Jaz Sawyer: Abstract Jazz and Instrumental Experiments

An integration of abstract jazz with breakbeats and improvised grooves, Jaz Sawyer explores an instrumental experiment including both originals and arrangements of jazz and pop standards.

Featuring:
Jaz Sawyer – drums, percussion
Sarah Voynow – harp
Cava Menzies – piano, keyboards
Imalu Menzies – percussion, keyboards

Jaz Sawyer began playing drums at the age of two in the Haight Ashbury District of San Francisco. His musical studies have taken him through the various programs at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, SFYO, Stanford Jazz Workshop, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Jaz has worked with many notable artists including Wynton Marsalis, Abbey Lincoln, George Benson, Bobby Hutcherson, Phil Lesh, and Dee Dee Bridgewater in some of the world’s premier concert venues.

Sarah Voynow has performed extensively with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Juilliard and has performed in numerous recordings at Skywalker Sound. As a performer with the ensemble Richard Stoltzman and Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd, she played on the Grammy-nominated recording of Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto. A highly versatile musician, Sarah also plays rock and roll with an electric harp.

Bay Area native Cava Menzies is a classically trained jazz pianist, composer, producer, and educator. In 2001, she received a BA from the Berklee College of Music in Boston for jazz piano and music education, and in 2008, she received her MM from the University of Miami where she studied composition and music production and recording. Her musical talents extend from collaborations with various hip hop, soul, jazz, and Latin artists, to film documentaries. Cava remains a founding faculty member and teacher at the Oakland School for the Arts (OSA) where she chairs the Music Department, overseeing both the Instrumental and Vocal programs.
 
Check out Jaz Sawyer’s music on SoundCloud.

Admission: $10-20. Doors at 7:00pm. Show at 7:30pm. All ages welcome.

Tickets will not be sold in advance for this event. Please arrive at the Red Poppy when doors open to purchase tickets.

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