When Elena appeared as the surprise guest soloist with the Howard Wiley Trio on Friday night, her performance blew us all away. With gorgeous phrasing and musicality, she had no problem keeping pace with Howard. Just take a look for yourself!

Here they are playing a Monk tune – “I Mean You” – at the 2nd annual SF Offside Festival.

 Porto Franco Files #36 — filmed by Peter Varshavsky of Porto Franco Records. 

A seasoned performer at 18, Elena made her Yoshi’s Oakland debut—playing solo flute and singing—in 2009, when she was just 13 years old. This was after having already performed at Carnegie Hall and the White House!

Elena, who will be moving to New York city in the Fall to study music, made some time in her busy travel and rehearsal schedule to chat with us a few days after our festival. We asked her about playing jazz in the Bay Area and beyond.

SF Offside: You’ve been performing in jazz concerts since you were nine years old. What is it about the music that appeals to you so much?

Elena Pinderhuges: From a young age I’ve had a strong connection to jazz. The elements of jazz that speak to me are: the room for creativity, the history and connection to culture that jazz possesses, the importance of collaboration with others, and the need to find your own voice and express yourself through that voice. Jazz has given me the opportunity to grow as an artist and begin to find my artistic voice.

SFO: What have been some of your favorites places that you’ve played?

EP: I’ve been fortunate to play in many amazing venues including: Carnegie Hall, Monterey Jazz Festival, Caramoor Music Festival, Davies Symphony Hall, Montreux Jazz Festival, La Pena Cultural Center, the recently opened SF Jazz Center, and wonderful local jazz clubs like Yoshi’s, as well as many others. Each of these venues attracts great audiences and I appreciate and love playing in each of them. Each venue has its special qualities. Carnegie Hall has incredible history, beauty, and amazing sound. Concerts at the Moab Music Festival are held in nature and it’s gorgeous there. Playing in venues in Europe, Japan, and Brazil allows me to meet people and play with musicians from other countries and learn about other musical traditions. SF Jazz Center and Yoshi’s are venues that provide me with an opportunity to play in the Bay Area, often having family, friends and teachers in the band and the audience. La Pena has been a second home for me. And of course, the Cheese Board, where I’ve had a weekly gig for the past four years, the entire time I was in high school.

SFO: Who are the mentors and teachers that have inspired you the most in the Bay Area?

EP: I feel blessed to have been raised by a community of musicians and artists in the Bay Area who have helped me become the person and musician I am today. Some of the teachers and mentors who have continually inspired me in the Bay Area are Geechi Taylor, Howard Wiley, Mike Auberg, John Santos, Michelle Caimotto, Jim Meredith, Donna Viscuso, and my brother, Samora, who was my first teacher and bandmate.

SFO: Samora—your bandmate and brother—is already an accomplished musician, composer, and arranger. What has it been like working together?

EP: Working with my brother is absolutely incredible. He has taught me so much about music and he’s is the reason I began playing music in the first place. He continually inspires me and pushes me to expand my creativity and to be better all the time. We have a musical connection that I haven’t found with anyone else. He understands where I am and we have so much fun working together!

 Elena Pinderhughes performs “Guiding Light” by Samora Pinderhuges, Berkeley Jazzschool (2008).

SFO: Is composing and arranging music something that interests you too?

EP: Yes, I am very interested in composing and arranging! It’s an amazing thing to create your own music and put your personal stamp and voice on the music.

SFO: We’ve been asking the musicians we featured in the festival this year their thoughts about building new audiences for jazz. Do you have any ideas about how jazz promoters and musicians can reach specifically younger audiences?

EP: Jazz promoters and musicians need to reach young people in different ways. Generally, I think that for the younger generation, some of it comes down to exposure and interest. I think that in order to reach and encourage younger audiences, young people need to be exposed to more jazz so it can become a part of their culture and daily life. Music education is also very important—when young people are given the opportunity to learn about different types of music and the history behind the music, they become much more interested and hopefully begin to love and appreciate new music! I also think that promoters need to tap into the culture that young people are part of and create an atmosphere that feels welcoming to young people.

SFO: Where and when can people see you play?

