Drummer Myron Cohen carries the spirit of the late Billy Higgins into the present day, with joy and a propulsive and irresistible beat.  He has partnered with so many fine players and has taken so many young talents under his wing in his desire to be true to Higgins’ spirit.  Today, saxophonist Steve Heckman, a major talent of international stature, joins Myron, pianist Eddie Mendenhall and bassist Joe MacKinley to play two sets of fantastic bop and straight ahead jazz, with guests including the stunningly talented young vocalist, Aspen Jordan. Cohen has played with major artists including Michael Bloomfield, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Otis Spann, Ron Stallings, Azar Lawrence, Ravi Coltrane, Donald ‘Rafael’ Garrett, Woody Shaw, and Wayne Shorter – to name a few.  But his most significant connection may have been with drummer Higgins, who gave a great deal to Cohen including some fascinating stories of his…

Avotcja & Modupue! Francis Wong, sax and flute. Jon Jang, piano. Heshima Mark Williams, bass. Avotcja is a jazz musician with deep roots, a riveting poet, an imaginative and ruminative prose writer, a pioneer, an individualist, a fierce champion of her fellow musicians, poets and artists.  Her band, Modupue, was twice named Jazz Group of the Year, in 2005 and again in 2010, by the Bay Blues Society Hall of Fame. Avotcja with Famoudou Don Moye in the late 1960s With New York, Afro-Puerto Rican roots, Avotcja was performing her poetry and music professionally by age 14.  She left for L.A. the next year, and found work in the area’s strawberry fields, and then in the ensuing decade, traveled widely, spending significant time on the fertile L.A. cultural scene of the late sixties, in the company of giants like Black Arthur Blythe, Billy Higgins and Horace Tapscott, before coming up to…