Tagged: Bay Area Beats

Oakland-based singer/songwriter Quinn Deveaux is one part city, one part country. When he plays with his band, the Blue Beat Review, he taps into Ray Charles and plays the savvy bandleader, burning his way through tune after tune and keeping his audience dancing late into the night.

The San Francisco band LoCura reflects the Bay's diverse mix of cultures, histories and people through music that surfs genres and shuns labels. Members of the band come from as far away as Spain, and as close as the Mission district. They blend flamenco, Cuban son, reggae, cumbia, ska and more to make their own border-crossing brand of revolutionary party music. With the release of their new album, Semilla Caminante, the band deepens this mixture of musical and political cultures.

In 2008, double bassist and founder of the Musical Art Quintet, Sascha Jacobsen regularly attended the Sunday night chamber music jams at Cafe Revolution. But after his umpteenth time through Dvorak’s Opus 77, String quartet No. 2 in G major – one of the few chamber music standards that includes double bass – he realized that if he wanted to play something else, he’d have to write it himself.