Passing through from NYC, the unique vocalist/composter Akiko Pavolka brings a quartet to Bird & Beckett featuring multi-reed player Matt Renzi (who has one foot in San Francisco, another in NYC and a third in Rome). Bassist Matt Pavolka travels with Akiko for the date; drummer Mark Ferber was born in the Bay Area, but is based in Los Angeles and Brooklyn.

Matt has been playing with Akiko in her groups for over 20 years, and hosts her here at Bird & Beckett for this performance. Matt can be heard on her trio album “Begin Again” with bassist Matt Pavolka, as well as on her House of Illusion album “Trust Aqua” in a larger group that includes guitar, synthesizer & keyboards, and percussion.

Akiko Pavolka, vocals/piano
Matt Renzi, sax/clarinet/double-reeds
Matt Pavolka, bass
Mark Ferber, drums

$20 cash cover charge
doors open at 7:20 for the 7:30 show
byob
reservations, call 415-586-3733

Tonight’s show can also be found on our Facebook page and YouTube channel.
If you like what you hear in the stream, and stick around for more, donate to help us pay the musicians!

https://akikopavolka.bandcamp.com/

From the album notes for Begin Again:
AKIKO PAVOLKA – Piano & Vocals; MATT RENZI – Clarinet & Tenor Sax; MATT PAVOLKA – Upright Bass & Acoustic Guitar (Track #1); with PETE RENDE – Pedal Streel (Track 3&7), Pump Organ (Track 3&8), Piano on Track 7. Akiko Pavolka is a New York-based musician, composer and educator whose strikingly original music blends pop and jazz with the music and sensibilities of her native Japan. She has released three records as a leader, most recently the critically-acclaimed “Begin Again” for Tone Of A Pitch Records in Portugal. She is currently at work on her fourth album, to be released in the spring of 2008. Her band House of Illusion has been performing regularly in New York since 1998. They have toured in the United States, Europe and Japan. Akiko has also composed music for commissioned projects in Japan and was a founding member of the underground rock band Entropy in the late 90’s. In addition to her own recordings she can be heard on Japanese Koto Virtuoso Mizuyo Komiya’s new release “Zumik Music”, Alan Ferber’s recent release “Exit Row” for the Fresh Sounds, New Talent label in Spain, and husband Matt Pavolka’s upcoming release “Something People Can Use” for Tone Of A Pitch Records. In the past year she has completed two tours of Portugal and Spain to promote “Begin Again”. She performed at venues including La Quinta Splendida Jazz Festival in Madeira, The Hot Club, Bicaense Café and the Centro Cultural de Belem in Lisbon, Auditorio Gulbenkian in Braga, Jamboree in Barcelona and Nova Jazz Cava in Terrassa. Akiko is also active as an educator and clinician, teaching voice and piano privately and in group settings. Akiko was born in Tokyo and grew up in Yokohama, Japan. By her teen years she was performing as a singer, bassist and drummer with rock and roll bands. Her interests turned to jazz and after several years of gigging as a vocalist in Tokyo, she was ready to move to the United States to further her studies at Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music. She graduated in 1994 with a degree in Performance and was also awarded the Cleo Laine Outstanding Vocalist Award. She moved to New York in 1995. Her band has performed in New York City venues including Joe’s Pub, The Knitting Factory, Fez, The Living Room, Barbes, Rockwood Music Hall and Cornelia Street Café.