Rendon Hall at the California Jazz Conservatory
2040 Addison Street, Berkeley

LET’S CALL THIS is a new meeting of three improviser-composers who have developed singular voices as longtime members of the Bay Area creative jazz community. Saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh joins with bassist Lisa Mezzacappa and drummer Vijay Anderson to explore original compositions, structured improvisations, and conceptual flights, born from a shared sense of curiosity and possibility. Modirzadeh is known for developing a unique poly-tempered approach to jazz based on the music of Iran. Anderson composes tightly knit music with weaving melodic lines and a driving momentum. Mezzacappa’s compositions combine asymmetrical grooves with sonic abstractions and free zones of exploration. She’s been called “one of the most imaginative figures on the Bay Area creative jazz scene” by The Mercury News and “a Bay Area treasure” by KQED. This is a special opportunity to hear the debut of this inventive and adventurous new trio.

Vijay Anderson is a freelance drummer, bandleader, composer, and teacher based in Oakland, California. He has performed and recorded with LA-based multi-instrumentalists Lynn Johnston and Vinny Golia; Bay Area composer/performers Ben Goldberg, Sheldon Brown, Graham Connah, Darren Johnston, Smith Dobson V, Lisa Mezzacappa, Aaron Bennett, Ava Mendoza, Hafez Modirzadeh, and saxophonist Marco Eneidi. He has worked extensively with Brooklyn bassist Adam Lane as part of Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra, the Adam Lane Trio, and Adam Lane’s Blue Spirit Band. Anderson has composed and performed original scores for filmmakers Jeff Kao and Tim Hicks, as well as for projects by the Facing East Dance Company. He leads the Vijay Anderson Quartet, the Touch and Go Sextet, and the Silverscreen Sextet.

Lisa Mezzacappa is a Berkeley-based composer, bassist, and bandleader. Called “one of the most imaginative figures on the Bay Area creative jazz scene” by The Mercury News and “a Bay Area treasure” by KQED, she has been an active part of California’s music community for more than 15 years. Mezzacappa writes music for groups from duo to large ensemble, acoustic and electric, and has collaborated with film, dance, sculpture and installation art. Recent projects include ORGANELLE, a chamber suite for improvisers; Glorious Ravage, an evening-length song cycle for large ensemble and films; and TOUCH BASS, a collaboration with choreographer Risa Jaroslow for three dancers and three bassists. avantNOIR, a suite of compositions for jazz sextet, was released on Clean Feed records in 2017 and earned 4 1/2 stars in Downbeat Magazine. 

Saxophonist/theorist Hafez Modirzadeh has performed, recorded, published and lectured internationally on original cross-cultural musical concepts which include "Convergence Liberation" (in Critical Studies in Improvisation, 2011), "Compost Music” (in Leonardo, 2009), "Aural Archetypes” (in Black Music Research, 2001), as well as “Chromodality” (for Wesleyan University, 1992). Twice an NEA Jazz Fellow, Modirzadeh received a Senior Fulbright Award in 2006 to work with Flamenco and Gnawan traditions in Andalucia and Morocco, and again in 2014, to research Turkish Makam harmonization in Ankara. He is a Professor of Creative/World Music at San Francisco State University.

Websites:
http://hafezmodirzadeh.com/
http://vijayanderson.com/
http://www.lisamezzacappa.com/

Cost: $20/$10 (student)

Audio samples in which musicians at this event play:

Videos featuring musicians playing at this event