JAZZ IN SESSION

Christopher Clarke

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio Christopher Lowell Clarke began playing trumpet in elementary school. Excelling in his musical training he was given the opportunity to continue his musical development at The School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Cincinnati. Clarke attended The College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Majoring in Jazz and Studio Music, Clarke played with many guest artists including Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Bobby Shew, and Byron Stripling. Since his move to San Francisco, Clarke has shared the stage with many Bay Area legends including Eddie Marshal, George Coleman, Sonny Simmons and Bishop Norman Williams.

Marco Diaz

Marco Diaz was born and raised in San Francisco and was introduced to the trumpet in the fourth grade at E.R. Taylor Elementary School. His formal training in both piano and trumpet began at the age of 14. He earned a scholarship from the Community Music Center in San Francisco, and began playing professionally at the age of 17 throughout the Bay Area with various Latin Jazz, Salsa, Reggae, and R&B bands. Upon graduating from high school, he continued his studies at San Francisco State University pursing a Bachelors of Arts in Popular Music and a minor in Economics.

Today, Marco is part of the faculty at the Community Music Center in San Francisco. He is an accomplished recording musician who has shared the stage with Grammy Award winning artist, Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Nelson Gonzales, Jimmy Bosch, Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, Ska Cubano (Europe), Tito Rojas, Nino Segarra, Anthony Cruz, Anthony Blea, Jovino Santos Neto, Joe Santiago, and is an integral member of the John Santos sextet, Bobi Cespedes group, and Doug Beavers’ Orquesta Rovida. Marco has participated in the San Francisco Symphony AIM program since 2000 and currently produces records and performs music throughout the country while also co-leading Vission Latina, an Afro-Caribbean dance band.

Marcus Stephens

Woodwind doubler, composer, soundscapist and Bay Area native.  Marcus has been active in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area music community since 1999.  He has earned his saxophone performance degree at Cal State Hayward (Eastbay).  His versatility has made him an in-demand woodwind performer working with the likes of Marcus Shelby(MSJO), The Shotgun Wedding Hip Hop Symphony, Gurkestra, The Evan Francis Group (formerly known as Space Heater), The Kev Choice Ensemble, Myron & E (Stonesthrow Records), hip hop legends The Souls of Mischief, and Grammy/Tony award winning performing artist Jennifer Holliday.  

Marcus is a longtime member of Secret Sidewalk, a forward thinking electro-acoustic ensemble.  The members of Secret Sidewalk are also founders of the progressive music series Smart Bomb (Oakland).  Marcus stays active within the Bay Area’s Jazz scene through his tenure with the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra.  He can also be seen/heard with the 7 piece international touring Rock n’ Soul band Con Brio.

Melecio Magdaluyo

Extraordinary saxophonist/flautist, Melecio Magdaluyo, is a multi-instrumentalist (soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, clarinet, flute, piano, percussion) and educator active in the vibrant San Francisco music scene since the mid 1970s and teaching in the public school district since the mid-1990s. He is a founding member of John Santos’ Machete Ensemble (1985), and is one of the most solicited freelance recording and performing musicians in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Melecio was born and raised in San Francisco and has recorded and/or performed with The Asian American Jazz Orchestra, Machete Ensemble, The Whispers, Con-Funk-Shun, Tito Puente, Pete Escovedo, Sheila E., M.C. Hammer and countless others, in addition to leading his own quintet.

Michael Aaberg

Michael Aaberg is a Bay Area born and based musician. He attended Berkeley High School and toured Europe with them performing at the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals. His senior year of high school he won the Marian McPartland jazz piano scholarship.

After high school, he attended the New School of Social Research's jazz program. He was in the top combo during his stay. Classmates included Robert Glasper, Bilal, Marcus and E.G. Strickland and Otis Brown III.

In 2001, Mike Aaberg produced the title track "Closer" off Oakland artist Goapele's album with Zion I member Amp Live. He went on to produce and perform with her for the next 8 years. He also performed with Jazz/soul artist Lalah Hathaway and his keyboards are featured on her 2011 released "Where it All Begins".

A truly versatile musician, Michael has performed with many different artists including Fantasia Barrero, DJ Quik, Kenny Garrett, Joshua Redman, Yosvanny Terry, Rahsaan Patterson, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dave Ellis and more.

Michael Mitchell

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Michael Mitchell grew up behind the drums. Playing professionally since the age of thirteen, Michael graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in 2007, and went on to teach at India’s True School of Music, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and is currently working as a Teaching Artist for SFJAZZ. A recent transplant to Oakland, California, has afforded Michael the opportunity to continue learning and teaching, and to build a strong bi-coastal musical community of students, educators, and professional players.

Miguel Govea

Miguel Govea (trumpet, guitarrón, diatonic accordion, fiddle, trombone, sousaphone, vocals) Miguel grew up in Bakersfield, California.  He remembers playing trumpet with his schoolmates, drumming on his dad’s old pickup with his neighborhood friends, and learning guitar from his cousins on occasional trips to Mexico City. His family was deeply involved in the Mexican–American farmworker struggles of the 1960s. Since the 1980s, he has played and recorded with many of the first wave of Chicano musicians that emerged in the decades prior, as well as countless Bay Area salsa luminaries.

Ruth Davies

Ruth has performed with such jazz and blues greats as Keb' Mo', Charles Brown, Clark Terry, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, Jay McShann, Van Morrison, Maria Muldaur, Junior Mance, Barbara Morrison, Etta Jones, Terry Gibbs, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Little Jimmy Scott.

Her discography (including several Platinum and Grammy-winning CDs) covers various jazz and blues styles as well as movie soundtracks. She has recorded with Charles Brown, Bonnie Raitt, John Lee Hooker, Van Morrison, Clark Terry, Vassar Clements, Toots Thielemans, Ernie Watts, Elvin Bishop, Maria Muldaur, Jackie Ryan, and Ramblin' Jack Elliott, among others.

Ruth believes in teaching and in bringing music to the public schools. She has been on the faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop for 17 years and has had a very successful "Ruth Davies Blues Night" series at the Stanford Jazz Festival. The San Francisco Symphony’s "Adventures in Music" program and the "Just Say Jazz" project deliver music education to the classroom. By any conservative estimate, Ruth has presented music programs to over two thousand school groups. That's a serious commitment.