Beth Custer is a performer and composer renowned for her clarinetistry and unique singing voice. She’s composed for numerous productions including for Campo Santo Theatre, AXIS Dance Company, Flyaway Productions, The Joe Goode Performance Group, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Zeitgeist, and the films of Brad Coley, Cathy Lee Crane, and William Farley. With guitarist David James she leads the funky ensemble Russian Telegraph (named for the two hills in San Francisco), she leads the esteemed quartet Clarinet Thing, the 4th world ensemble Trance Mission, the trip-hop duo Eighty Mile Beach, and is an original member of the live music to silent film purveyors Club Foot Orchestra. Beth and Will Bernard just released SKY CD to rave reviews. She runs her own CD label BC Records and music publishing company All Hands On Deck.

David James is a San Francisco-born composer, guitarist, vocalist, and bandleader who draws from his years of experience in hip-hop, film and theater scores, afrobeat, and more, bringing these influences to bear in his “ … thoughtfully composed, boundary-blurring new music.” (All About Jazz) James’s compositions often join a sing-song-y melodicism to his explorations of rhythms and textures from across the African diaspora and beyond. This can be heard in the political instrumentals and songs of the rhythm-horns-and-strings sextet GPS, which features clarinet, trombone, viola, electric guitar, acoustic bass, and drums. From 2010 to 2020, David co-led Afrofunk Experience (all manner of afro-grooves); and currently co-leads Russian Telegraph (an anything-goes collective of players from the funk, jazz, rock, and new music worlds). While beginning to develop his own compositional voice, David was a recording and touring member of Spearhead, The Coup, and the Beth Custer Ensemble. He has performed chamber jazz at the community-level salon Red Poppy Art House (SF); live scores to silent films in the screening rooms of MoMA and SFMOMA; and hip-hop at the Glastonbury Festival (UK).

Jess Ivry is a classically trained, SF Conservatory graduate who plays and sings various genres including Balkan, Klezmer, Bluegrass, Jazz, and Pop. She was a member of the Real Vocal String Quartet, who performed at the Stern Grove Festival opening for the Kronos Quartet, toured overseas through the US State Department program, American Music Abroad, and was featured with a cover photo and article in Strings Magazine. RVSQ recorded with Feist for their release Metals and played with her on the Tonight Show and at the Coachella Music Festival. Jess played for theater and dance, composing original scores for Death of a Salesman and The Bright River (A Traveling Jewish Theatre, San Francisco), A Little Night Music, The Last Five Years (A.C.T. San Francisco); The Orphan of Zhao (A.C.T. San Francisco & La Jolla Playhouse); An Audience with Meow Meow, Pericles: Prince of Tyre, and Figaro (Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Post Street Thea Jess played for theater and dance, composing original scores for Death of a Salesman and The Bright River (A Traveling Jewish Theatre, San Francisco), A Little Night Music, The Last Five Years (A.C.T. San Francisco); The Orphan of Zhao (A.C.T. San Francisco & La Jolla Playhouse); An Audience with Meow Meow, Pericles: Prince of Tyre, and Figaro (Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Post Street Theatre, SF).

https://www.heydavidjames.com

https://bethcuster.com

https://jessicaivry.com