He had a passion for music at an earlier age when he began playing the piano when he was 5, and had an “incredible memory for lyrics.”
Berkeley JazzSchool
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Susan Brand: Jazz in your head; Larry Ochs, Eric Van James
Susan Brand. Photo: courtesy Susan Brand At the age of 50, with her children safely out of the house and enrolled in college, Berkeley psychologist Susan Brand decided to pursue a longtime dream of learning to play jazz piano. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, “but I had no idea how difficult it was going […]
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Audrey Martin: A dream fulfilled, plus more Berkeley gigs
Audrey Martin: plays Berkeley’s California Jazz Conservatory (formerly the Jazzschool) Sunday. Photo: Irene Young Audrey Martin: plays Berkeley’s California Jazz Conservatory (formerly the Jazzschool) Sunday. Photo: Irene Young On her 40th birthday Audrey Martin decided to sing. As a marriage and family therapist, she had spent years helping other people work through traumas, resolve deep-seated conflicts, and […]
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Kavita Shah: Bringing a world of jazz to Berkeley
Kavita Shah. Photo: Julien Carpenter If Kavita Shah had stuck to her usual morning ritual, she would have missed the fateful subway ride that changed the course of her life. For some reason, instead of hustling down the stairs to catch the train to her job at Human Rights Watch in midtown Manhattan, she decided […]
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Smith Dobson V, Friends with Benefits, play Berkeley
Smith Dobson plays the California Jazz Conservatory (formerly the JazzSchool) on Friday, April 25. Photo: courtesy Smith Dobson Smith Dobson plays the California Jazz Conservatory (formerly the JazzSchool) on Friday, April 25. Photo: courtesy Smith Dobson Contrary to what it might seem, the Roman numeral in Smith Dobson V’s name doesn’t mean there are five […]
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Erik Jekabson Quintet in Berkeley: Let the good times roll
Trumpeter Erik Jekabson, a Berkeley High alum, plays with his quintet in Berkeley Saturday. Photo: Erik Jekabson Normally, lightning striking twice in the Berkeley Hills would be a cause for concern, but when trumpeter Erik Jekabson is the force responsible for the conflagration, it’s an invitation to let the good times roll. The Berkeley High […]
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The Best Songs In Life Are Free, With Kim Nalley
Kim Nalley. performing Sunday at Berkeley’s Jazzschool. Photo: Leotyeve Tatyana Kim Nalley. performing Sunday at Berkeley’s Jazzschool. Photo: Leotyeve Tatyana By aesthetic, academic and cultural inclination, Kim Nalley is ideally suited for presenting “Freedom Songs,” a program at the Jazzschool on Sunday afternoon tracing the role of music in the long African-American struggle for liberty […]
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Foolish Hearts: Peter Eldridge and Matt Aronoff
Vocalist and composer Peter Eldridge, who will be performing at the Jazzschool with bassist Matt Aronoff. Photo: Alex Fischer As a vocalist and composer who has forged an intoxicating jazz-steeped sound that draws on R&B, pop and Brazilian music, Peter Eldridge is best known for keeping company with other singers. A founding member of the […]
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The return of vocalist extraordinaire Rhiannon
On Saturday Rhiannon celebrates the release of her memoir Vocal River at Berkeley’s Jazzschool at Berkeley’s Jazzschool Whether she’s improvising fearlessly on stage, teaching a master class, or raising organic produce on her farm in Hawaii, Rhiannon wants to change the world. A legendary figure among vocalists who helped found Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, the former Berkeley […]
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Lorin Benedict scats and the Berkeley Festival of Choro
Lorin Benedict plays Berkeley’s Jazzschool on Sunday: “[he] has crafted an uncanny vocal style employing words and phrases that can easily be mistaken for English, but in fact are entirely of his own invention.” Lorin Benedict plays Berkeley’s Jazzschool on Sunday: “[he] has crafted an uncanny vocal style employing words and phrases that can easily […]
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Saxophonist Steve Heckman gets off the Trane track
Saxophonist Steve Heckman plays Berkeley on Saturday Sept. 28 and again on Oct. 18 For much of his career, Oakland saxophonist Steve Heckman has worshipped at the altar of John Coltrane, with every gig a veritable quest to attain the spiritually charged intensity that defined Trane’s epochal recordings of the early 1960s. He left no […]
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Sundays On Telegraph start slow, but show potential
Children and adults enjoy the chalk zone at a recent Sundays on Telegraph event. Photo: Ted Friedman By Camille Baptista After low turnouts at the first three Sundays on Telegraph events, organizers hope that better weather and increased awareness will draw bigger crowds in the coming weeks. “It’s a work in progress,” said Janet Klein, who […]