Jazz

Antonio Sánchez: Birdman LIVE, Samara Joy,
and Sullivan Fortner Trio

Antonio Sánchez
Birdman LIVE

The Academy Award-winning Best Picture, Birdman, screened to a live soundtrack

Sat, Jan 18, 8pm, Zellerbach Hall

Anyone who saw Alejandro Iñárritu’s film Birdman when it was released in 2014 can recall the moment when they realized—wow, this is not your usual Hollywood film soundtrack! Antonio Sánchez’ drumming exploded off the screen, a companion, counterweight, and commentary on the psychological turmoil of Michael Keaton’s character. Sánchez’ largely improvised solo drum set score won a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack (and a BAFTA, and a Critic’s Choice Award), and the film took home the gold, winning the Oscar for Best Picture. In this special screening and concert, Sánchez celebrates the film’s 10th anniversary with a riveting live performance. "There’s no one better to inject the volatile tempos of New York City than jazz drummer Antonio Sánchez…[he adds] a vitality that maps out the emotions of the film’s characters with precision and almost no sentimentality" (The Guardian).

Samara Joy

Wed, Feb 5, 7:30pm, Zellerbach Hall

In jazz, every generation has a few "old souls" who skip the line to join the pantheon of greats—young artists who burst on the scene seemingly out of nowhere, fully formed. Fresh out of music school but with a deep history in gospel music, the wildly talented vocalist Samara Joy is just such a figure. Joy won Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best New Artist at the 2023 Grammy Awards for her debut release, an old-school affair that explores classic tunes associated with Carmen McRae, Nat King Cole, and Billie Holiday, and followed it with a third Grammy, for Best Jazz Performance, in 2024. "Listening to Samara Joy, I’m struck by the sound of her voice—warm, grounded and sturdy, an impression reinforced by her sure sense of pitch…. Her understated, swingy rhythm can feel lighter than air" (NPR).

Sullivan Fortner Trio

Thu, Mar 13, 7:30pm, Zellerbach Playhouse

Over the past decade, pianist Sullivan Fortner has developed an expansive and distinctive approach to jazz that combines his New Orleans heritage with the hard bop sounds of New York and a cosmopolitan flair born from years touring the world with luminaries like Roy Hargrove and Cécile McLorin Salvant. The New York Times has praised his music for its "rhythmic brio and harmonic insight," and All About Jazz has admired his "sophisticated yet earthy way(s) with the pen and the piano." Fortner’s most recent release is a solo record that showcases the breadth of his artistry, featuring original compositions alongside classics by Stevie Wonder, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Kurt Weill, and Duke Ellington. He nearly stole the show as a sideman with Salvant at her most recent Zellerbach Hall concert and now makes his Cal Performances debut as a leader with a hard-swinging trio of like-minded young talents.

If you could have dinner with any one of our jazz artists this year, who would you choose?!

Antonio Sánchez
Samara Joy
Sullivan Fortner

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