Join us on July 11th for another West Oakland Session featuring the Jawn-tet! This quintet of up-and-coming Bay Area musicians, led by explosive drummer Genius Wesley, will be an incredible show that you won't want to miss. 

This concert is part of a series of West Oakland Sessions featuring young jazz musicians based in the Bay Area. All shows in this series will be recorded live with an in-person audience. High quality video and audio is provided to the musicians free of charge, courtesy of Jazz in the Neighborhood and Musical Traditions. By purchasing a ticket to this show and participating in the recording, you are helping to launch these young musicians’ careers. 

Emerging as a response to the isolation of the past year, the debut of the Jawn-tet is a refreshing and long overdue return to live music for these five young musicians. Virtuosic Bay Area drummer Genius Wesley propels his new quintet through innovative takes on old standards and intrepid originals, contrasting sheets of sound against insistent bebop momentum. After meeting pianist Luis Peralta through a choral orchestra in Berkeley, and Tommy Noble (sax), Isaac Coyle (bass), and Jed Holtman (guitar) at an improvisation class taught by Howard Wiley, the group combined what had already become a loose collective into this new group. This debut at the West Oakland Sessions will be the first recording of the Jawn-tet. 

Genius Wesley has been hailed as a prodigy jazz drummer and percussionist. At age 19, he coaches youth players with the late Khalil Shaheed’s Oaktown Jazz Workshops and the Young Musicians Choral Orchestra. Wesley regularly performs around the Bay Area as both a leader and sideman, and has performed alongside Marcus Shelby, Tiffany Austin, Howard Wiley, and many more. He resides in North Oakland, in a home his family has owned for generations.

Under new COVID-19 guidelines, live concerts are back! Full safety protocols and directions to the studio in West Oakland will be sent to you upon ticket purchase. No one will be turned away for lack of funds; email us at gabe@jazzintheneighborhood.org for more information. As this is an in-person live recorded concert, please be mindful of your noise and be aware that the musicians may make changes mid-performance to ensure the final recorded product is ideal.

This series is a collaboration between Jazz in the Neighborhood and Musical Traditions to bring you safe live concerts in Dresher Ensemble Studio, generously supported by a grant from InterMusic SF.