Caili O’Doherty’s trio performs Friday at Jupiter and Sunday afternoon at the California Jazz Conservatory New York City pianist Caili O’Doherty has found cool blue waters in the Bay Area, while Berkeley clarinetist Ben Goldberg has plunged into the roiling New York rapids. What these two very different musicians share is a commitment to making […]
Berkeley Arts Festival
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Two for the road: Mike McGinnis and Davalois Fearon
Mike McGinnis, a composer, and Davalois Fearon, a choreographer, in a dance rehearsal studio in Manhattan. Photo: Piotr Redlinski Mike McGinnis, a composer, and Davalois Fearon, a choreographer, in a dance rehearsal studio in Manhattan. Photo: Piotr Redlinski I’m not going to retell the story of the brief and intense courtship of Mike McGinnis and Davalois Fearon. It […]
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Getting actualized with John Schott
John Hanes, John Schott and Dan Seamans kick off a West Coast tour celebrating Schott’s new album Actual Trio at the Berkeley Arts Festival Gallery Friday. Photo: Myles Boisen Berkeley drummer John Hanes paid his blues dues at Larry Blake’s in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, a rigorous bandstand education in the fundamentals of […]
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Change of the century: Musical tribute to Ornette Coleman
There will be an expansive celebration of Ornette Coleman at the Berkeley Arts Festival space on University Avenue on Saturday Sept. 26, 2015. Photo: Myles Boisen There will be an expansive celebration of Ornette Coleman at the Berkeley Arts Festival space on University Avenue on Saturday Sept. 26, 2015. Photo: Myles Boisen A few nights after Ornette […]
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Just a little Green: Green Huse performs Joni Mitchell
Green and Root had taken a few years off of music to raise a family, but are again back writing, recording and performing locally. Photo: Courtesy Green and Root Green and Root had taken a few years off of music to raise a family, but are again back writing, recording and performing locally. Photo: Courtesy Green and Root Berkeley […]
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Regina Carter: Fiddling with genius in Berkeley
Regina Carter, jazz’s most visible and celebrated violinist, plays at The Freight on Sunday at 8 p.m. Regina Carter, jazz’s most visible and celebrated violinist, plays at The Freight on Sunday at 8 p.m. Being dubbed a genius isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Regina Carter, jazz’s most visible and celebrated violinist, found […]
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Bluegrass in Berkeley: The family that picks together sticks together
Obviously Minor Guys and a Girl (OMGG) play the Freight on Monday June 22 with special guest Bill Evans on banjo. Photo: OMGG It might seem strange to refer to Monday’s OMGG performance at Freight & Salvage as a reunion concert, given the quartet’s average age hovers around 18, but these bluegrass musicians have already […]
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Ellen Johnson: A jazz child’s child in Berkeley
Ellen Johnson, playing the Californian Jazz Conservatory Saturday June 20. Photo: courtesy Ellen Johnson Is there anything that chocolate can’t do? An offering to the Mayan gods, a source of joy for children around the world, and an abiding bond between two great jazz musicians who perform 8 p.m. Saturday at the California Jazz Conservatory. […]
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Thomas Mapfumo kicks off Berkeley World Music Festival
Thomas Mapfumo: plays Ashkenaz Friday as part of the Berkeley World Music Festival The pantheon of African musicians who have put their bodies on the line while turning their music into a vanguard force against despotism and corruption includes Nigeria’s Fela Kuti and South Africa’s Hugh Masekela. But no one occupies quite the same role […]
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David Wessel: Musical scientist/scientific musician
David Wessel, the founder of Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, who died in Oct. 2014. Photo: courtesy CNMAT David Wessel, the founder of Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, who died in Oct. 2014. Photo: courtesy CNMAT In a town known for spawning visionary organizations that insistently hew to a […]
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Getting low with Cornelius Boots and Joëlle Léandre
Cornelius Boots (l) and Mark Deutsch, who play Saturday in Berkeley. Photo: courtesy Cornelius Boots From his earliest stirrings as a musician, Cornelius Boots has always gravitated to low, rumbling tones. Since moving to the Bay Area about 12 years ago, he’s created a series of darkly dramatic ensembles, such as Edmund Wells, an unprecedented […]
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The It List: Five things to do in Berkeley this weekend
Student volunteers serve low-income and homeless residents at the 2013 Holiday Meal. Photo courtesy of BUSD HOLIDAY MEAL Each year, dozens — and sometimes hundreds — of student volunteers come to school on a Saturday to serve the community’s homeless and low-income families a hot meal. With Bay Area housing in crisis, plenty of people could use the […]