Sunday, February 20, 2021 - 4pm
$15 youth, $20 Senior/Student, $25 general admission
Tickets available through Eventbrite.

Acclaimed original modern jazz + gems from the canon

A group of accomplished jazz veterans, the George Cotsirilos Quartet, featuring George Cotsirilos on guitar, Keith Saunders on piano, Robb Fisher on bass and Ron Marabuto on drums, has released a widely acclaimed CD, Mostly In Blue, which spent over three months on the national Jazz Weekly radio top 50 charts, rising to number 15, and has received excellent notices. In its December 2018 issue, Downbeat Magazine listed the CD as one of the best of 2018, and a new recording is in the offing. The group performs primarily original modern jazz compositions along with some gems from the jazz canon.

YOUR SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT TO OUR OFFERING THIS SHOW: Proof of full vaccination is required to attend, and a properly worn mask is required at all times. Admission will be limited to 50% of capacity. All performers and staff are fully vaccinated.

Artist Profiles

GEORGE COTSIRILOS; guitar: Originally from Chicago, George has been a member of the San Francisco Bay Area jazz community for many years and has performed with a wide variety of artists, from San Francisco jazz fixtures like Eddie Marshall, Mel Martin, Pharaoh Sanders and Mark Levine to internationally recognized blues singer Etta James, Bill Evans bassist Chuck Israels, and the jazz/soul vocal group, The Whispers. In addition to working as an accompanist, he was co-leader of the San Francisco Nighthawks which included legendary drummer Eddie Marshall, Bobby McFerrin pianist Paul Nagel, and former Cal Tjader bassist Robb Fisher. The group recorded for Monarch Records and performed at various venues, including the Monterey Jazz Festival. The George Cotsirilos Trio’s CD, “Variations,” received excellent notices, made it well into the top 100 cd’s on the jazz radio charts and was chosen by erstwhile Washington Post jazz critic and Jazztimes editor, Royal Stokes, as one of the most notable jazz instrumental CD’s of 2013. “Variations’” immediate predecessor, “Past Present,” also was released to laudatory reviews and broke into the top 40 jazz albums nationwide. In May of 2011, as part of the Bay Area Jazz Archive Series, Jazz School Records released “Seems To Be” by the George Cotsirilos Quartet, featuring Eddie Marshall on drums, Paul Nagel on piano and Robb Fisher on bass. Cotsirilos’s well-received solo CD, “Silenciosa,” released on OA2/Origin Records, is a compilation of jazz tunes performed on solo classical guitar. Cotsirilos graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, studied jazz with esteemed musician/educator Warren Nunes, and studied classical guitar privately through the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His new quartet CD, “Mostly In Blue” is scheduled for release at the outset of 2018.

KEITH SAUNDERS, piano : A transplanted New Yorker and Los Angeleno, Keith has lived in beautiful downtown Albany CA since 2010. Where is Albany, you ask? It is a quaint hamlet sandwiched between Berkeley and El Cerrito. Where is El Cerrito? Nobody knows. Keith grew up in Van Nuys, a suburb of L.A., and studied improvisation with the vibraphonist, Charlie Shoemake. He was fortunate to work with some great musicians, among them, Roy McCurdy, Bill Holman, Bill Watrous, and Dick Berk, who encouraged him to move to New York, where he spent 26 years, and worked with Richie Cole, Richie Vitale, (basically anyone named Richie) Hank Crawford, Mickey Roker, Ralph LaLama, Frank Wess, and Valery Ponamarev, among others. In 1991, he became the leader of The NY HardBop Quintet, a cooperative unit featuring Joe Magnarelli and Jerry Weldon. The band was together for eight years and during this span recorded four CDs for the TCB label. Keith is now a mainstay in the SF Bay Area jazz scene.

ROBB FISHER (bass) (Grammy - Cal Tjader Band) has been a sideman for a diverse number of artists since moving to the Bay Area in l967. As a young man growing up in LA, Robb was fortunate to be around jazz; his father was a bassist and arranger who had an enormous record collection. (His dad later became the first person to ever receive a Master’s Degree in jazz at USC.) Robb studied clarinet and alto sax through junior high, and in high school, a love of jazz and collecting LPs engulfed him.

In 1976, Robb joined Cal Tjader’s group, which included percussionist Pancho Sanchez. It was an association that lasted over six years and a key highlight in Robb’s career. “Cal was a mentor to all his sidemen,” say Robb, “and his lyrical ballads and love of Afro Cuban rhythms was impressive. Cal was a master of breathing. It was as if he could light up a cigarette while he soloed.” Robb toured and recorded many albums, including anchoring Cal’s Grammy Award winning album, “La Onda Va Bien” and Grammy Nominee album, “Gozame Pero Ya.” During this period, Robb recorded with such jazz and Latin luminaries as Art Pepper, Carmen McCrae, Clare Fischer, Tania Maria and Anita O’Day. Cal died on Cinco de Mayo in the Philippines in 1982. “It was a significant loss for all of us,” Robb says.

Robb has continued to play with a wide range of local Bay Area jazz musicians, including Dick Whittington, Keith Saunders, Ben Stolorow, Parker Grant, Kai Lyons, Brandon Etzler, Andrew Speight, Vince Lateano, Ron Marabuto, Leon Joyce, and many others. In the 90’s, Robb and guitarist George Cotsirilos formed a quintet that featured drummer Eddie Marshall, a creative vehicle for original works to be played. Two of Robb’s tunes can be heard on the Monarch recording entitled “The Nighthawks featuring Eddie Marshall.” He is currently playing regularly on Saturdays at the Berkeley Cheeseboard with the North Berkeley Jazz Quartet featuring Bob Kenmotsu, Keith Saunders, and Ron Marabuto. Robb has taught for many years at the Jazz School in Berkeley and Bob Athayde’s Lafayette Summer Music Jazz Workshop.

RON MARABUTO (drums) Instructor/Performer Ron Marabuto is the son of pianist/arranger John Marabuto and was raised in the East Bay. After graduating from UC Berkeley, he spent over a decade in New York City working with jazz greats such as Pepper Adams, Tommy Flanagan and Roland Hanna. Upon returning to San Francisco, Ron continued to work with many notable musicians including, Buddy Montgomery, Bruce Forman and Mark Levine. Ron has taught at Stanford Jazz Workshop, JazzCamp West and Monterey Jazz Festival Education Program.