Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, bassist Fred Randolph
started taking ukulele lessons as a young child. At age 11, inspired by
Jimi Hendrix, he switched to the
guitar. After listening to Howard Roberts and Jimmy Smith in high
school, he became fascinated with the unique harmonies of jazz, and his
musical direction was forever altered. He began to seriously study and
play jazz, first on the guitar, and later, on the saxophone and trumpet
during his college years at UC Berkeley.
His instrumental epiphany occurred, however, when he was working on his
Master’s Degree in Composition at CSU Hayward, he fell under
the spell of the bass, captivated by its endless possibilities and
sounds. The acoustic and electric basses are now his primary
instruments.
He has performed with Maria Muldaur, Dan Hicks, Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Collective West Jazz Orchestra,
Charged Particles, Sandy Cressman, Mads Tolling, Michael Smolens, Vince Lateano, Fil Lorenz Big Band, Roberta Donnay,
Bobbe Norris and Larry Dunlap, Kenny Washington, Gaea Schell, Marcos Silva, Silvestre Martinez, Michael O’Neill, Susan Chen,
Ian Carey, Scotty Wright, Dmitri Matheny, Barry Finnerty, Richard Howell, Bob Kenmotsu, Steve Carter, Ian Dogole, Calvin Keys,
Paul McCandless, Melanie O’Reilly, Sheldon Brown Trio, Al Molina, Terrence Brewer, Akira Tana, and Frank Martin.
His fourth CD as a leader, "Mood Walk" was released in 2020.
Fred appeared here previously with David Widelock, Ian Carey, and
Homespun Trio.
Composer and woodwind multi-instrumentalist Sheldon Brown
has been involved in the San Francisco Bay Area creative music scene
for over 20 years. In June of 2014 he premiered his extended
composition "Blood of the Air" at the 32nd Annual San Francisco Jazz
Festival.
Since 1994 he has led Sheldon Brown Group, which performs his own
compositions, and he recently formed Sheldon Brown Quintet, which
performs the music of Herbie Nichols, and Distant Intervals, based on
poetic speech melodies.
The Sheldon Brown Group has performed several times at Yoshiʼs, and as
part of the San Francisco Jazz Festivalʼs Summer in the City series.
Brown has performed with Cuban
pianist Omar Sosa, recorded on 5 of Sosaʼs albums, and played with
him at many famous venues, such as The North Sea Jazz Festival in Den
Haag, New Morning in Paris, and Tribute to the Love Generation in
Tokyo.
Brown performs with many groups in the Bay Area, including: Electric
Squeezebox Orchestra, Clarinet Thing, Darren Johnston Quintet,
Goldberg/Brown/Anderson, Ian
Carey Quintet + 1, Club Foot Orchestra, Laurie Antonioli, Azesu
(featuring Orestes Vilato), Mike Pattonʼs Mondo Cane, Admiral Ted
Brinkley's Large Group, and the Aaron Germain Quartet.
Sheldon appeared here previously with Hemispheres, Mandala, Clarinet
Thing, Ratzo Harris, Michael Wilcox, Ian Carey, Darren Johnston, the
Sheldon Brown
Quintet, and the Sheldon Brown Group.
Trumpeter Erik Jekabson has eight CDs out
under his own name. His most recent is “One Note at a Time” (2020).
Erik currently leads his own ensembles in the Bay Area, including the
Electric Squeezebox Orchestra,
and has brought them to the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Stanford Jazz Workshop,
the DeYoung Museum, the SFJazz Center, Kuumbwa Jazz, Cafe Stritch, the California Jazz Conservatory,
San Jose Jazz Summerfest, Palo Alto Jazz Alliance, the Napa Valley Jazz Society, Jazz at Pearl’s, The Sound Room,
Pacifica Performances, the Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival, the Red Poppy Art House, Piedmont Piano Company, and Old First Church Concerts.
He has also performed at such notable venues as the Concertgebouw in
Amsterdam, the Algonquin Room, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center,
Madison Square Garden, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Late Night with
David Letterman.
He works with Bay Area musicians such as the Fred Randolph Quintet, Mario Guarneri’s tbd, and the Michael O’Neill Quintet featuring Tony Lindsay.
He has appeared at Chez Hanny with Harvey Wainapel, Patrick Wolff, Dan
Zemelman, Shoebox Orchestra, and Erik Jekabson.
Pianist Murray Low
is a veteran of the Bay Area jazz scene and has been playing, composing, arranging, recording and teaching professionally for over thirty years.
Murray is best known for his contributions to Latin Jazz, Salsa and Afro-Cuban musical landscape.
being nominated as 2008 Pianist of the Year by the Latin Jazz Corner, and for a Grammy in 2004 as part of Machete Ensemble.
He has performed with Bay Area ensembles including Wayne Wallace’s Quintet, John Calloway’s Diaspora, Jesus Diaz y su QBA, Pete Escovedo Orchestra, and John Santos’ Machete Ensemble.
He has also collaborated with Latin Jazz giants Ray Vega, Tito Puente, Poncho Sanchez, Nestor Torres, Andrea Brachfeld, Jon Benitez, David Sanchez, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, and Giovanni Hildalgo.
Murray is also actively involved in many first-call Bay Area projects in other jazz idioms including “straight ahead”, fusion and free-form styles. His career has included both local and international performances with
Bob Mintzer, Clark Terry, Benny Golson, John Patitucci, George Duke, Bob Sheppard, John Handy, Wally Schnalle, John Worley, and Charged Particles.
He has performed at major jazz festivals all over the world, including the Playboy, Monterey, Russian River, San Jose, San Francisco, Mt. Hood, Juan Les Pins, and Vienne Jazz festivals.
Drummer and Oakland native Isaac Schwartz has been making music
for the last 20 years. He has played at SF Jazz, Yoshi's, and The Sound
Room.
Isaac leads his own projects, featuring musicians such as Tony Peebles,
Dillon Vado, Lyle Link, Adam Shulman, Tom Catanzaro, Ian McArdle, and
Kai Lyons.
Isaac also performs with such artists as Christelle Durandy, Mia
Pixley, Amy Dabalos, Erik Jekabson, Kasey Knudsen, Paul Branin, Fred
Randolph, Kalil Wilson, Chase
Jackson, Giulio Cetto, Terrence Brewer, and Steve Heckman.
He is an accomplished teacher and teaches workshops at the California
Jazz Conservatory.
He appeared previously at Chez Hanny with Negative Press Project, Jarrett Cherner, Alon Nechushtan, and
the Isaac Schwartztet.