Merilee Trost: nurtured some of the biggest names in jazz As the mother of seven daughters who started going through high school in the 1960s, Merrilee Trost thought she had hit on a foolproof plan to help keep the kids away from drugs. Born on the eve of the 1929 stock market crash, she herself […]
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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In Berkeley: Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock, Jack DeJohnette
Keith Jarrett: plays Berkeley on Saturday Listen to Keith Jarrett playing Paris Concert while you read our reviewParis Concert by Keith Jarrett Every performance by pianist Keith Jarrett comes freighted with outsized expectations. One of jazz’s most popular and influential pianists and composers since the early 1970s, Jarrett performs at Zellerbach Hall on Saturday with […]
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In Berkeley: Trumpeter Erik Jekabson, singer “El Cigala”
Trumpeter Erik Jekabson, a Berkeley High alum Trumpeter Erik Jekabson isn’t among the Berkeley High Jazz Band’s best known alumni, but that says more about program’s glittering roster of graduates and Jekabson’s far-ranging musical interests than any deficit in talent or imagination. Since graduating in 1991, Jekabson has collected several degrees from conservatories (Oberlin and […]
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Out in Berkeley: George Brooks and Global Harmony
Berkeley-based Georges Brooks Click on this link to listen to “Better Than Coffee” from the album ‘Elements” while you read our review. Over the past three decades Berkeley tenor saxophonist George Brooks has carved a singular musical niche through his collaborations with the some of classical Indian music’s most celebrated artists. His latest project, Global […]
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Out in Berkeley: Kickin’ the Mule at the Cheese Board
Kickin’ The Mule brings West Coast shuffles, Stax soul scorchers and raucous Chicago blues to the Cheese Board.
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The It List: Oakland Gospel Choir, pianist Michael Wolff
The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir In the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, the glorious harmonies on stage flow directly from the harmonious vibe off the bandstand. Maintaining smooth sailing in any creative endeavor involving 55 people is no easy feat. After a quarter century, however, the ensemble has learned a little something about coexistence and how […]
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Junius Courtney Big Band: Spirited in the right ways
The Junius Courtney Big Band When an ensemble keeps performing after the death of its namesake leader, it’s known as a ghost band. Though descriptive rather than pejorative, the term often carries a whiff of the dismissive, as if a musical legacy should be interred with its creator (things work differently in the world of […]
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Roseanna Vitro interprets Randy Newman’s songbook
Roseanna Vitro: singing Randy Newman's songbook at the Jazzschool The idea seems so obvious it’s hard to explain why no one beat Roseanna Vitro to the project, but her recent album “Sail Away” is the first featuring a jazz singer applying her acute interpretive skills to Randy Newman’s vast and vivid songbook. A veteran improviser […]
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Enough with the clichés: Berkeley embraces old-timers
Thomas Maupin and his grandson Daniel Rothwell on banjo Bashing Berkeley is a finely honed reflex in the national media, with just about any story offering lazy journalists a chance to dust off tired clichés about the People’s Republic of Bezerkleystan. A closer look reveals a community where a passion for progressive causes is matched […]
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Out in Berkeley: From Brazil, a street party, a songstress
A Brazilian street party on Sunday at BrasArte on San Pablo Avenue will celebrate the Lavagem No one is likely to mistake Berkeley for Salvador de Bahia, the northeastern Brazilian city famous as the heartland of Afro-Brazilian culture. But on Sunday, at least for a day, San Pablo Avenue will resound to the thundering pulse […]
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Out in Berkeley: Mawungira Enharira transports
Mawungira Enharira has sparked interest in traditional Shona culture More recent atrocities may have pushed the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe out of the news, but the devastation wrought by the iron-fisted Robert Mugabe and his kleptocratic ZANU-PF party continues apace. During a decade of incomprehensible hardship, the spirit of Zimbabwe’s people has been […]
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Out in Berkeley: The highly talented BHS Jazz Ensemble
The Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble playing Yoshi's earlier this year. Photo: BHS Jazz Living in Berkeley, it’s easy to take the Berkeley High jazz program for granted. Every few years, a new generation of ambitious students emerges from the jazz ensemble and heads off to music programs in New York, Boston and Los Angeles. Since […]
