SJZ Break Room<\/a>, which has become an essential hub of the South Bay Music scene, the New Works Festival features six bandleaders between Feb. 20 and March 14. Every show is priced at a bargain rate $15.<\/p>\nThe series opens Feb. 20 with Richmond-based Luqman Frank, a soul-steeped singer-songwriter who\u2019s mostly worked as studio musician or sideman. With past employers such as Ledisi, Carlos Santana, Yolanda Adams, and Pete Escovedo, he\u2019s a first-call cat when an act needs sweet, soaring vocals.<\/p>\n
Like the other New Work Festival artists I spoke with, Frank described the commission as \u201ca great surprise and opportunity.\u201d He added his own funds to the grant and brought his dream team into the studio \u201cand the song came out as one of the better pieces I\u2019ve done,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The tune he wrote for the commission, \u201cFighting for Each Other,\u201d was inspired by communities in Los Angeles and Minneapolis rallying against ICE\u2019s immigration enforcement. It\u2019s built on a sinuous bass line by Michael \u201cTiny\u201d Lindsey, who featured Frank at the Break Room for the 2022 New Works Festival.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s made himself known in the South Bay performing with Lindsey several times at the lamented downtown venue Mama Kin, where he also joined saxophonist Harold Wiley\u2019s funk-powered Extra Nappy.<\/p>\n
Frank\u2019s Break Room band features a cast of Bay Area heavyweights like keyboardist Mike Blankenship, who\u2019s a member of the Oakland collective Black London (which opened for Michael Franti last August at Stern Grove).<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an opportunity to get some of my favorite musicians and producers together,\u201d said Frank, who grew up in Berkeley. \u201cEach one has a producer thing going on. We all went into the studio and created the song together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oakland saxophonist Ashley Jemison makes her South Bay debut as a bandleader at the Break Room on Feb. 21, and her aptly named commission, \u201cMovin\u2019 Up,\u201d speaks to her prospects and ambition. Blending jazz, R&B, pop and soul, she\u2019s assembled a group built on drummer Jae \u201cStix\u201d Jackson.<\/p>\n
Jackson featured Jemison in her band Baycoin Beats at the Break Room for 2024\u2019s Summer Festival, and for the New Works Festival gig Jemison has lined up \u201cthe exact same group we had at the Jazz Fest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting the commission was kind of a surprise,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve been the back-of-the-band person, supporting someone else. Now I\u2019m coming to the front of the stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Stockton-raised saxophonist has been gaining notice recently via work with veteran pianist Tammy Hall, who she\u2019ll join at Mr. Tipple\u2019s in San Francisco on March 14. They connected via San Jose-reared vocalist Jackie Gage for a Christmas-themed show at Keys Jazz Bistro in North Beach in 2021, and Hall has been calling her ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I\u2019m on stage with Tammy is a master class,\u201d Jemison said. \u201cI\u2019m \u00a0always happy to support her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ouida, an El Cerrito-based vocalist and songwriter inspired by old-school soul, jazz and alt R&B, is another young artist stepping into the foreground, making her San Jose debut at the Break Room on March 13. The Filipino-Irish artist was recently featured on Ruby Ibarra\u2019s 2025 Tiny Desk Contest-winning \u201cBakunawa,\u201d which led to a sold-out 10-city tour.<\/p>\n
She is honing a stripped-down concept with guitarist Josh Icban, trumpeter and pianist Bernard Sapitola, and Mikail Alejandro on electric and stand-up bass. Her commission, \u201cFiends,\u201d reflects the duality of her self-possessed sound and her persona as \u201ca rough kid with a chip on my shoulder,\u201d she said. \u201cI like having that contrast. I think about when I was living in Ireland and the grittiness of the visual scenery, the aching simplicity of love and human experience in such a grey environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Frank and Jemison, she\u2019s using the commission \u201cas a stepping stone to my next project,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Benicia Saxophonist Trevor Strohl is another New Works Fest rising artist (Feb. 27), but the commissions aren\u2019t only for the young. Two veteran South Bay drummers are also in the mix, with Santa Clara\u2019s Phil Hawkins presenting \u201cPompat\u00e9\u201d Feb. 28 and San Jose great Sylvia Cuenca closing the festival on March 14, with \u201cTempel-Tuttle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Andrew Gilbert at\u00a0jazzscribe@aol.com.<\/p>\n
NEW WORKS FESTIVAL<\/p>\n
Presented by San Jose Jazz<\/p>\n
When & where: Feb. 20-March 14;\u00a0San Jose Jazz\u2019s Break Room, San Jose<\/p>\n
Tickets: $15-30; sanjosejazz.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For rising musicians, a little encouragement can go a long way. San Jose Jazz has turned the appreciative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,2644,967,12853,181,971,330,88,90,89,198,200,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-181879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-bay-area","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-concerts","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-jazz","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-lifestyle","15":"tag-music","16":"tag-san-jose","17":"tag-san-jose-headlines","18":"tag-san-jose-news","19":"tag-santa-clara-county","20":"tag-south-bay","21":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}