Articles by Harry S. Pariser
Coltrane 100 at The Freight
by Harry S. Pariser
Coltrane 100: Both Directions at Once The Freight Berkeley, CA April 15, 2026 On September 23, 1926, in Hamlet, North Carolina, a child was born. He would have--by the time of his untimely demise at the age of 40--an immense influence on the structure, performance of, and future of the music known as jazz. John William Coltrane was a force of nature. And his influence still reigns strong today. At 73, Joe Lovano ...
Continue ReadingDar Williams at The Freight
by Harry S. Pariser
Dar Williams The Freight Berkeley, CA April 9, 2026 Dar Williams has been creating powerful, popular, poignant, and sometimes humorous tunes and performing, acoustic guitar in hand, for decades. A doyenne among singer-songwriters, Williams is blessed with a gorgeous voice as well as with a gift for poetic, ethereal lyrics. Given the moniker Dar in her childhood (she was born Dorothy), the precocious Williams took up the guitar at age nine and penned ...
Continue ReadingDrum Tao at Zellerbach Hall
by Harry S. Pariser
Drum Tao Zellerbach Hall CalPerformances Berkeley, CA March 21, 2026 Way back in 1993, Taro Harasaki had an epiphany. He had just exited Mystère, the Cirque du Soleil show then running in Las Vegas. The performance had made a huge impression on him. “I can do this in Japan," he thought. His concept was to marry Kumi-daiko (組太鼓, literally “set of drums"), a small-group Taiko drum performance first developed in 1951, to polished performance and choreography ...
Continue ReadingThe Silkroad Ensemble at Zellerbach Hall
by Harry S. Pariser
The Silkroad Ensemble Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual Berkeley, CAMarch 27, 2026 Every sort of instrument was set out on the stage, which was bathed in red light. Everything had been readied for a very special event: a rare performance by the classical-ethnic fusion group The Silkroad Ensemble. At its commencement, members walked down the aisles en route to the stage chanting “Weh." Rhiannon Giddens, the ensemble's director, initiated a song, and then ...
Continue ReadingOmar Sosa Suba Trio at SFJAZZ Center
by Harry S. Pariser
Omar Sosa Suba Trio SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, CA March 8, 2026 Pianist and composer Omar Sosa saved something very special for the fourth and final evening performance of his SFJAZZ Center residency, his second for the institution. In mid-2012, Sosa had encountered London-based Senegalese kora master and singer Seckou Keita at a recording session there. They began jamming, which led to the genesis of what was to be a sustained musical collaboration. This led, ...
Continue ReadingJulia Keefe Indigenous Big Band at Zellerbach Playhouse
by Harry S. Pariser
Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band Zellerbach Playhouse CalPerformances Berkeley, CA March 6. 2026 On a Friday night, pianist Grant Richards sat on the stage of the intimate UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Playhouse. To his right stood acoustic bassist Marcos Varela, with Edward Littlefield next to him manning the drum seat. The other members of the big band sat in rows of black chairs beside them. Five saxophonists sat in the front. Four trombonists were seated ...
Continue ReadingJohn Santos Sextet at The Freight
by Harry S. Pariser
John Santos Sextet The Freight The African Roots of Jazz Latino Berkeley, CA March 1, 2026 Percussionist and composer John Santos is no stranger to concert halls in the Bay Area and beyond. He is known not only for his musical ensembles (such as Orquesta Batachanga and the Machete Ensemble) but also for his decades of employing his encyclopedic knowledge to teach classes concerning the roots and history of salsa music. Tonight's ...
Continue ReadingDakhaBrakha at The Presidio Theater
by Harry S. Pariser
DakhaBrakha Presidio Theater Screening of Aleksandr Dovzhenko's Earth San Francisco, CA February 22, 2026 The theatrical, groundbreaking DakhaBrakha--a self-described Ukrainian “ethno-chaos" quartet, whose name means “give and take" in old Ukrainian--combine Ukrainian and other folk musics along with percussion instruments such as tabla and djembe to form a sonic mix of international rhythms which is unique. Avant-garde theatre director Vladyslav Troitskyi created the concept of DakhaBrakha in 2004 at the Kyiv Center of Contemporary Art. DakhaBrakha currently features the ...
Continue ReadingGreg Osby at SFJAZZ Center
by Harry S. Pariser
Greg Osby SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, CA February 1, 2026 Alto jazz saxophonist Greg Osby has an impressive résumé. A St. Louis, Missouri native, Osby finished his studies at Howard University and the Berklee College of Music before moving to New York City in 1982. Since then he has performed and recorded with a number of legendary musicians, including pianists Jaki Byard, Muhal Richard Abrams, Andrew Hill, and John Abercrombie. He was also a member ...
Continue ReadingEliza Gilkyson at The Freight and Salvage
by Harry S. Pariser
Eliza Gilkyson Freight and Salvage Berkeley, CA August 24, 2025 First to take the stage on this Sunday evening at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, California was a pooch: Nina Gerber's dog Maggie, an adopted rescue dog from Mexico. Gerber, leash in hand, followed to her rear. Gerber, a Sebastapol, California-based guitarist, first came to attention as singer-songwriter Kate Wolf 's accompanist. Maria Muldaur once called Gerber, who plays a mean slide guitar, “the ...
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