LISA MEZZACAPPA 5(ISH) / GEORGE ROGERS + LORIN BENEDICT

Bassist and composer LISA MEZZACAPPA (acoustic bass) brings her newest ensemble to the WEST OAKLAND SOUND SERIES in advance of its NYC debut at The Stone later this month. Mezzacappa's previous works have drawn inspiration from Dashiell Hammett and Paul Auster's lean noir crime novels and Italo Calvino's hilarious and poignant Cosmicomics stories. Now she's exploring the concept of worldbuilding in the otherwrldly cycle, a suite of music inspired her fascination with the speculative fiction of Ursula Le Guin, Haruki Murakami, Samuel R. Delany, and David Mitchell— as a way to envision new kinds of musical interaction, storytelling, structure and play.

LISA MEZZACAPPA 5(ISH)AARON BENNETT, tenor saxophoneKYLE BRUCKMANN, oboes/modular synthMARK PASCUCCI-CLIFFORD, vibraphoneBRETT CARSON, keyboardLISA MEZZACAPPA, acoustic bassJORDAN GLENN, drums

Grand Prize winner of the 2025 Vandoren Emerging Artist competition, GEORGE ROGERS is a saxophonist, improviser, composer, teacher, and facilitator from the San Francisco Bay Area, currently based in Oberlin, Ohio. Rogers—a mentee of saxophone legends Gary Bartz, Justin Robinson, and Dann Zinn—has performed at venues across the nation, including Dizzy’s Club, SFJAZZ, LIBRETTO, the Concord Jazz Festival, the Vail Jazz Party, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Drawing inspiration from a diverse array of genres, Rogers's playing and composing styles blend elements of traditional, modern, and avant-garde jazz, while also embracing influences from popular, experimental, and singer-songwriter music. For WEST OAKLAND SOUND SERIES, Rogers joins LORIN BENEDICT, an improvising vocalist (scat singer, essentially) living in Emeryville, California. Most of Lorin's work in this area is centered loosely in the jazz idiom. Lorin has co-led small groups (duos, trios) in which the roles of the musicians are somewhat mutable even in contexts where highly structured forms are being played. Examples include Bleeding Vector with Emeryville guitarist Eric Vogler, and another duo project with east bay saxophonist Kasey Knudsen. Together, these three musicians jointly lead the trio project, The Holly Martins. He has also co-led duo projects with Helsinki-based drummer Sam Ospovat and LA-based musician Logan Kane.

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