EP: These are a few performances I will be doing in the next few months: I’ll be performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC on June 17th, and that performance can be watched on live stream through YoungArts. I’ll be playing at Wayne Wallace’s CD release party at Yoshi’s on July 2nd. I’ll  be performing at Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus on June 7th in an amazing concert with the Young Musicians Program that features me and the incredible flutist Hubert Laws.

Photo credit: Daniel Atkinson

up to his standards. In addition to keeping a busy performance schedule, Wiley is an active educator, leading workshops and mentoring young musicians throughout the Bay.

His most recent works have stemmed from the music of the Angola State Penitentiary, with Wiley composing two albums of material for a “soul chamber ensemble” that feature his pieces inspired by the spirituals and work songs that were sung by the inmates of the prison in the early 1900s.

Wiley will be in the trio format on Friday, May 24th at Duende for his first performance with SF Offside, joined by longtime collaborators Marcus Shelby on bass and Sly Randolph on drums. This stripped down format will allow listeners to hear Wiley in an unfiltered environment, with his tone, melodies and rhythmic prowess on full display. Meet the leader of this powerhouse trio, meet Howard Wiley:

Describe your music in ten words or fewer.

Soulful, expressive, and unapologetically Black.

Precious Lord

What are you looking forward to about the SF Offside Festival?

Playing some real blues & swing like I grew up hearing.

If you could add any musician (dead or alive) to your band for your Offside show, who would it be?

I would love to have Faye Carol & Danny Armstrong performing with me. Both very much alive and kickin ass. They’re the true purveyors of soul in all styles of black music.

What’s your favorite spot to play in the Bay Area?

EastSide arts Alliance in Oakland and Intersection for the Arts in SF.

Your band is ship wrecked and stranded on a desert island. What happens?

We make instruments out of coconuts keep swingin’.

Any thoughts about how to generate larger audiences for jazz?

Play real jazz (blues & swing) not school boy jazz (boring shit that only school boys like). I get asked this all the time after we play: “I really your music. What kind of music do you call that?” I say jazz and they say, “Really? I don’t like jazz but I really like your music.” That’s why I don’t say I play jazz, I play black music.

The Howard Wiley Trio closes Night 2 – “Currents” – of the 2nd annual SF Offside Festival at Duende in Oakland, Friday May 24 @ 9:00pm.

Photo by Chuck Gee

Mads has also performed with the likes of Chick Corea, Kenny Baron, and Paquito D’Rivera. In addition to touring internationally as a performer, he is a dedicated educator, teaching at home in Berkeley’s Jazzschool Institute, as well as all over the US and Canada.

Offside is very proud to present the Mads Tolling Quartet, playing both original compositions and new arrangements of music by Jean-Luc Ponty, John Coltrane, and others. Joining Mads will be Offside favorites Eric Garland on drums and George Ban-Weiss on bass, and on guitar, Dave MacNab, who has the distinction of being the only musician playing in two different ensembles in this year’s festival!

We asked Mads about his music and the Bay Area jazz scene.

Describe your music in ten words or fewer.

Jazz violin that draws from fusion and Americana music.

Mads Tolling Quartet – “Song to John” – Yoshi’s Oakland (2011): 

What are you looking forward to about the SF Offside Festival?

Being part of a vibrant music scene—the best of what the Bay Area has to offer.

If you could add any musician (dead or alive) to your band for your Offside show, who would it be?

John Coltrane.

What’s your favorite spot to play in the Bay Area?

Yoshi’s Oakland.

What’s the best show by a local artist you’ve seen in the past year?

Bassonist Paul Hanson at the Jazzschool in Berkeley.

Paul Hanson improvising on bassoon and electronics (2007): 

Your band is ship wrecked and stranded on a desert island. What happens?

We play “Danish Dessert.” Oh wait, “Danish Desert.”

Any thoughts about how to generate larger audiences for jazz?

Educate our children about jazz and classical music. Without getting it early on, they won’t develop an appreciation.

The Mads Tolling Quartet open Night 2 – “Currents” – of the 2nd annual SF Offside Festival, at Duende  in Oakland, Friday May 24 @ 9:00pm.

Photo Credit: Ceocles Serafimidis

of sounds from far east instruments to good ol’ snare drums whether accompanying the likes of Jeremy Rourke, grooving with Killbossa, playing free or leading his own projects.

