Pasha Ensemble performs music from many traditions of the Middle East, including classical Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish music and as well as modern songs from throughout the region — Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, etc. — and original compositions by the group’s founder and leader, Husain Resan. Husain Resan, violin, vocals (Iraq) Raman Osman,  tambour, vocals (Syria) Munjed Haddad, oud, vocals (Jordan) Nicholas Mughannam,  tabla (Detroit)

Phil Hill, vocal and guitar; Sam Cady, piano; Bill Langlois, bass; Mark Lee, drums. The Phil Hill Trio was already soaring before they added drummer Mark Lee, making the trio a quartet and allowing the whole enterprise to fly higher, faster and ever more gracefully. Phil plays a sweet and evocative guitar and sings with understated elan, delivering for the wistful, the lovelorn and the hopelessly romantic lovely standards from the Great American Songbook like Pennies from Heaven, On the Sunny Side of the Street, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Route 66, The Girl from Ipanema, On a Slowboat to China, Stardust, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and many more.  Sam Cady’s piano sets the frame and embellishes the picture flawlessly, and bassist Bill Langlois gives it soul that takes you right into Nat Cole’s 1940s world.

Christopher Bernard will read from his new novel, Voyage to a Phantom City, described as a spine-tingling adventure across the Sahara and a heart-breaking romance, provoking haunting memories of war and a long-lost America after the tragedy of September 11th. The novel is a spiritual quest into the heart of darkness that discovers the supremely redemptive power of love. Christopher’s previous books include the novel A Spy in the Ruins, the short-story collections Dangerous Stories for Boys and In the American Night, and The Rose Shipwreck: Poems and Photographs. He is co-editor of “Caveat Lector” and a regular contributor to “Synchronized Chaos.” He writes fiction, poetry, essays, plays, and criticism. His poetry can be found online at “The Bog of St. Philinte.” He lives in San Francisco. Clara Hsu will read a set of translations of the poems by Xu Zhimo, accompanied by David Wong on the guqin (Chinese 7-stringed zither).…

“Lori Carsillo is a vocal musician of relaxed, cool self-assurance and her voice is special for its unfiltered feelings and melodic warmth.” – Herb Wong, jazz historian, producer, Black Hawk Records & Palo Alto Records founder A noted presence on the Bay Area jazz scene, Lori Carsillo (an Italian name, pronounced: “car-SILL-oh”), is a vocalist of subtlety and sophistication. The nuance of her phrasing is constantly fresh and compelling. Her repertoire, a mix of well-known favorites and forgotten gems, draws praise from listeners as well as fellow musicians, as does her innate musical sense and down-to-earth nature. She sings with an unaffected, unpretentious style, never overreaching, and always at ease.  Read more on Lori’s website at this link–her resume is deep. She has performed at top Bay Area venues including Yoshi’s, Bimbo’s 365 Club, the San Jose Jazz Festival, and all along the West Coast from San Diego to Vancouver. In…

Pianist Grant Levin and his long-time jazz collaborator, bassist Chris Amberger converse in jazz over two generous sets of music. Arriving in Oakland in his early teens, in the early 1960s, Chris Amberger was schooled in music by some of the great jazz and blues figures of the era, including pianist George Duke, drummer Smiley Winters and guitarist T. Bone Walker. He was a participant in the birth of Oakland’s free jazz movement in the late 1960s, and then headed for Boston’s Berklee School of Music where he studied with vibes player Gary Burton and gigged on the avant garde scene there with Rahsaan Roland Kirk as well as with solid Blue Note era players like Kenny Dorham and Donald Byrd. From there, he went on tour with the latin/funk band Bombolé in North Africa and Europe, with Cal Tjader and Rosemary Clooney in Latin America, with George Shearing in…

Live jazz every Friday night at Bird & Beckett, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm This week:  Chuck Peterson leads his quintet through two sets of standards and bebop, with singer Dorothy Lefkovits lending her characteristic charm and grace to the occasion. Chuck Peterson & Howie Dudune, reeds Glen Deardorff, guitar Dean Reilly, bass Tony Johnson, drums   “jazz in the bookshop” is Bird & Beckett’s long-running end-of-the-week neighborhood jazz party.  Never a missed Friday since 2002!