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He directs a chamber group, teaches, and plays like mad, but mostly clarinetist David Shifrin worships Brahms.

Young People's Chamber Orchestra: New Director
Teen Theater Star's Grand Goodbye
Cazadero Offers Camp for the Entire Family

Like other smart jazz organizations, the Monterey Jazz Festival is doing its part to develop the next wave of great players like trombonist Calvin Barthel.

Episode 10: Calvin Barthel and Jazz’s Next Generation. Meet trombonist Barthel, member of the Monterey Jazz Festival's Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and winner of the Jimmy Lyons Scholarship for study at the prestigious Berklee College in Boston.

The Oakland City Council stepped up, big-time, in a budget that closes a $58 million deficit yet with no cuts to arts funding and libraries. SFCV interviews several major players to find out how that was achieved.

Nothing could be more San Francisco than the Fillmore Jazz Festival, a mix of jazz and everything even mildly related to it, and California cuisine and wine. Here's a report on some of the goings on

Most summer concerts are the equivalent of beach reading – the musical versions of vampire romances and spy thrillers. But for those who prefer to heft Gravity's Rainbow to the seaside, there is also a musical equivalent. Christopher Kula, the chief of Pacific Collegium is definitely one of the heavy lifting crowd and his programs never lack for ambition.

If you're wondering about the increasing coverage of jazz in the virtual pages of SFCV – more on this later – it's because jazz is classical music (not just America's classical music). Think about it: long-form instrumental pieces with lots of harmonic and rhythmic complexity (some of that derived from those European dead white males); small, niche market of enthusiasts; a repertoire of bedrock, classic pieces, which musicians reinterpret over and over again; casual listeners may find it “difficult”. What am I describing, traditional classical or traditional jazz?

If you like the breath of fresh air provided by Pamela and Amy X Neuburg, then you'll want to check in to the Room at the Royce Gallery to hear Los Angeles' Robin Cox Ensemble.

The prizewinning pianist plays his favorite Brahms works at Music@Menlo. Here he reflects on touring and performing with his wife.