Lisa Mezzacappa 5(ish), with special guest The Holly Martins
Lisa Mezzacappa 5(ish)
Aaron Bennett – tenor sax
Mark Clifford – vibraphone
Brett Carson – piano
Jordan Glenn – drums
Lisa Mezzacappa – bass
Berkeley bassist and composer
Lisa Mezzacappa brings the latest incarnation of her working band to The Back Room for a raucous and rollicking suite of original music.
Her 5(ish) ensemble plays selections from its 2026 release othrwrldly, which explores the concept of worldbuilding—inspired by Mezzacappa’s fascination with the speculative fiction of Ursula Le Guin, Haruki Murakami, Samuel R. Delany and David Mitchell— as a way to envision new kinds of musical interaction, storytelling, structure and play.
othrwrldly showcases her band’s spectacular chemistry and keen improvisational prowess, woven into expansive compositions that foreground energy, sound, interaction and surprise. The band includes longtime collaborators tenor saxophonist
Aaron Bennett (Adam Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra), vibraphonist
Mark Clifford (Meerna, Rent Romus), and drummer
Jordan Glenn (Fred Frith Trio, Zeena Parkins), plus recent addition pianist
Brett Carson (Art Ensemble of Chicago, Roscoe Mitchell).
The Holly Martins
Lorin Benedict, voice
Kasey Knudsen, alto saxophone
Eric Vogler, guitar
Named after the main character in the classic postwar film, The Third Man, The Holly Martins is a trio of Bay Area musicians dedicated to exploring the boundaries of jazz-infused improvised music, but without the trappings of a traditional "rhythm section.”
Videos featuring musicians playing at this event
avantNOIR, a suite of compositions for jazz quartet plus guests, is a musical companion to the crime novels of Dashiell Hammett and Paul Auster. All music by Lisa Mezzacappa.