The Bleeding Edge: 7/27/2026

David Boyce with his soprano saxophone (from this week’s BayImproviser Web page)

After the abundance of Bleeding Edge events that took place last week, this week the pendulum will swing back to the other extreme. I cannot remember the last time (if any) that only a single event was announced; but that will be the case. As might be expected, that lone event will be the weekly Other Dimensions in Sound offering, curated and hosted by Boohaabian reed player David Boyce. Once again, Boyce will deploy his diversity of winds, this time in a duo with guitarist Scott Foster. As usual, the venue will be the Medicine for Nightmares bookstore, located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street; and the performance will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 31. Also “as usual,” there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

The Coltrane-Garland Connection

A two-CD “distillation” of performances by John Coltrane and Red Garland (from its Amazon.com Web page)

This morning as I was perusing my electronic mail, I found that Pandora was trying to persuade me to follow their John Coltrane Radio connection. Ironically, the link was not particularly successful, particularly since it was trying (without success) to direct me to a Sonny Rollins album! Fortunately, I already have a generous supply of Coltrane CDs, including the sixteen of them collected in the box set of Prestige recordings. The good news is that there is still an Amazon.com Web page for this collection; but the bad news is that the price is $235, accounting for sixteen CDs.

I have to confess that I have a particular fondness for those CDs that bring Coltrane together with pianist Red Garland. I suppose that is because I had an opportunity to listen to Garland leading a piano trio on one of my business trips to New York. This was relatively late in his life. At one point, he apologized for a lengthy verbal introduction, confessing that he was trying to remember what he would next be playing!

Sadly, Pandora does not seem to be have as much concern for Garland as it has for other sources. Perhaps it thinks that only names like Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, and Charlie Parker will attract attention. Nevertheless, an Amazon search for Garland yields a generous number of hits. So maybe it is just a matter of enough writers coming up with articles about Garland to give him a level of attention that parallels Coltrane!

The Bleeding Edge: 7/20/2026

The good news is that this will be a very busy week on the Bleeding Edge. There will be seven events, only two of which will overlap. The only bad news is that both of them will be a familiar site! Once again, the venues will be familiar to regular readers; and, as is usually the case, the options are impressively diverse. Details are as follows:

Tuesday, July 21, 7 p.m., Make-Out Room: Jazz at the Make-Out Room used to take place on Mondays. However, last month’s gig took place on a Tuesday, and this month’s offering will do the same. Once again, the program will consist of three sets. The program will open with the Ai-Ai combo led by guitarist Karl Evangelista. The second set will be performed by a trio of vocalists: Saki Minamimoto, Lorin Benedict, and David Israel Katz. The final set will see keyboardist Marc Capelle playing with William Winant on percussion. They will be joined by “guest artists” yet to be announced. For those that do not yet know, the Make-Out Room is located in the Mission at 3225 22nd Street. Doors will open at 6 p.m.

Thursday, July 23, and Sunday, July 26, 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., and Friday, July 24, and Saturday, July 25, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Black Cat Jazz Supper Club: This week will see the return of drummer and composer Anthony Fung to the Black Cat. He will lead a quartet with alto saxophonist Alex Hahn on the front line. Rhythm will be provided by pianist Michael Ragonese and Luca Alemanno on bass. Selections will be drawn from Hahn’s latest album, Common Language, which he describes as “a bold, rhythm-driven statement of identity and sound.”

Friday, July 24, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: The next Other Dimensions in Sound offering, curated and hosted by Boohaabian reed player David Boyce, will be a trio program. He will be joined by percussionist Kevin Carnes and Kirk Peterson on bass. The venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Kasey Knudsen with her saxophone (from the Web page for her performance this week)

Friday, July 24, 7:30 p.m., Bird & Beckett Books and Records: This week Friday will require making a hard choice. Bird & Beckett will host a quartet performance led by Kasey Knudsen on saxophone. She will be joined by fellow reed player Harvey Wainapel. Rhythm will be provided by John Witala on bass and Jon Arkin on drums. There will no charge for this event. Bird & Beckett is located at 653 Chenery Street, a short walk from the Glen Park station for both Muni and BART.

Saturday, July 25, 7:30 p.m., Bird & Beckett Books and Records: Bird & Beckett will host a second performance at the same time on Saturday. The performance will be led by percussionist Avotcja, who will also recite poetry. “Backup” will be provided by the Modupue quartet with a front line shared by Sandi Poindexcer on violin and saxophonist Francis Wong. Rhythm will be shared by bassist Heshima Mark Williams and Baba Ken Okulolo on talking drum.

Sunday, July 26, 6 p.m., Gray Area Art and Technology: This will be a generous evening of five sets:

1. Albert.DATA
2. Entangled Others
3. Esen K. Tütüncü
4. Kyle McDonald
5. Kalie Hofstadter and Memo Akten

Sadly, as of this writing, no details have been provided for any of these performances.The program will take place in the Grand Theatre, located in the Mission at 2665 Mission Street.

