has been his primary musical focus. In 2003 he re-connected
with UC Jazz Ensembles bandmate Greg Sankovich, the trio's
pianist. The Kurt Ribak Trio features Kurt's own compositions but
includes select jazz standards and under-appreciated tunes from
the Great American Songbook. The Kurt Ribak Trio's second CD,
"more," featuring his compositions, has just been released on
Rodia Records. Greg Sankovich has been performing on keyboards and producing music since he was twelve years old. He began with classical studies when he was five years old. Later he studied with some of the finest jazz and Latin pianists and educators in the Bay Area. His musical inspirations included Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, and Keith Jarrett. Greg attended University of California, Berkeley, where he was active in the UC Berkeley Jazz Ensembles, touring Japan, Northern Europe, Poland, and Scandinavia. After graduation from UC Berkeley, Greg moved to Japan with a UCB inspired jazz-fusion band, Taikun. Greg lived in Japan over ten years, performing and composing for a long line of top Japanese artists. Greg, a Bay Area native, returned to the san Francisco area in the mid-1990s and has since contributed to an eclectic range of musical projects from jazz to house to hiphop to pop. He has worked with many talented artists including Terry Francis, Brenda Boykin, H-Foundation, Onions, and Doc Martin. He has contributed music to over 20 record labels including Warner, Columbia, Siesta, Tango, and Yoshitoshi. Greg's music can also be found in the soundtrack for "Groove," a Sony Classics film. Greg produces dance music and performs regularly in the SF Bay
Area. Greg has produced dance music currently in Europe's Top
Ten. He performs with many groups, including bassist/composer
Kurt Ribak's original groups, jazz-funk band Times 4 featuring
sensational saxophonist Lincoln Adler, jam band Ten Ton Chicken,
R&B band Blue Sky Band, and various jazz projects. Times 4 has
appeared at the JVC Jazz Festival, Pearl's in San Francisco,
and Yoshi's in Oakland. Born in Los Angeles, Bryan Bowman was surrounded by music from an early age. His Father Robert is a classical pianist and music professor at Chico State University and his mother plays the cello and is an international folk dancer. These influences guided his musical journey toward the study of classical, jazz, rock, Balkan and North Indian classical music. He has performed and recorded with numerous jazz and rock artists including: Deron Johnson (Miles Davis, David Sandborn, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clark), Mike Zilber, Dayna Stevens, Thomas Morgan, Sam Bevan, Bob Kenmotsu, Mike Abraham, Jeff Massanari, Randy Vincent, John Stowell, John Wiitala, Ben Stolorow, Mark Levine, John Shifflet, Andre Bush, Ken French, Clairdee, Harvey Winapel, Dahveed Behroozi, Betty Fu, Sarah Manning, Mario Guaneri, Jessica Neighbor, Loose Wig, Anton Schwartz, and Brian Kane. Bryan recorded and toured the United States with RCA recording artists Behan/Johnson. He has also recorded and performed in the international music arena which such groups as Ivan Milev and Bulgarika, Edessa, Trio Mopmu with Lily Storm, Late Cift, Members of Kitka and Aleph Null. Bryan studied music formally at The Berklee College of Music in Boston, CSU Long Beach and CSU Chico. He is currently a free lance performer and composer in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Antonio Jorge Gonçalves and Gino Robair: |
