Ember
Lineup
About the Event
Cutting Edge Trio
Please Note: These general admission performances use "Pay-What-You-Wish" ticketing, so you can choose the price that works best for you. By selecting a higher ticket tier, you directly support SFJAZZ’s nonprofit mission to honor jazz through creation, presentation, and education.
ABOUT THIS SHOW
This performance in the Joe Henderson Lab is a textbook example of the 2026-27 Season’s overarching concept of “Forward Motion.”
A Brooklyn-based combo that brings together a brilliant triumvirate, Ember features Berkeley-reared Noah Garabedian on double bass and synth, drummer Vinnie Sperrazza, and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Wheeler Curtis on sopranino saxophone, trumpet, and the rarely played straight-horn stritch — an instrument most often associated with maverick woodwind legend Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
Each musician is an integral catalyst in the New York creative music community as leader, collaborator and instigator, roles reflected in Ember. A true collective, each member contributes original compositions and plays an equal role in shaping the music via deep listening, interaction and improvisation. The trio’s wide-ranging sound encompasses post-bop, free improv, folk music and rhythm and blues. Putting a premium on spontaneity, Ember often blurs the line between composition and improvisation. The group’s third album, August In March, was released in 2023 on pianist Orrin Evans’ Imani Records. Evans is one of several masters who’ve collaborated with Ember, along with trumpeter Steven Bernstein, violinist Sara Caswell, and pianist Leo Genovese. For Ember’s SFJAZZ debut, the group has prepared a set of bracing new music.