Monday, July 27, 7:30 p.m, Artists Television Access: Rewards Program is an improvisational music project. The performers will be Miles Lassi, Zekarias Thompson, and Skyway Man. Visuals will be provided by Ellie Vanderlip. These will include “expanded cinema” as well as projections of both 16 mm and 32 mm slides.

Old First Concerts: September 2026

Having accounted for Old First Concerts (O1C) hosting next month’s San Francisco International Piano Festival, it is not too soon to prepare listeners for the beginning of the new season in September. This year there will be three performances, all on Sunday afternoons at 4 p.m. Most readers probably know by now that O1C events take place at Old First Presbyterian Church. This is located at 1751 Sacramento Street on the southeast corner of Van Ness Avenue. Tickets are available for purchase through the hyperlinks attached to the dates, which are also available for live stream viewing. General admission is $30. with reduced rates for seniors, students, and children age twelve and under. The season will begin with the traditional Labor Day program as follows:

September 6: Those that have followed this site for some time have probably already guessed that the season will begin with the return of jazz pianist Mike Greensill, who has made this event a Labor Day tradition. Most likely, Greensill will continue to interleave his own original compositions with a generous share of selections from the Great American Songbook. Nevertheless, the show promises to be different from previous gigs because this year Greensill will celebrate his 80th birthday!

September 13: Pianist Kevin Lee Sun will present a program entitled Look to This Day. He will present music by two living composers. The first of these, Hyo-shin Na, may be familiar to those following past events; and she will contribute two solo piano compositions. The other is Daniel De Togni, who will accompany Sun on shakuhachi for the performance of Death Poems. His Songs of Becoming cycle will receive its West Coast premiere with a performance by soprano Wallis Lucas.

Noël Wan with her harp (from the O1C Web page for her recital)

September 20: For “something completely different,” Noël Wan will conclude the month with a solo harp performance. She turned to the French poet Charles Baudelaire for the title of her program: Les Fleurs du mal (the flowers of evil). Her program will pair music from the late nineteenth century with contemporary compositions.

The Bleeding Edge: 7/13/2026

Activity on The Bleeding Edge continues to be relatively quiet. This week the number of events will amble up to four (following last week’s three). Nothing is scheduled prior to Thursday, on which there will be two overlapping performances, the second of which will also take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Once again, the venues will be familiar to regular readers; and, as is usually the case, the options are impressively diverse. Details are as follows:

Thursday, July 16, 7 p.m., Gray Area Art And Technology: Max Cooper is currently on a tour to showcase his latest album Feeling is Structure. The content of that album will provide the basis for the immersive audio-visual performance system called 3D/AV. The narrative thread of that performance will tell “ the story of the foundations of our world, and our place in it, as a living feeling experience.” Readers familiar with this venue probably already know that it is located in the Mission at 2665 Mission Street.

Roman Goron, Ben Sherman, Isaiah Bravo, and Daniel Song, who will be performing at the Black Cat Supper Club later this week

Thursday, July 16, and Sunday, July 19, 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., and Friday, July 17, and Saturday, July 18, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Black Cat Jazz Supper Club: Tenor saxophonist Ben Sherman is based in New York City. He runs the jam session Close Up, which takes place every other Sunday. He leads a quartet, whose other members are pianist Roman Goron, Daniel Song on bass, and drummer Isaiah Bravo. Admission for all performances will be $30. The club is located in the Civic Center at 400 Eddy Street.

Friday, July 17, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: As usual, the Other Dimensions is Sound music series will be curated and hosted by Boohaabian multi-reed player David Boyce. This week he will provide reeds and special effects for a performance by the Red Fast Luck duo. The other performer will be percussionist PC Munoz, whose instruments include (among the usual) boom stick and “intergalactic hook rug.” As many (most?) readers probably know by now, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Saturday, July  18, 3 p.m., Project Artaud: Pamela Z will give her next performance of her own compositions for solo voice and electronics. The event will take place in The Sculpture Studio. She will also discuss her work, and the entire event is scheduled to last about two and one-half hours. The venue is located in Studio 123 at 401 Alabama Street.

Learning About Satoko Fujii from C4NM

I first learned about the Center for New Music (C4NM) right around the time that they established their home base at 55 Taylor Street, having signed a lease in October of 2012. This was not long after my retirement from Silicon Valley. The San Francisco Conservatory of Music had only recently made its move into the Civic Center, providing me with an abundance of listener experiences to keep me busy as a retiree. However, it was through C4NM that I first encountered pianist Satoko Fujii and her husband trumpeter Kappa Maki.

Back in my Examiner.com days, I described their work as “their own distinctive approach to free jazz improvisation,” meaning that I had never encountered such an approach to jamming in most (if not all) of my previous encounters with “free jazz.” My earliest writing about them was with Examiner.com; and, because I was unable to backup all my articles before that site folded, I do not have any record of their work prior to February 10, 2015. Fortunately, I have been able to follow their releases; and, as of this writing, I find that I have 50 CDs to account for their performances since then.