If one musician had to act as flag bearer for the Bay Area, it would be Dave. Not only would the flag reach nearly 20 ft high, it would be hoisted by someone devoted to melody and texture; someone who plays in at least one band you’ve heard of; and by one of the most generous and supportive musicians you can come across. The Offside crew is honored to present his group, Dave Mihaly & The Shimmering Leaves Ensemble, as they close out this year’s festival on May 25th at the Community Music Center. Meet Dave Mihaly:

Describe your music in ten words of fewer

Tight and loose.

What are you looking forward to about the Offside Festival?

Playing at the CMC theater with some fine musicians. Listening to live sounds.

If you could add any musician (dead or alive) to your band for your Offside show, who would it be and why?

That could be a different answer every day. Today’s answer: Erroll Garner 

Also Bismillah Khan. 

What’s your favorite spot to play in the Bay Area?

The Great American Music Hall.

What’s the best show by a local artist you’ve seen in the past year?

Many to chose from…perhaps Erica Fink, Sean Olmstead, Indianna Hale and others at Amnesia. Also, the Redwing Blackbirds singing at Stow Lake near the New Zealand tea tree limbs.

Your band is ship wrecked and stranded on a desert island. What happens?

Beards ensue. Food gathering. A vessel is prepared.

Any thoughts about how to generate larger audiences for jazz?

There needs to be journalists writing about it. It needs to be allowed to morph. A revolution of perception.

Dave Mihaly & The Shimmering Leaves Ensemble are the final act of the 2nd annual SF Offside Festival, closing out Night 3 – “Tides” – at the Community Music Center, Saturday May 25 at 8:00pm.

For Offside this year, Glenn will be conducting the Wiener Kids Family Band—his new big band version of the project that all began with ”For My Mother,” the last track from Wiener Kids’ 2011 album, What a Mess.

When someone uses the term “visually evocative” to describe music, the aim is not usually to conjure up images of mice with frying pans and cats with flattened heads. Jordan’s music, which Cy Musiker of KQED recently called “really wild stuff,” ranges from cartoonish, through-composed episodes to cinematic, long form compositions with harmonies so gorgeous they might catch you off-guard. Though notated in fine detail, there are strong elements from free jazz, as well as from avant rock, metal, New Orleans marching band jazz, and even a little Gamelan.

I caught up with Jordan to ask him a few questions about his music and playing in the Bay Area:

Describe your music in ten words or fewer.

Big, small, pleasant, rough, loose, tight, intense, fun.

Wiener Kids – “For My Mother” from What A Mess (2011): 

What are you looking forward to about the SF Offside Festival?

I’m looking forward to new people hearing this new music, as well as working again with my great big band.

Wiener Kids Family Band live at Jazzschool (2013): 

If you could add any musician (dead or alive) to your band for your Offside show, who would it be?

I would add Don Cherry. He had the right sensibilities.

What’s your favorite spot to play in the Bay Area?

I really like Viracocha for its dark mood and nice sound. I also like the Actual Café, Duende, and The Make Out Room.

What’s the best show by a local artist you’ve seen in the past year?

Hard to choose… here’s one—Michael Coleman, Kasey Knudsen, and Jon Arkin (aka The Schimscheimer Family Trio) at Duende.

Your band is ship wrecked and stranded on a desert island. What happens?

We make music for a while, search for food, then make a shelter.

Any thoughts about how to generate larger audiences for jazz?

No idea. I know what I like though, individuals who sound like individuals, playing their music without compromise. People connect to that honesty… you can’t please everyone this way, but you will find your people.

Wiener Kids Family Band closes Night 1 – “Streams” – of the 2nd annual SF Offside Festival, at Awaken Cafe in Oakland, Thursday May 23 @ 8:00pm.

I first came across his music and playing through Eric Moffat who booked The Sheldon Brown Group at El Valenciano in the Mission in 2011. The performance was memorizing, featuring extended meters, fierce improvising, and beautifully constructed melodies. The band sounded awesome. Laura and I would later meet Sheldon again in 2012 at an orientation meeting hosted by the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music to welcome newly funded projects. After catching up with him, it was clear integrating his great work into upcoming SF Offside programming was a must. Sheldon Brown makes his first appearance with SF Offside on Saturday, May 25th at The Community Music Center in San Francisco.

