Dresher Ensemble Studio

LEVITATOR is a Bay Area–based trio featuring KJELL NORDESON (drums), SAFA SHOKRAI  (bass), and MARK PASCUCCI-CLIFFORD (vibraphone). Performing original compositions and improvisations, the group has been developing its sound together since 2021. Rooted in the jazz tradition while drawing from free improvisation and contemporary creative music, Levitator’s music balances structure, spontaneity, and collective interplay. Two […]

FRED FRITH (bass/viola) has been a dauntless explorer, improviser, and collaborator in the half-century since he made that breakthrough. From leaving Henry Cow to start Art Bears, from leaving England to enlist in a hyperactive New York improvisational circuit that led him to join Naked City and launch his own Massacre, Frith has situated his […]

Clarinetist BEN GOLDBERG joins DILLON VADO (vibraphone) and TIM BULKLEY (drums) in a set of trio improvisations. Sound knowledge and awareness from planet Neptone. The practice of remembering what you can't forget. Come have a listen; you won't believe your ears. Or else, you will believe your ears but there might be something else you don't […]

Berlin-based double bassist REBECCA LAWRENCE performs Imaginary Light, a program of contemporary works for solo double bass. Through extended techniques and alternative tunings, the sonic compass of the double bass is exposed, expanded and illuminated. Known for her collaborative work as a contemporary and early music double bassist in Europe and the USA, Rebecca is […]

HANNA BROBACK + JOHN TESKE + NOEL KENNON (String Trio, Seattle) is an ensemble currently working with sustained frequencies, harmonic structures, and open form composition. This evening, joined by ADAM LION (Vibraphone, LA), they will perform pages from Noel's typewriter score, 13 harmonic weather formations. This music unfolds slowly and attempts to sound a slow […]

MOE STAIANO continues to explore works for electric guitar ensembles with his third work-in-progress composition, Music for Eight Guitars (The Parting Gift). This plans to be an exploration of tonal interplay and contrasting rhythms with eight electric guitars, bass, drums and percussion. He plans to have it feature assertive rhythmic structures and intertwining tremolo structures, […]

BRETT CARSON presents an evening of original compositions. These include Exeunt Ion for solo piano and Game Boy; Three text scores, a series of graphic scores exploring strategies for improvisation based on experimental poetics; and a new piece, Bacterial adhesion onto apatite minerals — electrokinetic aspects for keyboard, percussion, drum set, and electronics. Performers include […]

END OF YEAR SERIES BENEFIT SHOW! (INGALLS + SFSOUND + OAK RDCT ORCH + OTHERS) More information soon

HUMMINGBIRD: PHILLIP GREENLIEF, EVELYN DAVIS and JORDAN GLENN make sputtering buzzes with tail feathers in meadows and open forests. Their perches tend to willows and alder from Mexico to 5,000 year old pine forests. They add beauty by attracting audiences to hover, increasing metabolic rates by quoting the odysseys of Pauline Oliveros and Tony Williams. […]

The Rainwater-Shim Duo (pianist Anne Rainwater and flutist Meerenai Shim) performs duos and solos, including Pencilled Wings for flute, piano, and electronic playback by Emma O'Halloran, Greener Grass by Caroline Ansink, 90+ for piano by Elliott Carter, and Miniatures Book 4: Preset Etudes for flute and electronics by Brent Miller. Thomas Carnacki, in the performance […]

Second night of freewheeling improvised music and creative jazz from some of the scene's most adventurous and exciting ensembles. Celebrating three new recordings out this fall on Berkeley's Queen Bee Records — the 7th, 8th and 9th! — in a series of 12 releases coming this year. Beth Schenck Quintet A wildly creative and original […]

Two nights of freewheeling improvised music and creative jazz from some of the scene's most adventurous and exciting ensembles, celebrating three new recordings out this fall on Berkeley's Queen Bee Records. This first evening is devoted to the OAKLAND REDUCTIONIST ORCHESTRA'S debut release, west and east baying representing two sides of the ensemble’s output: a […]