John Coltrane on the cover of his Major Works album, the performance that guided my ability to listen to Fujii and Maki

I suppose that my interest in Fujii and Maki was piqued by reminders of my first encounter with free jazz at its freest, so to speak. That goes back to the first time that I listened to John Coltrane’s Ascension album on the radio. After that experience, I did not waste any time it getting myself a copy of that record! This was before the emergence of CD technology, meaning that the music was interrupted when I had to turn over the disc! Fortunately, the content has been remastered; and, as just about anyone would probably expect, the CD now has its own Amazon.com Web page. Furthermore, it is also available in two separate “editions” (otherwise known as “takes”) on the two-CD album The Major Works of John Coltrane.

It would be fair to say that my ability to focus and guide my attention to the many tracks I have encountered by both Fujii and Maki has been guided by my “training” through listening to Coltrane at his most adventurous.

Never Enough Thelonious Monk!

Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of DL Media, Inc.)

It has been a little over a year since I last invoked my favorite precept delivered by the conductor Leonard Slatkin, “You can never conduct enough Haydn or Schubert.” My own variation on that “theme” is that, where my own collection of recordings is concerned, there is no such thing as too much Thelonious Monk. As a result, I was delighted that this month began with the release of a new Monk album. The title suggests that it is the first of more to come: Monk Live in Paris, 1967, Volume One.

My only disappointment is that there are only four tracks of music amounting to a little more than half an hour. However, the album is the first “official” release from the Thelonious Monk Estate, which is curated by Monk’s granddaughter, Sierre Barbara Monk. She has contributed a paragraph to the album jacket, followed by a Q&A exchange with Monk’s son, T. S. Monk. Personally, however, I am more interested in the music, whose four tracks are “Epistrophy,” Evidence,” “Ruby My Dear,” and “We See.”

Monk, of course, is at the piano for all of those tracks. Rhythm is provided by Larry Gales with Ben Riley on drums. Tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse is the only other musician to contribute to all of the tracks. The other performers are Phil Woods on alto saxophone, another tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, Ray Copeland on trumpet, and trombonist Jimmy Cleveland.

From a personal perspective, 1967 is about half a decade before I first went to a Monk performance. If my memory is not too faded, I believe I saw him at the Village Vanguard, after which I made as many return visits as my schedule would allow. (That schedule was based on trips I would make from Cambridge, Massachusetts!) I listened to everything Monk did with silent respect and never had the nerve to try to speak to him. As far as I was concerned, listening to the music was all that mattered; and that is exactly the way in which I have now approached this first Live in Paris release.

Those familiar with the Monk repertoire will know that all of the tracks on this album are familiar. However, repetition seldom rears its head in the performance of jazz. While all four of the tunes themselves are familiar to me, there was still much for me to absorb in the diversity of solo takes across all of the tracks. I am sure that I shall be making several return visits to this new album while waiting for “Volume Two” to appear!

Not Much Bite from Slow Tiger

Cover of the album being discussed (from its Amazon.com Web page)

One week from today Endectomorph Music will release the self-titled debut album of the Slow Tiger quintet. The front line is shared between trumpeter Kenny Warren and Adam Schneit, who alternates between tenor saxophone and clarinet. Rhythm is provided by organist JP Schlegelmilch, Andrew Dow on electric bass, and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell. As is often the case, Amazon.com has already created a Web page to process pre-orders.

The nine tracks were recorded in a basement studio in Nyack, New York, recalling the “Hey, kids, let’s put on a show” spirit of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. The advance material describes the selections as “earthy, rock-oriented melodies with more atmospheric explorations of song and sound” (whatever that means)! The good news is that all five of the performers have a solid command of their instruments. The bad news is that there is little in the content of the tracks that makes for engaging listening. Mind you, they have received a generous endorsement from clarinetist Ben Goldberg, whose work I have appreciated for many years; but this is one of those times when I shall have to agree to disagree with him. Perhaps the tiger needs significantly more determination in the steps it takes!

New Satoko Fujii Album Recorded a Decade Ago

Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of Braithwaite & Katz Communications)

Tomorrow will see the release of the latest Libra Records album of a performance by Satoko Fujii. (Presumably, it will then appear on the Bandcamp Web page for her albums.) Those that have followed my articles about her probably know that I usually refer to her as a pianist (as I did this past May with the release of Under the Water, her duo album with Myra Melford, who is also a pianist). However, the full title of the new album is Satoko Fujii’s Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra; and, according to the details on the jacket, she performs only as conductor. Bunker Ulmenwall is a bar in Bielefeld, Germany that had been built as a bunker, presumably during one of the world wars of the last century. Now it hosts a diversity of music performances, as well as poetry slams; and the performance on this album was recorded there on November 22, 2014.

I have to confess that the use of the word “orchestra” leads me to follow Mister Spock’s lead and raise an eyebrow. (Yes, that probably dates me from the last century!) The string section of the symphony orchestra is represented only by a single cello (Willem Schulz) and a single double bass (Kevin Hemkemeier). On the other hand, there is a generous abundance of saxophones of all sizes, along with three trumpets and two trombones, one of whom doubles on tuba. There are also two drummers, along with Joel Köhn who works with electronics, both synthesized and sampled.

