Sam Rudin, a blues and jazz pianist, opened the Back Room in 2016. After surviving a stroke, he decided to put humility aside and give himself a monthly gig at his downtown Berkeley venue.
Andrew Gilbert
Freelancer Andrew Gilbert writes a weekly music column for Berkeleyside. Andy, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, covers a wide range of musical cultures, from Brazil and Mali to India and Ireland. A Berkeley-based writer, he contributes features on jazz and international music to numerous publications, including the San Jose Mercury News, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times and Los Angeles Times. His column covering the Bay Area dance scene, Dance Card, runs monthly in the Contra Costa Times. And his CD reviews air regularly on KQED’s “California Report.”
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Malian musician grows gourds into string instruments in Northwest Berkeley community garden
Mamadou Sidibe has been growing gourds into n’gonis — a type of hunter’s harp he popularized in Mali back in the 1980s — in the Karl Linn Community Garden on Hopkins Street.
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A 77th birthday with a 77-piece band is being thrown Sunday in Berkeley, and you’re invited
At Finnish Hall on Chestnut Street, birthday boy Vinny Golia will bring together a “Heptacontakaiheptagon Ensemble.” Its name comes from the term for a 77-sided polygon.
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Long-planned Berkeley dance tribute to Burt Bacharach is now suddenly a memorial
The iconic composer died Feb. 8, at age 94. A Cal Performances dance show, scheduled for this weekend and set to Bacharach’s music, has taken on a retrospective aura.
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Jazz great Charles McPherson to play sax this weekend in Berkeley
Charles McPherson, among the top alto saxophonists in the world, is performing Friday and Saturday at the California Jazz Conservatory.
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Melba’s Kitchen to revive ‘formidable’ tunes of band’s namesake jazz legend on Friday
Melba’s Kitchen, a 14-piece, all-women band, will play a show in Melba Liston’s honor at Freight & Salvage on Friday, Jan. 13, which would have been Liston’s 97th birthday.
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Slo mo pelicans, live music: Violinists seek to preserve the Earth at Kala Art Institute
A short film by violinists Irene Sazer and Kate Stenberg combines scenes of animals in the wild with commentary from researchers and activists. The duo will perform the film’s score live Tuesday in Berkeley.
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‘Traveler’s Prayer,’ based on psalm composer Steve Reich recites before boarding planes, will take flight in Berkeley Thursday
The West Coast premiere will be played at Zellerbach Hall as part of a bi-coastal celebration of the esteemed composer’s 86th birthday.
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Yungchen Lhamo, great Tibetan singer of love and defiance, will perform in Berkeley Sunday
Lhamo, who has traveled an extraordinary musical path since fleeing Tibet as a teen, will celebrate her new album ‘Awakening’ at Freight & Salvage.
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Berkeley’s Barbara Dane, 95, celebrates a ‘life of defiance and song’ in new memoir
Dane, a jazz fixture and activist, is holding a party to celebrate the release of her new memoir this Monday at Freight & Salvage.
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Tony Corman brings out the ‘beautiful colors’ in Harold Land’s big band sound
Berkeley guitarist and arranger Tony Corman’s Morchestra orchestra presents the music of Harold Land on Saturday at the California Jazz Conservatory.
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Gregory Howe’s hands-on producing has led Berkeley’s Wide Hive Records to thrive
Howe produced music from his Berkeley living room until he moved operations into a 900-square-foot Telegraph Avenue space 15 years ago.
