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Sachal Vasandani: Best Life Now, Stripped Back
by Steven Roby
In this episode of Backstage Bay Area, host Steven Roby sits down with vocalist and songwriter Sachal Vasandani. Known for a voice that critics call “transfixing," Sachal has collaborated with everyone from Wynton Marsalis to Bobby McFerrin. Sachal discusses his latest project, Best Life Now, and the surprising journey of taking that album--originally produced ...
The Klezmatics: 40 Years of Revolutionary Joy
by Steven Roby
In this episode of Backstage Bay Area, host Steven Roby sits down with Frank London, trumpeter and founding member of the Grammy Award-winning band The Klezmatics. For four decades, The Klezmatics have been the world's leading voice in blending traditional Yiddish roots with the energy of punk, jazz, and gospel. Frank shares stories from ...
Anat Cohen’s Musical Evolution & 50th Birthday Celebration
by Steven Roby
In this episode of Backstage Bay Area, Steven Roby sits down with Grammy-nominated clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen. Known for her expressive virtuosity and infectious charisma, Anat is bringing a massive milestone celebration to San Francisco.We discuss her intimate “Quartetinho" ensemble and her expansive 10-piece “Tentet." Anat opens up about growing up in a ...
Stefon Harris & Blackout / Theo Croker at Miner Auditorium
by Steven Roby
Stefon Harris & Blackout/Theo Croker Miner Auditorium Terence Blanchard's UpSwing Series San Francisco, CA November 29, 2025 The UpSwing series, curated by Terence Blanchard at SFJAZZ, acts as a key indicator of the health of American improvised music. It is more than just a showcase; it functions as a laboratory. ...
John Santos at Miner Auditorium
by Steven Roby
John Santos Sextet Miner Auditorium John Santos 70th Birthday ConcertSan Francisco, CA November 28, 2025 A warm, familial feeling filled the Miner Auditorium this Thanksgiving weekend, creating a noticeable shift from its usual formal reverence. When John Santos stepped onto the stage--tall, slim, and dressed in a crisp white suit ...
Mads Tolling: Nordic Folklore Meets American Jazz
by Steven Roby
This week on Backstage Bay Area, host Steve Roby welcomes two-time Grammy Award-winning violinist Mads Tolling. Known for his work with the Turtle Island Quartet, Stanley Clarke, and Bob Weir, Mads is shifting gears this season to share a piece of his Danish childhood in San Francisco. Mads takes us inside his project, Cool ...
Ben Folds on Keeping Art Alive
by Steven Roby
In this episode of Backstage Bay Area, host Steve Roby interviews Ben Folds, the pianist, songwriter, and arts advocate who has spent three decades balancing sharp, story-driven pop songs with orchestral ambition. Fresh off the release of Ben Folds Live with the National Symphony Orchestra and deep into his work on the new holiday album Sleigher, ...
Three Visitors At Joe Henderson Lab
by Steven Roby
Three Visitors Joe Henderson Lab San Francisco, CA November 22, 2025 The first notes of Edward Simon 's “What If" emerged out of the dark at the Joe Henderson Lab, cutting through the reflections of car lights sliding across the room's glass walls. Inside the 100-seat club, the city was a flickering ...
Stefon Harris on Soul, Sound, and Harmony in Motion
by Steven Roby
Stefon Harris is a four-time Grammy-nominated jazz vibraphonist, bandleader, and educator. A longtime leader of the band Blackout and former member of the SFJAZZ Collective, he has recorded for Blue Note and Concord, collaborated with artists from Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter to Dianne Reeves and Common, and serves on the faculty at Rutgers University--Newark. Harris ...
Kamasi Washington At Golden Gate Theatre
by Steven Roby
Kamasi Washington Band Golden Gate Theatre San Francisco, CA October 14, 2025 It was part big-band spiritual jazz and part family affair. Visionary saxophonist Kamasi Washington's sold-out two-hour concert at the Golden Gate Theatre offered an evening of transcendent fusion, mixing funk, hip-hop, and masterful improvisation with surprise guest appearances.
