THURSDAY, FEB. 5<\/p>\n
JAZZ<\/p>\n
C\u00c9CILE MCLORIN SALVANT<\/p>\n
One never knows what C\u00e9cile McLorin Salvant will do next. At 36, with three Grammy Awards and a shelf full of other honors, she seems as creatively restless as ever. After releasing two loose concept albums, Salvant created her strangest and most personal project last year with Oh Snap, a consistently surprising session laced with found sounds, synth-pop and folk influences. If she includes any of the recent material at her Cal Performances concert, it\u2019s likely to be entirely reimagined. She\u2019s joined by a superlative trio led by the most widely admired pianist of his generation, New Orleans-native Sullivan Fortner. \u2013 ANDREW GILBERT<\/p>\n
INFO: Thu, 7:30pm, Cal Performances<\/a> at Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley, 101 Zellerbach Hall #4800, Berkeley. $37-$117. 510.642.9988.<\/p>\n THURSDAY, FEB. 5<\/p>\n THEATER<\/p>\n \u2018THE MOUNTAINTOP\u2019<\/p>\n Climb into Oakland Theater Project (OTP)\u2019s 2026 season launch with Katori Hall\u2019s reimagining of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s final night. In room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, a maid and the great civil rights leader fall into conversation. Starring OTP co-artistic director William Hodgson as King and Sam Jackson as the maid, the limited two-week run sets a high standard. The work is potent, provocative, political and personal. Outside the company\u2019s home base at FLAX art & design, authoritarian strong-arming attempts to rip out the core of what has long been America\u2019s bedrock. The country that welcomes and protects all people is achieved not by silencing diverse voices, but through open dialogue. \u2013 LOU FANCHER<\/p>\n INFO: Thu, 7:30 pm, Oakland Theater Project<\/a>, 1501 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. $10-70. 510.646.1126.<\/p>\n FRIDAY, FEB. 6<\/p>\n BRAZILIAN<\/p>\n CANTA VIOLINO! BRAZILIAN TRIO<\/p>\n A virtuosic instrumental trio that focuses on original compositions representing state-of-the-art samba and choro, Canta Violino! brings together a triumvirate of award-winning masters. Asheville composer and violinist Andrew Finn Magill is known for his bluegrass prowess and international collaborations\u2014he lived in Rio for several years and studied with percussion legend Airto. L.A.-based, S\u00e3o Paulo-reared percussionist Clarice Cast is an expert on the frame drum pandeiro. And Rio-born, seven-string guitarist Nando Duarte served as music director for the great vocalist Elza Soares before moving to L.A., where he\u2019s worked extensively in film and performed and recorded with artists such as H.E.R., Melody Gardot and Empire of the Sun. \u2013 AG<\/p>\n INFO: Fri, 7:30pm, The Sound Room<\/a>, 3022 Broadway, Oakland. $34. 510.708.9691.<\/p>\n FRIDAY, FEB. 6<\/p>\n ROCK<\/p>\n DARK STAR ORCHESTRA<\/p>\n With the recent passing of Bob Weir, Deadheads will likely flock to this performance of a group that\u2019s been around almost 30 years, celebrating the Dead\u2019s music and featuring, from time to time, Weir himself. The current seven-piece band performs shows based on actual Dead set lists, but also creates their own sets, giving younger fans a chance to see and hear what a Grateful Dead concert might have been like\u2014a true communal event for people who know and love not just the music, but what the Dead represented: freedom, creativity and really, really long drum solos. Performance on Saturday as well. \u2013 JANIS HASHE<\/p>\n INFO: Fri, 7:30pm, Fox Theater<\/a>, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $56. 510.302.2250.