Fujii is also the first and last composer of the compositions on the album. “Shiki” occupies the entirety of the first of two CDs, running just shy of 47 minutes in duration. “Gen Himmel,” on the other hand, is the last track on the second CD, lasting a little more than six minutes. Three different composers account for the preceding tracks on that CD. “Yamantaka” was composed by Andres Kaling, the ensemble’s only bass saxophonist. This is followed by “Jasper” by Natsuki Tamura, who leads the trumpet section. The third track is “Antischwarm,” composed by Luise Volkmann, one of the two alto saxophonists.

Beginning-to-end listening runs slightly short of 90 minutes. That said, there is definitely a “density” to the way in which this music was composed and performed. Furthermore, I have to confess that, while there are a generous number of solos performed, I was not always able to associate what I was hearing with a specific instrument! However, once I put my obsession with details aside, I found that I could just “sit still and listen” and let the sonorities lead my imagination where they may.

Those that have followed past accounts of Fujii’s work probably know that this is not my first confrontation with an orchestral performance. At the end of last year, I wrote about Ninety-Nine Years performed by the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin. However, that turned out to be, as I put it, “a ‘small big band.’” There is nothing small about the Bunker Ulmenwall Orchestra, not in numbers nor in their capacity for full-force sonorities. However, now that I have listened to their album several times, I find that they are beginning to grow on me!

Alister Spence’s Second Solo Recording

Alister Spence at his piano (photograph by Jordan K Munns, courtesy of Braithwaite & Katz Communications)

This morning saw my fourth encounter with Australian jazz pianist and composer Alister Spence. My first was in 2018: Intelsat, a duo performance with another jazz pianist, Satoko Fujii. This was followed by his four-movement suite Imagine Meeting You Here, which was performed by the Satoko Fujii Orchestras in Kobe, Nagoya, and Tokyo. In 2020 he released his solo album Whirlpool, a suite of 23 relatively short pieces.This past April saw the release of a new solo album, Always Ever, which is currently available for MP3 download through an Amazon.com Web page.

Like Whirlpool, Always Ever is an album of improvised solo performances. There are sixteen tracks, the shortest being about two and a half minutes and the longest extending to six and a half minutes. Spence is not shy when it comes to upbeat tempos and eccentric rhythms. The attentive listener is thus likely to be satisfied with the diversity of dispositions across the individual selections.

Personally, I enjoyed the overdubbing of metal-on-metal percussion, which introduces the solo piano work in “Distant Cousins.” “Afternoon at Ranscom Street,” on the other hand, seems conceived to evoke the atonal abstractions encountered in improvisations by Cecil Taylor. It would be fair to say that Spence is never shy about adventurous improvisations, which is why I described the Whirlpool album as “a ‘laboratory notebook,’ in which Spence chose to document as wide a diversity of approaches to performance as his imagination would allow.” That documentation has now been continued and extended in Always Ever, which is as much a “journey of discovery” as Whirlpool was.

The Bleeding Edge: 7/6/2026

This will be a quiet week on The Bleeding Edge. There will be only three events, all taking place on the three days leading up to the weekend. All the venues will be familiar to regular readers; and, as is usually the case, the options are impressively diverse. Details are as follows:

Wednesday, July 8, 9 p.m., the Knockout: Not much information has been provided other than the performers. The order of appearance on the poster is as follows:

1. Ettrick (the duo of Jay Korber and Jacob Felix Heule)
2. Hair Grease
3. Daron Key
4. Solo Organ (That’s what it says on the poster!)
5. DJ Paul Costuros

The Knockout is located in the Mission at 3223 Mission Street (across from Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack). Admission will be $10.

Thursday, July 9, 8 p.m., Peacock Lounge: For those familiar with the venue, this will be the usual four-set evening. Euphotic is a trio that euphonizes natural, physical, and imaginary sound sources. All three of the performers are likely to be familiar to Bleeding Edge followers: Cheryl E. Leonard, Tom Djll, and Bryan Day. Headboggle is a solo set by Derek Gedalecia. The description of his performance is worth quoting: “the manifestation of Derek Gedalecia's acoustic/electronic performance-art research utilizing his very own kitchen sink which at any moment might uncork with Moog, Harmonica, Banjo, Harpsichord, Irish Harp, EMS Synthi, Violin, Drums, Clavinet, Serge Modular, field recordings, or your very own squirming brain.” Sean Keenan also draws upon diverse resources, including percussion, electronics, and what he calls “bizarre reeds.” Finally, Wizardmaster is a solo performance by Mark Stramaglia, working with his own custom synthesizers. The Lounge is located in Haight-Ashbury at 552 Haight Street. Admission is between $5 and $15, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Francis Wong with his saxophone (from the Web page for his performance this week)

Friday, July 10, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: “Boohaabian multi reed player extraordinare David Boyce,” who curates the Other Dimensions in Sound performances will contribute to a saxophone trio. The other two performers will be Nora Free and Francis Wong. As many (most?) readers probably know by now, the venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Aaron Bennett to Bring Trio to Chez Hanny

Saxophonist Aaron Bennett (right) with his trio colleagues Dan Seamans (bass) and Tim Bulkley (drum kit) performing Bird & Beckett Books and Records (courtesy of Jazz Chez Hanny)

Saxophonist Aaron Bennett is likely to be familiar to those following announcements of jazz performances on this site. His most recent “appearance” took place at the end of this past May, when he was on the front line at Bird & Beckett Books and Records in a septet led by bass guitarist Dave Parker. In a little over two weeks’ time, he will be leading a trio of his own for this month’s first Jazz Chez Hanny performance. Rhythm will be provided by Dan Seamans on bass and drummer Tim Bulkley, both of whom have performed at previous Chez Hanny gigs.

