House Call Soul delivers socially distanced live music for our times
Berkeley saxophonist Chris Hoog is behind House Call Soul, a collective that has found work for musicians in COVID-19-friendly backyards, driveways and streets.
Andrew Gilbert
Andrew Gilbert writes a weekly music column for Berkeleyside. Andy, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, covers a wide range of musical cultures, from Brazil and Mali to India and Ireland. A Berkeley-based freelancer, he contributes features on jazz and international music to numerous publications, including the San Jose Mercury News, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times and Los Angeles Times. His column covering the Bay Area dance scene, Dance Card, runs monthly in the Contra Costa Times. And his CD reviews air regularly on KQED’s “California Report.”
Articles by Andrew
Page 1
Teenage keyboardist Matthew Whitaker, a man’s soul
The 19-year-old brought his quartet into New York City’s Bowery Ballroom and recorded a rip-snorting set for Cal Performances at Home, a concert that premieres tonight at 7 p.m.
How to keep the music playing? Berkeley sends mixed messages about outdoor concerts
The city is shutting down some outdoor concerts while allowing others. Struggling venue owners are asking for clarity and more support.
Nathalie Joachim’s world of Haitian women
The Juilliard-trained flutist makes her virtual Berkeley debut on Oct. 14 as a headliner in Cal Performances pandemic-accommodating At Home series.
Kai Mort Shuman, a Berkeley bohemian who took iconic photos of musicians, dies at 85
Shuman spent the decade from 1960-1970 documenting New York City’s cultural ferment, and photographed Odetta, Nina Simone and the Beatles, among others.
After six months of no gigs, ‘front porch’ music returns to Berkeley’s Back Room
Live music is returning downtown with regular, socially-distanced performances at The UC Theatre, Bobby G’s, and a planned Freight & Salvage ‘tour’ of downtown parklets.
Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention is an acoustic, unplugged, raw, twangy – and virtual – delight
Running Sept. 24-27 online, the Convention features all the usual gatherings, including concerts, jam sessions, song swaps, workshops and special programming for children and their families
The vibrant SF Brazilian Day and Lavagem at Berkeley’s BrasArte moves online
The Sept. 6 event features Bay Area acts like SambaDá and the forró combo Dona Francisca and some of Brazil’s greatest musicians performing from the northeastern states of Pernambuco and Bahia.
Give it up for 92-year-old jazz master Richard Hadlock
The longtime Berkeley resident and key presence on the Bay Area airwaves since 1959 has been honored with a McPartland-Conover Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Jazz Journalists Association.
How do you keep (live) music playing in the age of social distancing?
What does the future hold for live music? We checked in with cherished music venues like Ashkenaz, Cal Performances and the Freight to see how they’re feeling and what they’re planning.
Playing the long game with Ellen Fullman
Fullman, who plays her self-invented Long String Instrument in her West Berkeley studio, was recently awarded a 2020 Guggenheim Fellowship for musical composition.
Local musicians pivot to being ‘artists in residence’ — literally
Musicians around the East Bay are turning the calamity of a global pandemic-induced lockdown into an opportunity for creative exploration.
A day of their own at Berkeley High
Sarah Cline, director of Berkeley High’s storied jazz program, launched JazzGirls Day in 2012. The event, which takes place Saturday at BHS, has spread around the country. Plus: Other recommended gigs.
In Berkeley: Multi-instrumentalist Rumen ‘Sali’ Shopov and Ethio-jazz patriarch Mulatu Astatke
Catch the undisputed patriarch of Ethio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke, at UC Theatre, and Bulgarian-born, West Berkeley-based multi-instrumentalist Ruman “Sali” Shopov at Timbre Folk & Baroque on Wednesday.
The Afro-Brazilian side of Kenya Moses
A classically trained vocalist and former dancer who spent some time with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Moses is now exploring her Brazilian roots in a show at the Back Room on Feb. 20
Berkeley Law puts Shylock in the docks
Everyone needs a good lawyer. But Shylock, one of Shakespeare’s most historically fraught villains, is a special case. On Sunday, Berkeley Law takes over the Freight to give the old usurer another shot at justice.
