A double bill showcasing the two beloved Jazzschool instructors—and dynamite saxophonists—leading their own quartets, featuring original music and jazz classics.

Bob Kenmotsu Quartet
Bob Kenmotsu, tenor saxophone
Ben Stolorow, piano
Ollie Dudek, bass
Ron Marabuto, drums

A graduate of San Jose State University’s jazz program, saxophonist and composer Bob Kenmotsu spent the first part of his career in New York City, playing and recording with Jack MacDuff, Pat Martino, and Ruth Brown. In 1994, he received a Japan/US Fellowship cultural exchange grant, relocating to Japan and touring extensively until 1997, when he returned to the Bay Area. Kenmotsu currently resides in Berkeley, headlining local clubs and concerts on the West Coast, and continuing to tour Japan annually. The hard-swinging Bob Kenmotsu Quartet plays original compositions, standards, and blues.

James Mahone Quartet
James Mahone, tenor saxophone
Remee Ashley, trombone
Brian Juarez, bass
Malachi Whitson, drums

Saxophonist and composer James Mahone is an active member of the Bay Area music community, working with a multitude of local artists as both bandleader and sideman. His quartet explores the dynamic interplay and invention that is possible with the instrumentation of two horns, bass, and drums—inspired by similar chordless ensembles led by Max Roach, Ornette Coleman, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, and Sonny Rollins. His group performs original repertoire and arrangements of familiar standards.

https://concerts.jazzschool.org/tenor-madness-double-bill-bob-kenmotsu-and-james-mahone-quartets/
✚gCal  ✚iCal  More...

Join us for casual daytime talks and listening sessions with leading lights of the Bay Area jazz community. Bring your own lunch or order ahead from the JazzCaffè. Wednesdays at lunchtime! Free, drop-ins welcome.

Javier Navarrette is an Oakland-based percussionist, arranger, composer, educator and music producer, contributing to the vibrant Afro-Caribbean music community in the Bay Area for more than 40 years. Navarrette’s highly-acclaimed productions include the Brooklyn Basin Modúpue series, and the Annex Sessions in El Cerrito, as well as projects such as Javier Navarrette’s Socially Distant Friends and the Charangüi Project.

Navarrette developed Oakland’s Living Jazz children’s program and has taught with Sheila E at the Oakland High Jazz Festival, the Oakland Youth Program (OYC), and the Cuba Caribe Moving Juntos program. He has also performed with greats such as Aretha Franklin, Los Van Van, and Pedrito Martinez, recorded on three Grammy-nominated albums with Oakland-based John Santos and the Machete Ensemble/Folklorico Kindembo, and is a member of the Bobi Céspedes Band and Folkloric Group.

To order lunch from the JazzCaffè, call 510-654-0148 to place your order before 10:30am the day of the program. Scan this QR code for the menu or visit actcatering.com/jazzcaffe.
✚gCal  ✚iCal  More...

Faye Carol, vocals
Joe Warner, piano
Ron Belcher, bass
Dante Roberson, drums

“Every Faye Carol performance is a master class—a deep dive into the soul-steeped marrow of jazz and blues.” — East Bay Times

The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol brings her all-star trio to the Jazzschool for an evening of original songs, and deeply grooving, hard-swinging arrangements of familiar tunes spanning jazz, blues, funk, and the Great American Songbook.

An icon of the Bay Area and beyond, Faye Carol is esteemed for her powerful voice, astonishing versatility, and gift of connecting with her audience. Equally at home in jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, funk, Latin jazz, and hip-hop, Carol has developed her own authentic sound and unique delivery, delighting audiences young and old across the globe, and mentoring some of the Bay Area’s brightest young talent including Benny Green, Marcus Shelby, and her daughter, Kito Kamili.

She has shared stages and studios with Marvin Gaye, Taj Mahal, Otis Redding, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Ray Charles, Pharaoh Sanders, Gene Ammons, Joan Baez, Billy Higgins, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, among countless others.

Carol is also a dedicated educator, community activist, and founder of School of the Getdown, which has presented arts education and performance programs celebrating and serving the Black community for more than 25 years.
✚gCal  ✚iCal  More...

FREE! Brown Bag Jazz Hangs: Saki Minamimoto on Kenny Wheeler

Join us for casual daytime talks and listening sessions with leading lights of the Bay Area jazz community. Bring your own lunch or order ahead from the JazzCaffè. Wednesdays at lunchtime! Free, drop-ins welcome.