As usual, the show will begin at Chez Hanny at 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 19. As always, the venue will be Hanny’s house at 1300 Silver Avenue, with the performance taking place in the downstairs rumpus room. Admission will be $25, payable by cash, by check made out to Jazz Chez Hanny, or by Zelle through jazz@chezhanny.com. There will be two sets separated by a potluck break. As a result, all who plan to attend are encouraged to bring food and/or drink to share. Vaccination is required on the honor system, and masks are optional. Seating is first come, first served; and the doors will open at 3:30 p.m. Reservations are preferred and may be made by sending electronic mail to jazz@chezhanny.com.

New Century Chamber Orchestra: 2026/27

As was the case last year, the 2026/27 season of the New Century Chamber Orchestra (NCCO) and its Music Director and Concertmaster Daniel Hope will begin this coming November. This season there will be five concerts performed in San Francisco at three different venues. Dates, times, and location specifics are as follows:

Saturday, November 7, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre: Following up on their last collaboration with NCCO, the Marcus Roberts Trio will return for performances of music by Duke Ellington and George Gershwin in a performance entitled GROOVE. Roberts leads the trio on piano, joined by drummer Jason Marsalis and Rodney Jordan on bass. They will join NCCO for a suite of Ellington tunes. The program will also include a string ensemble performance of “Entr’acte,” originally composed for string quartet by Caroline Shaw. The other contributing composer will be Rhiannon Giddens with her “At the Purchaser’s Option.” For those that do not already know, Herbst is in the Civic Center on the ground floor of the Veterans Building, across the street from City Hall at 401 Van Ness Avenue on the southwest corner of McAllister Street.

Saturday, December 12, 2 p.m., Taube Atrium Theatre: Violinist Benjamin Beilman will be the visiting soloist. He will perform the arrangement for violin and string orchestra of Eugène Ysaÿe’s “Rêve d’enfant” and Jean Sibelius’ Opus 117, a suite for violin and string orchestra. The program will begin with Olli Mustonen’s second nonet, which he completed in 2000. The final work on the program will be the oldest: Arnold Schoenberg’s Opus 4 “Verklärte Nacht,” which he originally composed as a string sextet. The venue is located on the top floor of the Veterans Building.

Saturday, January 30, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre: Pianist Lara Downes will join the ensemble for the world premiere of “Beauty Has No Borders,” just composed by Clarice Assad. The earliest work on the program will be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 201/186a, his 29th symphony composed in the key of A major. (He was eighteen years old at the time.) The program will conclude with the strings-only music for “Apollo,” the ballet choreographed by George Balanchine in 1928 when he was only 24 years old.

Saturday, April 17, 2 p.m., Presidio Theatre: The soloist will be bandoneonist Omar Massa, performing the world premiere of his double concerto for bandoneon and violin. The entire program will present music from “south of the border.” The most familiar work is likely to be Astor Piazzolla’s suite, The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. The remaining selection will be “La Calaca,” composed by Gabriela Ortiz in 2021. The venue is in the southwest corner of the Presidio at 99 Moraga Avenue.

Thomas Hampson and Daniel Hope (from the NCCO Web site for the San Francisco Rising concert)

Friday, May 14, and Saturday, May 15, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 16, 2 p.m., Herbst Theatre: The title of this program is San Francisco Rising, and it will be jointly curated by Hope and baritone Thomas Hampson. The program has not yet been finalized, but particular attention will be given to Ernest Bloch. Bloch was Director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the 1920s, after which he became Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of California in Berkeley. His compositions will “rub shoulders” with traditional songs from China, Ireland, Mexico, and Africa. Sources will date back to the 1849 California Gold Rush and advance to the 1945 signing of the United Nations Charter (which took place in San Francisco … check out the painting in Herbst).

As of this writing, single tickets do not appear to be on sale. However, there is a Subscriptions Web page which allows for purchases for not only all five concerts but also four, three, and even two concerts. These will all involve 25% discounts from single-ticket purchases, which will probably become available in the coming fall.

Buster Williams’ 1975 Debut Album Reissued

Cover of the album being examined

This past Record Store Day, April 18, Time Traveler Recordings released three albums, along with digital copies, of three particularly adventurous jazz performers from the second half of the last century. One of them was bassist Buster Williams, whose name always seemed to come up whenever I was in conversation with San Francisco performers particularly devoted to contemporary music. Ironically, my first encounter with Williams’ music (as both composer and performer) came from one of those albums released on Record Store Day. The title of the album is Pinnacle, consisting of five tracks amounting to a little less than 45 minutes of music.

