Two fantastic student groups from the Jazzschool Institute— the Gypsy Jazz Ensemble and East Bay Funk Ensemble—present electrifying end-of-semester performances!

Directed by guitarist Paul Mehling (Hot Club of San Francisco), the Gypsy Jazz Ensemble performs jazz in the style of Django Reinhardt’s and Stephane Grappelli’s Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Beginning with their first recordings in 1934, these two innovators forged a new genre called gypsy jazz or jazz manouche. Following in Stephane and Django’s footsteps, the student ensemble plays pumping, infectious rhythms combined with virtuosity, inventiveness, and soul, featuring Hande Erdem and Bobbi Nikles on violin, cellist Gael Alcock, Craig Browning on accordion, Harrison Gold, Tristan Norton, and James Pickrel on guitar, and bassists Mike Sweetland and Rick McFarland.

Directed by bassist Marc van Wageningen, the East Bay Funk Ensemble focuses on the East Bay funk canon, playing the distinctive, rhythm-driven genre of music that emerged out of Bay Area-based bands from the late 1960s to the present. The show includes numbers from the “godfather of soul,” James Brown, plus repertoire by noted Bay Area bands including Sly and the Family Stone, Cold Blood, Tower of Power, The Headhunters, Ray Obiedo, and The V.W. Brothers. The ensemble features Colin Di Grazia on sax, guitarists Rikki Gibson and Tony Owen, Christian Sullivan on piano/keys, bassist Bill Hager, and Aaron Hipschman on drums.

The Jazzschool Institute offers a conservatory program devoted to the study and performance of jazz and related styles of music, fostering the artistic development of aspiring professional jazz musicians and building new audiences to sustain and promote the jazz art form. The institute integrates a comprehensive, progressive undergraduate education program taught by world-class musicians and music educators, preparing the next generation for a fulfilling life in the dynamic world of the performing arts.

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