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The Bay Area’s fall bounty of music includes delicious selections from jazz, pop, and other musics from around the globe. Here are a few worth your notice.

For Beck-Ruiz and His Choir, Elijah Is Child’s Play
Youth Performances in the Presidio San Francisco
Berkeley Music Festival a Joyful Romp

The jazz legend reflects on his musical origins and work with Miles Davis and others, and gives his views on reconnecting people with their cultural roots.

Le Jazz Hot Quartet plays French Gypsy Jazz, naming themselves after (and playing some of the repertoire of) the pioneering French combo of guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli and their Quintette du Hot Club du France. The string ensemble (Hot Club of San Francisco is their touring name) has been playing these tunes for 11 years, and they make a pair of appearances at Yoshi's San Francisco in October, among other gigs. But on August 18, they bring Paris to Palo Alto, playing a set for free at the Stanford Shopping Center. Sure, there's an American swing to this group, but that's all to the good. Bring your dancing shoes.

And this Sunday Dolora Zajick sings for free as part of the San Francisco Opera's performance at Stern Grove. That's right: $100 a ticket to see her in the opera house, free at Stern Grove. And then there's this: even if you arrive late – heck, even if you picnic in the parking lot – you'll still hear her loud and clear.

Philip Glass has got a pick-up band of all stars ready for his inaugural Days and Nights Festival in Carmel Valley. The first weekend features Glass' compositions paired with works by Franz Schubert and Dmitri Shostakovich. Personally, if forced to pick one, I'd opt for Saturday night at Hidden Valley, with Glass' String Quartet No. 5 paired with Schubert's evergreen Piano Trio in B-Flat, D. 898.

Cabrillo wraps up its season with new works that surprise, delight, and sometimes frustrate.

Ample musical excerpts plus intriguing interviews (in German and English) distinguish a DVD on the life and works of a great American composer.

Read an account of the Gamelan and its Balinese roots in excerpt from Music of the Peoples of the World by Bill Alves.