Williams leads a septet with a front line of trumpeter Woody Shaw and two saxophonists. The first of them, Earl Turbinton, doubles on clarinet, and the other, Sonny Fortune, also plays both flute and alto flute. Rhythm is provided by percussionist Guilherme Franco, Billy Hart on drums, and Onaje Allan Gumbs, who divides his time across acoustic and electric piano, Moog synthesizer, and an ARP String Ensemble. (I suspect I am not the only one to find Shaw the only familiar name!)

I came away from this album feeling that the overall duration was just about right for the listening experience. The diversity of instruments allows for an engaging variety of approaches to improvisation. Williams has performed with the likes of Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, and Miles Davis; but there is much to engage the attentive listener as he finds paths to improvisation of his own. As I write this, the album is available from Amazon.com only on vinyl; but I am hoping that it will be available to “digital listeners” in the near future.

The Bleeding Edge: 6/29/2026

If last week on the Bleeding Edge was a busy one, this week the pendulum will swing about as far as it can in the opposite direction. As of this writing, there is only one event to take into account. As might be expected, it is a reliable one: the weekly Sunday evening gig at Bird & Beckett Books and Records.

The members of the End of the World Coretet

Some readers may recall that yesterday evening’s performance was by the trio of saxophonist Kasey Knudsen with Mat Muntz on bass and drummer Scott Amendola. This coming Sunday, July 5, again at 7:30 p.m., Bird & Beckett will host a quartet calling itself the After the End of the World Coretet. This will involve many instruments and four performers. On the front line Jon Birdsong will account for brass with reeds played by Annelise Zamula. Bill Noertker will play strings, perhaps dividing his time between the front line and rhythm. Percussion will be provided by Dave Mihaly. As most readers probably know by now, the venue is located at 653 Chenery Street; and admission will be $20.

New Kenny Barron Album Over 30 Years Late

A little over two weeks ago, Elemental Music released an album of a performance at the Brycheiniog Theatre in Wales at the Brecon Jazz Festival. Pianist Kenny Barron led a trio, whose other members were Ray Drummond on bass and drummer Ben Riley. The full title of the album is So Many Lovely Things: Live in Brecon.

This is a generous offering: ten tracks distributed across two CDs providing one hour and 48 minutes of music. This is jazz as I like to listen to it (as, presumably, at least some readers will have guessed from encounters with previous jazz articles). Barron delivers a solid upbeat rhetoric in his keyboard work but also makes sure that both Drummond and Riley can pursue explorations of their own.

Front cover of the album being discussed

I have to wonder why it took three decades before this generous content was released. Physical packaging is a fold-out of two sleeves, providing only four surfaces for printed content. Two of them are, of course, the front (with a photograph of the three musicians) and the back, with a usefully detailed track listing. On the inside, the left-hand side provides three individual black-and-white photographs and most of the production details.

That leaves the other side for an essay by American jazz journalist Ted Panken. The advance material I received describes this as “extensive liner notes and detailed tune annotations;” but I am afraid that there is more about the background than about the music itself. Personally, I think that those familiar with twentieth-century jazz will have no trouble finding their own way through the inventive tropes of all three of the players. Those not previously acquainted with at least three of the tunes might do well to build up a bit of background before venturing into this album!

Plans for Other Minds Festival 30

The beginning of this month saw the release of the plans for the Other Minds Festival 30. It will again take place in October, somewhat earlier than last year. The venue will be the same, but the name has expanded to the Brava Theater for Women in the Arts. (It is still located in the Mission at 2781 24th Street. As was observed last year, the venue is a few blocks to the east of the Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery.) Concerts will again begin at 8 p.m. on Thursday, October 8, Friday, October 9, and Saturday, October 10, with a Sunday performance at 4 p.m. on October 11. Panel discussions will precede each performance, beginning an hour before the concert. City Box Office has created a single Web page for purchasing tickets for each of the events, as well as a single Festival Pass for all performances. The works to be performed will be as follows:

• October 8: This will be an evening-length multimedia performance created by Joseph Bohigian entitled I Am He Whose Life and Soul Are Torment. The title refers to the Armenian film director Sergei Parajanov. Vocalist Khatchadour Khatchadourian will also play duduk with electronic accompaniment by Ensemble Decipher.
• October 9: This will be a three-set performance. Sylvie Courvoisier will begin the program with a solo piano set influenced by both European chamber music and American avant-garde jazz. Vocalist Mahsa Vahdat will perform original settings of Persian poetry, accompanied on the setar by Atabak Elyasi. The program will conclude with Friction Quartet performing works by Juri Seo.

Photograph of King Britt by Colin Kerrigan

• October 10: The three sets will present two duos and one solo. Elizabeth Gaver will alternate between Hardanger fiddle and rebec to accompany vocalist Kristin Nordeval, who will augment her performance with live electronics. In the second duo drummer John Diaz will perform with  guitarist Zachary James Watkins, who augments his performances with electronics. The title of the final set is “Blacktronika,” performed on live electronics by King Britt.
• October 11: The Festival will conclude with a solo performance by pianist Charlemagne Palestine.

