7:30
Mike Sopko & Hamir Atwal duo8:30 Life's Blood Ensemble
Clifford Brown III - trumpet,
Jason Hoopes - double bass,
Rent Romus - saxophones
Scott Walton - double bass,
Timothy Orr - drums
Life's Blood "damn well rock their Jazz" says blogger disaster amnesiac, while exploring the influences and inspirations that make the art of jazz and improvisation timeless. The ensemble pays tribute as well as brings to light, reinvents, deconstructs, and breaths life into the deeper realms of their collective body of memory.
Hailed by Downbeat as having "...a bold sound, unmistakeable sincerity and conviction",
Rent Romus is a force spanning over 25 years of music production curating over 80 shows a year for the new music, avant garde, and jazz communities as well as leading several groups from rolicking jazz to free abstract chamber music, to sounds tracks for film and dance.
Clifford Brown III has spent his life worshiping and appreciating the music gods. Carrying on the legacy of his grandfather, jazz trumpeter extraordinaire Clifford Brown Sr., this California bred musician has recognized, acknowledged and demonstrated his role in the global neo-jazz movement. Never bound by the east coast, west coast definitions of horn sounds that have limited previous generations, Clifford has found his unique niche in the movement, allowing him to transcend traditional jazz- bebop values and explore new universes of audio amalgamation.
Mike Sopko & Hamir Atwal
"a blend of jazz, rock and blues with infectious folkiness. . ." - Downbeat Magazine
" . . . an ever expanding trip." - Sonic Masala
Hamir Atwal - Hamir studied at the Berklee College of Music on a scholarship studying improvisation/composition with saxophone great Joe Lovano and trombonist Hal Crook. After graduating from Berklee, Hamir moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he collaborated/recorded with musicians such as clarinetist/composer Ben Goldberg, Blue Note recording artist Greg Osby and saxophone legend Joe Lovano. In addition to performing, Hamir has taught drum clinics at the Stanford Jazz Workshop, the Berkeley JazzSchool, and Music Academy International (Nancy, France). He has performed internationally with notable musicians such as Joe Lovano, Greg Osby, Ben Goldberg, and many more.
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Mike Sopko, has been playing and studying guitar for over 20 years. Mike teaches and performs throughout the the US studying with a variety of teachers such as Dave Fiuczynski, Richard Smith and Bob Fraser. He has developed an array of guitar styles, including jazz, classical, and Bluegrass. Over the years, he has played, recorded, and toured with such musicians as Thomas Pridgen, G. Calvin Weston (Ornette Colman), Mike Watt, and Martin Dosh. Mike teaches at the Avloni Academy of Music, where he has been the head guitar instructor since 2003. In 2010, Mike founded the Bay Area band, Glimpse Trio/Duo, with drummer, Hamir Atwal. Glimpse Trio's first album, 1985, was awarded "Editor's Pick of the Month" in Downbeat Magazine by famed jazz/blues critic Frank Alkyer.
Cost: $10 general $8 Stu/Sen
Videos featuring musicians playing at this event
A montage of the free music group the Lords of Outland from their live presented as part of The Tenderloin Museum’s Sounds of the Tenderloin live music series at the Tenderloin National Forest in San Francisco July of 2022
Featuring Rent Romus on alto/soprano saxophones, Ray Schaeffer on bass, Anthony Flores on drums, and Philip Everett on