Although I’ve long listened to his music, I’ve never seen Malian guitarist Habib Koite and his band Bamada perform in person. So his performance at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall this evening promises to be a real treat. Habib and Bamada take the stage attired in Malian shirts and pants - ones dyed using plangi and other resist techniques -and they don woolen hats. Habib’s own guitar, his second guitarist, electric bassist, and American trap-set drummer might all be seen as conc

Residing as I do in San Francisco, I’ve long had connected the surname "Redman" with jazz. Joshua’s late father, Dewey, was a well known jazz musician, and I was aware from him through his dates with Ornette Coleman, his membership in the band Old and New Dreams, and his occasional gigs here. Dewey’s star has been eclipsed by his son, Joshua, who is something of an unintentional jazz star. Born in 1969, Joshua Redman was raised as Joshua Shedroff in Berkeley, California by his mother,

During his long and varied career jazz bassist Charlie Haden has had many collaborations ranging from his duet with Ornette Coleman on the classic album "Soapsuds, Soapsuds" to pianist Keith Jarrett (with whose American Trio he performed) to guitarist Pat Metheny to tango musicians. But Charlie's Liberation Jazz Orchestra holds a special place in his distinguished career. The group came together during the 1960s and debuted with its self-titled Liberation Music Orchestra in 1969. It f

The T. S. Monk Sextet is making its first-ever San Francisco appearance at the Great American Music Hall. Its bandleader, the ebullient and loquacious drummer T. S. Monk, is the son of legendary pianist Thelonious Monk who would have been ninety years old this year. He last performed the previous year, together with pianist Jason Moran, in a tribute to his father's appearance at Town Hall. This time around, he's appearing at a more intimate venue and with his band, many of whose membe

Some years back, I turned on KUSF, the San Francisco iconoclastic radio station located at the University of San Francisco, to find myself in the middle of an interview with pianist Matthew Shipp. I was so struck by what he said that I went down to Bruno’s, a bar and restaurant on Mission Street which was programming inventive jazz at the time, and checked him out. Ever since then, I’ve been a fan of his challenging music. So I was delighted to see that he would be coming in the