The Bleeding Edge: 6/22/2026

This promises to be a busy week on the Bleeding Edge. There will be three more BIOMETRICKS performances on Thursday, June 25, Friday, June 26, and Saturday, June 27. The other events that have already been reported are those taking place for the remainder of this month at the Center for New Music: the three solo sets of New Queer Music on Thursday, June 25, and the three sets of different approaches to synthesis on Saturday, June 27. That leaves a generous number of other performances at a diversity of venues as follows:

Tuesday, June 23, 7 p.m., Artists Television Access: Stone•House•Street: Reactivating the Archive is a joint project of three Armenian-Americans, filmmakers Chris Atamian and Tina Bastajian and sound artist Joseph Bohigian. Atamian’s film is entitled “House Culture,” part of his CivilNet series. It explores Armenia’s historic house museums, offering an intimate look into the lives, environments, and creative legacies of influential cultural figures. Bohigian’s “Stone Dreams” uses a stone to act as an instrument evoking folk songs. Bastajian’s film is entitled “A Tree Once Grew on Pushkin;” and it examines issues of post-Soviet gentrification and loss in Armenia's capital city of Yerevan. For those that do not already know, the venue is located in the Mission at 992 Valencia Street. Admission  will be $10 at the door, and light refreshments will be available.

Wednesday, June 24, 7 p.m., Mr Tipple’s: Saxophonist Beth Schenck will return to this venue with her last quartet included bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, Brett Carson on piano, and drummer Jordan Glenn. This is another venue familiar to readers, located at 39 Fell Street, on the south side of the street between Van Ness Avenue and Polk Street. The venue is basically a supper club, so listeners are encouraged to purchase food and drink.

Thursday, June 25, 6 p.m., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: Pamela Z will collaborate with poet Dan Waldman and dancer Suzanne Beahrs for an evening of performance and poetry that will unfold throughout the museum’s galleries. The performance is inspired by Atria, the debut of a poetry collection by Waldman. The performance will be structured as three movements, each of which will bring together artists working across sound, poetry, clay, cello, dance, video, and performance. The Museum is located near Yerba Buena Gardens at 151 Third Street, just south of Market Street.

Thursday, June 25, and Sunday, June 28, 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., Friday, June 26, and Saturday, June 27, 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Black Cat Jazz Supper Club: George Colligan has earned an international reputation as a multi-instrumentalist (drums, trumpet, organ, keyboards), composer, accompanist, teacher, and bandleader. He will perform with vocalist Zyanna. Rhythm will be provided by bassist David Ewell and Mike Mitchell on drums. Admission will be $30. The venue is located at 400 Eddy Street.

Thursday, June 25, 8 p.m., Noisebridge: On the fourth Thursday of every month, this venue hosts the resident electronic music series, Electronic Music OM. Those interested in performing can register through the Web page for this month. All sets must be at most twenty minutes in duration. There is no charge for admission, but it will not be hard to find the donation box! There is also a Web page for both donations and membership dues. Sets are multimedia, but there will be three audio performances. softCOUP is the duo of David Leikam and Ahmed Kap Animo. There will also be solo performances by Jah’s Tin and Okvit Noize. The venue is located at 272 Capp Street.

Friday, June 26, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: David Boyce will curate another two-set evening. The first set will be taken by the Boohabian Black Edgar. The second set will be performed by Angel, about whom no information has been provided. The venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

The interior of Old First Church (from the Web page for this Sunday’s performance.

Sunday, June 28, 4 p.m., Old First Church: Duo Soriga brings soprano Josephine Lee together with gayageum virtuoso Hwayoung Shon. Shon is also the composer of the last three works on the program, all of which will be receiving world premiere performances. Her arrangements of the first four works on the program will also be premieres. This will be an Old First Concerts performance. A Web page has been created for the purchase of general admission tickets for $30, with discounts available for seniors and students. The church is located on the southeast corner of Sacramento Street and Van Ness Avenue.

Sunday, June 28, 5 p.m. and 7:45 p.m., Audium: There will be two performances of the Honey Gold Experience. This involves immersive audio/visual performances blending visual art installation, live music, layered sound design, projection, and meditative atmosphere into a unique sensory experience. Admission will be $50 at the door and $45 if paid in advance. The venue is located at 1616 Bush Street.

Sunday, June 28, 7:30 p.m., Bird & Beckett Books and Records: This will be saxophonist Kasey Knudsen’s latest performance. She will lead a trio with rhythm provided by Mat Muntz on bass and drummer Scott Amendola. The venue is probably known to many (most?) readers, located at 653 Chenery Street.

Jazz History at the Community Music Center

Marcus Shelby on the poster for his forthcoming visit to the Community Music Center

According to my archives, I have not written about a performance at the Community Music Center (CMC) since it hosted a performance for Ensemble for These Times in collaboration with the San Francisco International Arts Festival in May of last year. However, this summer there will be a Shenson Faculty Concert Series of free concerts. In a little over a week, bassist Marcus Shelby will host one of these events, leading a jazz trio whose other members are pianist Greg Jacobs and Jemal Ramirez on drums.