<\/p>\n SATURDAY, FEB. 7<\/p>\n DEATH-ROCK<\/p>\n ALTAR DE FEY<\/p>\n There would be no goth scene without death-rock, the forgotten stepchild of punk-rock with a goth aesthetic that came out of the late 1970s and birthed bands like 45 Grave, Christian Death and Altar De Fey. While Los Angeles was known as ground zero for the genre, San Francisco\u2019s Altar De Fey quickly gained notoriety as one of the Bay Area\u2019s premiere bands. Like all good things, they burned out quickly and broke up in 1986 after only three years. However, the band reunited in 2011, stitching musicians together into a Frankenstein\u2019s monster of a group that proves nothing stays dead forever. \u2013 MAT WEIR<\/p>\n INFO: Sat, 8:30pm, Ivy Room<\/a>, 860 San Pablo Ave., Albany. $17. 510.526.5888.<\/p>\n SATURDAY, FEB. 7<\/p>\n HEAVY METAL<\/p>\n SAVAGE MASTER<\/p>\n Savage Master trades in classic heavy metal drama without treating it like museum work. Balancing street-level grit with occult flair, the band takes pleasure in galloping riffs, sharp hooks and a simmering undercurrent of menace. Their 2025 release, Dark & Dangerous, is sleek, aggressive and unapologetically theatrical, keeping one foot in heavy metal heritage and the other in a darker, charismatic world of flame and prophecy. Onstage, Savage Master favors forward motion over excess, with tight tempos and razor-edged solos. It\u2019s metal that knows its lineage and makes old-school urgency into something lean and eccentric. \u2013 SONYA BENNETT-BRANDT<\/p>\n INFO: Sat, 9pm, Eli\u2019s Mile High Club<\/a>, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. $20-$25. 510.808.7565.<\/p>\n SUNDAY, FEB. 8<\/p>\n HIP-HOP<\/p>\n GZA<\/p>\n GZA, a.k.a. \u201cthe Genius,\u201d brings a rare focus to the stage. While Wu-Tang\u2019s mythology thrived on volatility, GZA\u2019s presence is controlled and exacting, with cool delivery and chessboard logic. His U.S. tour is centered on his second studio album, Liquid Swords, now 30 years old. The record was built on grimy beats and martial arts imagery, and the material still cuts clean and rewards close reading: no excess, no nostalgia gloss. GZA is a technician at heart, more interested in structure and precision than spectacle. \u2013 SBB<\/p>\n INFO: Sun, 7pm and 9pm, Yoshi\u2019s<\/a>, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. $56-$99. 510.238.9200.<\/p>\n TUESDAY, FEB. 10<\/p>\n METAL<\/p>\n CORONER<\/p>\n When it comes to metal, nobody does it quite like Europeans who come from countries that are known for snow. And Switzerland\u2019s Coroner is a great example of this. Technically formed in 1983, but known for their solidified lineup from 1985, they incorporate the brutality and speed of thrash-metal with the technical stylings of jazz, classical and prog-rock, earning them the nickname the \u201cRush of thrash metal.\u201d Which makes sense considering the original members started as roadies for another infamous Swiss avant-garde metal band, Celtic Frost. What\u2019s more metal than that? After a 15-year break-up, Coroner reunited in 2011 and recently released their sixth studio album, Dissonance Theory, last October. \u2013 MW<\/p>\n INFO: Tue, 7:30pm, Cornerstone<\/a>, 2367 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. $40. 510.214.8600.<\/p>\n TUESDAY, FEB. 10<\/p>\n LATIN JAZZ<\/p>\n PEDRITO MARTINEZ & ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ<\/p>\n Cuba has produced numerous remarkable musicians, among them, Martinez and Rodriguez, who buddy up to bring their Afro-Cuban and Latin Jazz sound to Yoshi\u2019s. Infinitely rhythmic, simmering with vibrant color tones, and gracefully curving the parameters of folk, jazz, rumba and classical music, it\u2019s no surprise their 2019 album, Duologue, garnered high praise. Every now and then, when two artists braid together their individuality, they create a never-before-exactly-this kind of partnership. Which makes right now the moment to see and hear them perform live. Delivered by two masters of the form, the show makes it plain why the East Bay is a land for music lovers. Show on Wednesday as well. \u2013 LF<\/p>\n