Edgardo and Candela. Photo: Irene Young By Andrew Gilbert Percussionist Edgardo Cambon was already a successful Bay Area bandleader when a 1989 trip to Cuba ignited his band Candela. The Uruguayan-born salsero had founded the group shortly after settling in the Bay Area two years earlier, but several days in Havana provided a lasting jolt […]
Music
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Out in Berkeley: Ian Dogole pays tribute to Wayne Shorter
By Andrew Gilbert Ian Dogole has a knack for assembling singular, talent-laden bands. A percussionist with a global vision and a truckload of instruments from far-flung lands, he’s turned his attention to the vast and wondrous world of Wayne Shorter, the saxophonist and composer who has shaped jazz ever since joining Art Blakey’s Jazz Messenger […]
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Enjoy some jazz with your cicchetti
Involtini de Melanzane. Photo: Edward Derbes By Diana Arbas No need to trek to North Beach to enjoy music, vino and Venetian-style nibbles for a couple of carefree hours. Berkeley’s own Cioccolata Di Vino, on Shattuck in the Gourmet Ghetto, now serves up live local jazz and cicchetti snacks on weekend afternoons. Rebecca Bernstein, Cioccolata Di […]
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‘On a whim’ Berkeley record store aims for creative vibe
By Robert Mills When Alison Ferrell suggested Jesse Bordiuk and Stu Lucero open a store to accompany their start-up record label, the trio didn’t take long to jump on the idea. In fact, three days after the brainstorming session, the group signed the lease for Ear Peace Records on Adeline Street. Lucero, who along with Bordiuk […]
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Out in Berkeley: Mo’Fone — distilling the essence of funk
Larry De La Cruz, Jim Peterson and Jeremy Steinkoler (left to right), who make up Mo'Fone, playing Berkeley on Friday night By Andrew Gilbert When it comes to funk, less is often more. The band Mo’Fone puts that insight into insistently syncopated practice on just about every piece. Led by El Cerrito drummer Jeremy Steinkoler, Mo’Fone, which performs […]
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What happened when Lonely Island trio visited Amoeba
Back in April, three Berkeley boys made a return visit to their hometown. Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer are the threesome behind Lonely Island, makers of ‘digital shorts” (otherwise known as music videos) for NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The trio visited Amoeba on National Record Store Day to promote their latest album, Turtleneck & Chain, and chat […]
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Out in Berkeley: Jessica Jones and Mark Taylor
Jessica Jones and Mark Taylor play The Freight Saturday By Andrew Gilbert In the mid-1970s, Berkeley High was brimming with so many ambitious and talented jazz musicians that Peter Apfelbaum launched his stylistically expansive 17-piece Hieroglyphics Ensemble by drawing on the ranks of his fellow students. Saxophonist Jessica Fuchs Jones was part of that ferociously creative scene, and […]
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Julian Lage delights listeners at Freight and Salvage
By Robert Mills Julian Lage reacts to a smooth guitar lick the way a father stares at a newborn child. There’s a pleasure and grace about his stage presence that cannot be mistaken. An intimate Friday night jazz show at Berkeley’s Freight and Salvage proved this. Lage, a former child prodigy who first performed publicly at […]
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Transported to Louisiana with St. Mary & Co at Ashkenaz
By Robert Mills The award for busiest dance floor in Berkeley could easily go to Ashkenaz. In fact, the 38-year-old music and dance community center has claimed such designations in the past. Last Saturday the floor was particularly packed thanks to the zydeco stylings of Mark St. Mary and company – also recognized as “The Best […]
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Berkeley boy gets real in the Whole Foods parking lot
He’s a Berkeley High School alum (class of ’92), his fiancée also attended BHS, and his parents live in Berkeley. He drives a Prius and likes quinoa — and now a music video created by David Wittman, which has some fun at the expense of Whole Food-shopping healthfood nuts (like him), is going viral. In an interview […]
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Out in Berkeley: Tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz
Anton Schwartz performing at Filoli. Photo: Matt May By Andrew Gilbert Though he moved to Seattle last year after more than a decade as an essential player on the Bay Area jazz scene, tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz still finds plenty of opportunities to return to the East Bay. The fact that he owns a loft in […]
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In Berkeley: Maria Schneider’s intricate, ravishing style
Maria Schneider: performing in Berkeley next week By Andrew Gilbert If I were a gambling man, I’d put all my money on Maria Schneider. Over the past two decades, the composer and arranger has defied the longest odds, thriving as the leader of a 21-piece jazz orchestra stocked with a vivid cross-section of New York’s […]