Saki Minamimoto is a jazz vocalist, singer-songwriter, bandleader, and improviser, originally from Japan and based in San Francisco. Her performances showcase her creative approach to using the voice as instrument, delivering a unique blend of healing roots music that merges jazz and pop with experimental elements. Minamimoto honed her jazz performance skills at Berklee College of Music under the guidance of instructors Lisa Thorson and Bob Stoloff. In 2007, she continued her studies with Janet Lawson in New York City, ultimately leading to her debut recording Somewhere (2008), in collaboration with Michael Kanan.

With her duo project Poncho Poncho with Jon Estes, she released the EP Hello Hello, featuring her Japanese lyrics alongside lo-fi electronica, earning comparisons to Björk and Beach House. Minamimoto collaborates with many talented musicians from the Bay Area including Ben Goldberg, Beth Schenck, Ian Carey, Kasey Knudsen, Jon Arkin, Nathan Clevenger, and many more.

To order lunch from the JazzCaffè, call 510-654-0148 to place your order before 10:30am the day of the program.
Scan this QR code for the menu or visit actcatering.com/jazzcaffe.
✚gCal  ✚iCal  More...

Tony Corman's Morchestra: Big Band Brazilian Blowout!
Doors 7pm / Pre-Concert Talk 7:30pm

Tim Devine, Brian Lassiter, Dave Tidball, Guido Fazio, Charlie Keagle, saxophones
Brad Catania, Walt Beveridge, Mike Beveridge, Mike Galisatus, trumpets
Derek James, Spencer Sussman, Karl Dray, Rich Lee, trombones
Laura Klein, piano
Karl Hartmann, bass
Dave Rokeach, drums
Tony Corman, guitar and arranger

The 17-piece Morchestra big band, led by guitarist and arranger Tony Corman, presents Big Band Brazilian Blowout!, an evening of timeless classics and deep cuts from the Great Brazilian Songbook. The Morchestra blazes through samba, bossa nova, and grooving genres such as ijexa, baiao and Música Popular Brasileira, with a particular focus on richly arranged Brazilian music from the 1970s and 80s.

Tony Corman graduated with a degree in saxophone performance from Berklee College of Music in 1977, going on to an active career playing saxophone and flute. In 2002, jaw problems prompted Corman to give up wind instruments, so he made the pivot to guitar, studying jazz with Duncan James and Steve Erquiaga, and classical with Ron Galen and Pat O’Brien.

Since then, he has co-led the FivePlay jazz quintet with Laura Klein, and led the Morchestra big band, a project stemming from his love for the power and sonority of massed instruments, and his years of experience writing charts and performing in the Full Faith and Credit Big Band and the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra.

He also performs with Saravá, a Brazilian jazz quartet led by saxophone player and keyboardist Dave Salvator, and is the author of The Real Intros and Endings Book, available from Sher Music Co.
✚gCal  ✚iCal  More...

FREE! Brown Bag Jazz Hangs: Greg Bridges on Oliver Johnson

Join us for casual daytime talks and listening sessions with leading lights of the Bay Area jazz community. Bring your own lunch or order ahead from the JazzCaffè. Wednesdays at lunchtime! Free, drop-ins welcome.

Born and raised in East Oakland, Greg Bridges has been a fixture in Bay Area radio since 1986. In addition to his hosting duties for KCSM in San Francisco and the WFMT Radio Network’s jazz service, he hosts Transitions on Traditions, a spoken-word and jazz show on KPFA Radio in Berkeley. A seasoned jazz writer, emcee, and presenter, he has also showcased music and spoken word artists on the weekends at Jahva House and various other venues in Oakland. An alumnus of San Jose State University, Bridges began his professional radio career at KJAZ Radio in Alameda, where he came into his own as an on-air announcer, interviewer, and host.

Bridges offers a special presentation on his drummer father, the late Oliver Johnson, who was a major player on the 1960s San Francisco jazz scene, performing and recording with Denny Zeitlin, Rafael Garrett, George Duke, Jon Hendricks, Dexter Gordon and others, before moving to Europe in 1970, where he spent 16 years drumming for Steve Lacy, Roswell Rudd, Roscoe Mitchell, Jean-Luc Ponty, Archie Shepp, and more.

To order lunch from the JazzCaffè, call 510-654-0148 to place your order before 10:30am the day of the program.
Scan this QR code for the menu or visit actcatering.com/jazzcaffe.

https://concerts.jazzschool.org/free-brown-bag-jazz-hangs-greg-bridges-on-oliver-johnson/
✚gCal  ✚iCal  More...