Meet Sheldon Brown:

Describe your music in ten words or fewer.

Melodic, crunchy music with juicy grooves, smokin’ solos, engaging interplay!

What are you looking forward to about the SF Offside Festival?

Looking forward to checking out all the great groups that are lined up. Also looking forward to giving a larger audience a chance to check out what I’ve been up to.

If you could add any musician (dead or alive) to your band for your Offside show, who would it be?

Definitely Darren Johnston – he’s a regular member of the band and unfortunately couldn’t make this show.

Darren Johnston – Songs of Seven Miles: 

What’s your favorite spot to play in the Bay Area?

Throckmorton Theatre is a great room.

What’s the best show by a local artist you’ve seen in the past year?

There are too many . . .  At random: The Living Earth Show at Center For New Music was awesome.

Your band is ship wrecked and stranded on a desert island. What happens?

Peace, love and great tunes. Eventually we start eating old reeds and flossing with guitar strings.

Any thoughts about how to generate larger audiences for jazz?

The only thing we can do is keep making great new music and put it out there. Seems like YouTube is probably the best forum for getting stuff out there.

The Sheldon Brown Groups performs at Night 3 – “Tides” – of the 2nd annual SF Offside Festival, at The Community Music Center in San Francisco, Saturday May 25 @ 8:00pm.

The SF Offside Festival gives the local jazz scene a kick in the pants with three nights of genre- and expectation-bending performances. Thursday night’s show at Awaken Cafe in Oakland features the Wiener Kids Family Band, Mucho Stereo and Waystanders. Friday, the shindig moves to Duende in Oakland for local sax sizzler Howard Wiley and his trio and violin trailblazer Mads Tolling playing with his quartet. The series wraps up Saturday at the Community Music Center in San Francisco with Dave Mihaly & the Shimmering Leaves Ensemble, the Sheldon Brown Group and the Lisa Mezzacappa-Steve Adams Duo…

Read more here: www.examiner.com/article/ageless-tony-bennett-highlights-bay-area-jazz-week

As a bassist known for her deep grooves and masterful improvisations, Lisa plays in more than a dozen jazz and chamber ensembles around the Bay. She is bandleader in a range of groups from Bait ‘n’ Switch, which we featured in last year’s festival, to Les Gwan Jupons, a Caribbean folk group. Lisa is also a curator and organizer of creative music series, like the Monday Makeout, where the first ever Festivus took place—a most memorable and ingenius festival in which local bands covered other local bands. (My personal favorite was a duet Lisa did with cellist Crystal Pascucci, covering Wiener Kids track, ”My Bike.”)

Saxophonist Steve Adams is best known for his work with the groundbreaking ROVA Saxophone Quartet, which explores “the synthesis of composition and collective improvisation.” Drawing on influences ranging from free jazz, new music, and avant-rock,  the quartet has been pushing on the boundaries of music for more than twenty-five years. Steve also performs with the Vinny Golia Large Ensemble and the Bill Horvitz Band, as well as leading his own projects, and he teaches in the Music program at Mills College.

Together, Mezzacappa and Adams have performed in trio, quartet, and large ensemble contexts. For their Offside set, they will explore compositions each of them have written and arranged for larger groups, compressed into the fantastically intimate and possibility-rich context of the duo.

I stole a few moments with Lisa to ask her about the Mezzacappa-Adams duo, as well as her thoughts on Bay Area music.

Describe your music in ten words or fewer.

Ecstatic brainy spontaneous surprising interactive now.

What are you looking forward to about the SF Offside Festival?

New ears on the music!

If you could add any musician (dead or alive) to your band for your Offside show, who would it be?

I wouldn’t want to play with anyone else! The duo format is very special, and both Steve and I have a strong affinity for it.

Steve has had a duo with bassist Ken Filiano (formerly a West Coaster, but now in NY) for many, many years. We often joke that Steve is such an amazing duo partner for a bassist, because Ken broke him in!

