Healdsburg Jazz Parlor Jazz Series #6
David Berkman Quartet with
Dayna Stephens, Linda Oh and Rudy Royston
Sunday, April 9, 7:30
Paul Mahder Gallery, 222 Healdsburg Ave.
Tickets: $30, available now
Pianist David Berkman brings his outstanding quartet to Paul Mahder Gallery on Sunday, April 9th as part of the ongoing, year-round Parlor Jazz Series that the Healdsburg Jazz organization presents at this gallery. They are touring from the East Coast and, to our good fortune, will make a stop in Healdsburg.
Bandleader Berkman has mostly flown below the media’s radar over the past 20-odd years, but he’s clearly breaking out with this tour. He creates a dedicated color palette for each song and shifting orchestral backgrounds for his own lucid and precise piano work. He provides the atmosphere and landscape for the band’s three other musicians to express their talent in ever-changing ways.
Dayna Stephens is one of his generation’s most distinguished jazz tenor saxophonists and composers. He hones a sinewy yet supple tone that unfurls his poised improvisations with melodic ingenuity. He has already established himself as a leading early-21st century jazz voice, and continues to grow as a composer with a multifaceted oeuvre filled with pieces that are cinematic in scope, incorporating suspenseful dialogue and interplay. His just-released CD “Gratitude,” featuring Julian Lage and Brad Mehldau, will be available at the event.
A-list bassist Linda Oh has an understated yet highly sophisticated style on the bass that has earned notice and awards since she arrived on the scene from Perth, Australia. Television viewers may have seen her in last year’s “Jazz at the White House” concert, her spontaneous creativity deftly weaving through the performance. As well as touring with Berkman, she is currently part of the fusion-oriented Pat Metheny Group – and on the cover of the April Jazz Times.
“Whether on the road with Pat Metheny or leading her own smartly powerful group, the Australian-raised bassist delivers technique, feeling and that indescribable something extra.” — JazzTimes
Drummer Rudy Royston in one minute delivers low-key, in-the-pocket grooves that has heads bobbing in the affirmative, then in the next he creates a percussive maelstrom. His actions speak louder than his words, and it’s that action that the jazz community has come to love.
The David Berkman Quartet plays one show only at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 9, at the Paul Mahder Gallery, 222 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Tickets are $30, available at Brown Paper Tickets.