Bay-area born and bred, jazz and gospel trained, and internationally respected, Valerie Troutt is a musical collagist, borrowing from ancestral centuries of sound, channeling spirits, and delivering the stories of our love, loss, and lives. There’s a light in this unapologetically unconventional artist/teacher/activist for whom art and activism are intertwined. Within this spiritual and social justice-driven performer is a lifelong hunger for craft, for connection, for cultural narratives and an indefatigable thirst to serve as an agape griot to a waiting and hurting people. The Sound of Peace, her long-awaited, full-length debut comes after a critically acclaimed EP and several wizening years culminating in Valerie Troutt’s acceptance of her own original artistic difference in a world of commercial carbon copies.

For this performance for the West Oakland Sessions, Troutt will debut songs from her upcoming project titled "Let the Light in" with her friends Colin Hogan on piano, Michael Lindsey on bass, Ruth Price on drums, and Nora Free on sax. "I am preparing for a world 5, 7, 10 years from now...the music we create and play today is affecting our future," says Troutt.  Valerie's music is a poignant powerful medicine steeped in her gospel and jazz roots.  Come ready to experience healing, joy, and groove. Come willing to sing, have fun and take away a little light.