jazz

While the trio included plenty of flourishes, Mehldau’s unassuming, almost humble approach to performing grounded his set.

By being more vulnerable, listening earnestly and embracing the freedom of an uncertain vocation, I learned that the difference between a mere advisor and a mentor is jazz.

During other moments, Laufey’s dazzling instrumental capabilities mesmerized the concertgoers into a spellbinding silence. Showcasing her soaring range throughout the nearly 90-minute set, the singer-songwriter played the guitar, cello and piano. 

On a Sunday afternoon outside Zellerbach Hall, concert-goers of all ages dodged stray skateboards to line up for Berkeley Symphony's season opener “American Kaleidoscope.” The question presumably on the crowd’s mind? How would conductor Joseph Young revamp the program’s 100-year-old centerpiece: George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue?”

Teeming with life and movement, the album flaunts Laufey’s extensive classical training and strays from her prior, more simple bedroom pop aesthetic.

Drinking coffee in an unhappy relationship, packing up a childhood bedroom, sharing dumplings with neighbors — Laufey, born Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, distills life’s singular moments into spellbinding, romantic accounts of the human experience.

Cultivating her eclectic, Berlin-based style, which combines indie-folk, jazz and blues elements, Shelter is the magnum opus of Lou’s career so far.

The singer slipped onto the San Francisco stage with ease and belonging, like a good friend who’s been away for far too long.

Masego had San Francisco at his fingertips — and he knew it. Enveloped in smoke and a sultry, amber glow, he took The Warfield stage with sheer magnetism on the night of March 14.

Lizz Wright has an alto to cut butter and melt leather. She proved it to a sold-out crowd at Yoshi’s in Oakland on June 29.