The full title of the program will be A Tribute to John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet with Marcus Shelby. The Modern Jazz Quartet was formed by pianist Lewis, Milt Jackson on vibraphone, bassist Percy Heath, and Kenny Clarke on drums. Lewis, Jackson, and Clarke were all members of the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie's big band from 1946 to 1948; and their “spin-off” opened a door to new approaches to jazz. As might be expected, the quartet has a Wikipedia page, which provides an informative perspective on their approach to what became known as “modern jazz:”

Under Lewis's direction, they carved their own niche by specializing in elegant, restrained music that used sophisticated counterpoint inspired by Baroque music, yet nonetheless retained a strong blues feel. Noted for their elegant presentation, they were one of the first small jazz combos to perform in concert halls rather than nightclubs. They were initially active into the 1970s until Jackson quit in 1974 due to frustration with their finances and touring schedule, but re-formed in 1981.

To be fair, I should confess that my own encounters with this group have been only on the radio, rather than through the accumulation of recordings! Nevertheless, they made a significant impression on jazz listeners during the second half of the last century; and I suspect that many of the readers of this site have at least one, if not more, of the recordings they released between 1952 and 1997. Nevertheless, Shelby has not surfaced on this site since February of 2024, when he was performing at Bird & Beckett Books & Records with the Standard Issue quartet led by trumpeter Darren Johnson.

The performance will take place at the CMC Concert Hall in the Mission at 544 Capp Street. The performance will begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 25. That said, one cannot argue with a free concert; and a Web page has been created by Eventbrite for making reservations! Further information is available by calling 415-399-9544. CMC is located in the Mission at 2781 544 Capp Street.

The Bleeding Edge: 6/16/2026

This week will see three more BIOMETRICKS performances on Thursday, June 18, Friday, June 19, and Saturday, June 20. Also, this week Pamela Z will return to the Roar Shack to perform with The Living Earth Show (TLES), the duo of guitarist Travis Andrews and drummer Andy Meyerson. That leaves the need to account for five more events taking place this week, all of which will be at venues likely to be familiar to regular readers. Specifics are as follows:

Tuesday, June 16, 7 p.m., Make-Out Room: The “action” will begin tonight with this month’s Jazz at the Make-Out Room program. Unlike last month, this month’s program will consist of three sets. Guitarist Karl Evangelista will make his next appearance in a duo performance with Lewis Jordan on saxophone. They will be followed by a solo set taken by guitarist Ross Hammond. The final set will be another duo with guitarist Jas Stade performing with Jon Bafus on drums. As usual, there will be no cover charge, meaning that donations will be accepted (not to mention welcome). For those unfamiliar with the venue, it is located in the Mission at 3225 22nd Street.

Wednesday, June 17, 8 p.m., The Lab: This will be Jas Stade’s second performance of the week. She will share sets with two other women. Wendy Eisenberg is both a virtuoso guitarist and a singer-songwriter. Mari Maurice is a Brooklyn-based sound artist and multi-instrumentalist whose repertoire ranges from ambient pop to folk and musique concrète. The venue is another familiar one, also located in the Mission, this time at 2948 16th Street.

Thursday, June 18, 8 p.m., Dead End Vintage: Once again, vintage clothing will provide a setting for free improvisation. This time there will be three sets, all by visiting performers. Shin Chida will be the most distant, since he is based in Yokkaichi, Japan. He has a repertoire of dark, atmospheric soundscapes using 8-track tape manipulation. Somewhat closer to home, Scot Jenerik will be visiting from Portland, Oregon. His projects include AUME, F-Space, and Soundtrack for the Dead. From the south, Mike Meanstreetz is based in Los Angeles, working with “drum kit/percussion, musique concrete/electronic manipulation, and acoustic-electric nylon guitar.” This is yet another venue in the Mission, located at 3370 19th Street.

Friday, June 19, 7 p.m., Medicine for Nightmares: The next Other Dimensions in Sound program, curated and hosted by Boohaabian reed player David Boyce, will be a two-set offering of solo performances. The first soloist will be saxophonist Tom Weeks. He will be followed by guitarist Karl Evangelista, who will perform the entirety of Sonny Sharrock’s Guitar album. The venue is located in the Mission at 3036 24th Street, between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. As always, there is no charge for admission, presumably to encourage visitors to consider buying a book.

Poster for Rite of the Demon: Summer (from the Web page for purchasing tickets)

Saturday, June 20, 6:30 p.m., Gray Area Art and Technology: Eternal Research will present a full-evening program entitled Rite of the Demon: Summer. One of the performers will be Suzanne Ciani, one of the pioneers of electronic music. She will be joined by Fierra Ex Machina, inventors and developers of the Demon Box, who will be visiting from Los Angeles. The performance will take place in the Grand Theatre, located in the Mission at 2665 Mission Street.