Check out this video of a set they played at the Stone a couple years back: 

Also, I love playing duo with horn players so much, here is a recent video of a duo I did with Vinny Golia in NY: 

Funny thing is, one of the best improvised duos I’ve ever heard, EVER, is Steve and Vinny…… so I guess it all comes full circle.

What’s your favorite spot to play in the Bay Area?

I love the acoustics at Yoshi’s San Francisco; I love the vibe at little joints like the Layover, Bar 355, the Hemlock; I love the support at Intersection for the Arts. 

What’s the best show by a local artist you’ve seen in the past year?

Hooo boy…. I have to admit that the first ever “Festivus (The Festival of Us)” last December was pretty special, local bands covering the music of other local bands…. not just because I organized it, but because there was so much love!

Your band is ship wrecked and stranded on a desert island. What happens?

Wow, that’s a lot of duo music. Steve’s a super nice guy, I hope he wouldn’t try to eat my arm or anything when I wasn’t looking.

Any thoughts about how to generate larger audiences for jazz?

Call it pop!

The Lisa Mezzacappa-Steve Adams Duo opens the last night – Tides – of the 2nd annual SF Offside Festival, at Community Music Center in Oakland, Saturday May 25 @ 8:00pm.

Photo credit: Paciano Triunfo

Manning turntables, samplers, synths and other electronicss, Asonic & Mike lay down infectious grooves, tight beats, and compose alternative soundscapes that get listeners nodding their heads and shaking their feet.

This year the two are teaming up with with long time Bay Area drummer Jaz Sawyer in what will be a radical meeting of electronic and analog worlds. This brand new project is Mucho Stereo.

Meet one half of this dynamic duo – meet Mike Boo:

Describe your music in ten words or fewer.

Doomphy, dirty and spontaneous.

Secret Sidewalk presented by GrownKidsRadio & SPARC (2012): 

What are you looking forward to about the SF Offside Festival?

Since this is our first show together… just trying to have fun and seeing what happens.

If you could add any musician (dead or alive) to your band for your Offside show, who would it be?

Urszula Dudziak because I’m a sucker for a beautifully bugged out voice and an echo plex.

Urszula Dudziak – “Butterfly” (1975): 

What’s your favorite spot to play in the Bay Area?

Bottom of the Hill.

What’s the best show by a local artist you’ve seen in the past year?

Dak at SMART BOMB earlier this year.

Your band is ship wrecked and stranded on a desert island. What happens?

BBQ!

Any thoughts about how to generate larger audiences for jazz?

Incorporate younger, innovative acts that bring something fresh to the table.

Mucho Stereo debut at Night 1 – “Streams” – of the 2nd annual SF Offside Festival, at Awaken Cafe in Oakland, Thursday May 23 @ 8:00pm.

With roots in the Bay Area and stints across the country, including in NYC, New Orleans, and now Los Angeles, Sawyer has left an indelible mark in every musical community he’s been a part of.

This year marks Jaz’ first appearance with SF Offside. Always open to new ideas and concepts, I pitched Jaz the idea of creating a new band that showcased him alongside two of the Bay Area’s most accomplished beat makers and producers—Mike Boo and Asonic Garcia of Secret Sidewalk (who performed in last year’s festival). This new trio, Mucho Stereo, stretches the confines of improvisation, melody, and form, all with Jaz laying down the groove and staying in the pocket.

Meet Jaz Sawyer:

Describe your music in ten words or fewer.

In the moment.

What are you looking forward to about the SF Offside Festival?

I’m looking forward to the magic that will emerge through this collaboration with Asonic Garcia and Mike Boo.

If you could add any musician (dead or alive) to your band for your Offside show, who would it be?

Charles Mingus.

Charles Mingus filmed in Belgium, 1964: 

What’s your favorite spot to play in the Bay Area?

Yoshi’s Oakland.

What’s the best show by a local artist you’ve seen in the past year?

Valerie Troutt.

Your band is ship wrecked and stranded on a desert island. What happens?

We make a boat and try to make the gig!

Any thoughts about how to generate larger audiences for jazz?

Continue to make interesting and engaging music.

Jaz Sawyer & Mucho Stereo make their debut performance at Night 1 – “Streams” – of the 2nd annual SF Offside Festival, at Awaken Cafe in Oakland, Thursday May 23 @ 8:00pm.