Joe Lovano and Miguel Zenon © Andrea Canter

The SFJAZZ Collective is a resident and touring ensemble that performs a new repertoire each year, highlighting the works of a great modern jazz composer (post-1960 era) through new arrangements as well as new works from each band member, commissioned by the parent organization. The Collective then issues a limited edition recording featuring the year’s repertoire. Since its inaugural year, the band has celebrated the works of Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk and Wayne Shorter.

"Sánchez está tocando mejor que nunca. Más dueño de sí, más pleno en su expresión y alejado de clichés y frases repetitivas.” El Nuevo Dia

David Sanchez © Devin DeHaven

Critically-acclaimed and Grammy award winning saxophonist David Sánchez will appear at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center on Monday, March 9th, and then at Yoshi's at Jack London Square in Oakland on Tuesaday, March 10th and Wednesday, March 11th. Unquestionably among the finest saxophonists of his generation, David Sánchez cut his teeth performing Latin jazz with Paquito D’Rivera and Dizzy Gillespie. But his instantly recognizable sound transcends any such categorization. Acclaimed jazz critic Howard Reich once said it best- “technically, tonally and creatively, he seems to have it all.” Perhaps that explains how a young player with scarcely fifteen years in the business has already earned nomination for eight Grammy awards and landed two of them. Guitarist Lage Lund (the winner of the Thelonious Monk Guitar Competition in 2005), bassist Orlando LeFleming and drummer Henry Cole.

"For the past 15 years, Scheinman has been at the center of jazz’s string renaissance." —JazzTimes

Jenny Scheinman

Violinist, singer, composer and arranger Jenny Scheinman will appear on Sunday, March 8, 7PM at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street at 3rd St. ib San Francisco.  Jenny Scheinman grew up in a small town in Northern California playing folk music with her family, went on to study at Oberlin Conservatory, and has been performing as a violinist/fiddler since she was a teenager. She has taken the #1 Rising Star Violinist title in the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll and has been listed as one of their Top Ten Overall Violinists for the last five years. In addition, she has garnered numerous high-profile arranging credits with artists such as Lucinda Williams, Bono, Lou Reed and Sean Lennon, and has toured and recorded with Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux, Nels Cline, Vinicius Cantuaria, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Mark Ribot.

Lou Donaldson © Andrea Canter

Lou Donaldson is one of the most respect alto player with a career spanning over a half a century performing bebop, hard-bop and soul jazz. The Lou Donaldson Quartet featuring Randy Johnston on guitar, Akiko Tsuruga on organ, Fukushi Tainaka on drums along with Lou on alto sax will perform at the Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland on Saturday, February 28th and Sunday, March 1st.

An 'old school' player, the octogenarian Donaldson states that his playing style is a cross between Charlie Parker and Johnny Hodges, adding, “you know, the people that I listened to when I was coming up”. The great jazz pianist, Horace Parlan said of Donaldson, "One of the unique qualities of Lou's work is that he incorporates a great deal of the whole jazz tradition in his playing. He's listened to just about everyone, and not only alto players. With this knowledge of the entire jazz language, Lou is definitely an individual voice."