New Works Fest heats up San Jose Jazz’s Winter Series

For rising musicians, a little encouragement can go a long way.

San Jose Jazz has turned the appreciative head nod into a major initiative with the New Works Festival, a concert series showcasing artists who’ve received commissions from the organization.

Part of a recent expansion of programming at the intimate SJZ Break Room, which has become an essential hub of the South Bay Music scene, the New Works Festival features six bandleaders between Feb. 20 and March 14. Every show is priced at a bargain rate $15.

The series opens Feb. 20 with Richmond-based Luqman Frank, a soul-steeped singer-songwriter who’s mostly worked as studio musician or sideman. With past employers such as Ledisi, Carlos Santana, Yolanda Adams, and Pete Escovedo, he’s a first-call cat when an act needs sweet, soaring vocals.

Like the other New Work Festival artists I spoke with, Frank described the commission as “a great surprise and opportunity.” He added his own funds to the grant and brought his dream team into the studio “and the song came out as one of the better pieces I’ve done,” he says.

The tune he wrote for the commission, “Fighting for Each Other,” was inspired by communities in Los Angeles and Minneapolis rallying against ICE’s immigration enforcement. It’s built on a sinuous bass line by Michael “Tiny” Lindsey, who featured Frank at the Break Room for the 2022 New Works Festival.

He’s made himself known in the South Bay performing with Lindsey several times at the lamented downtown venue Mama Kin, where he also joined saxophonist Harold Wiley’s funk-powered Extra Nappy.

Frank’s Break Room band features a cast of Bay Area heavyweights like keyboardist Mike Blankenship, who’s a member of the Oakland collective Black London (which opened for Michael Franti last August at Stern Grove).

“This is an opportunity to get some of my favorite musicians and producers together,” said Frank, who grew up in Berkeley. “Each one has a producer thing going on. We all went into the studio and created the song together.”

Oakland saxophonist Ashley Jemison makes her South Bay debut as a bandleader at the Break Room on Feb. 21, and her aptly named commission, “Movin’ Up,” speaks to her prospects and ambition. Blending jazz, R&B, pop and soul, she’s assembled a group built on drummer Jae “Stix” Jackson.

Jackson featured Jemison in her band Baycoin Beats at the Break Room for 2024’s Summer Festival, and for the New Works Festival gig Jemison has lined up “the exact same group we had at the Jazz Fest,” she said.

“Getting the commission was kind of a surprise,” she said. “I’ve been the back-of-the-band person, supporting someone else. Now I’m coming to the front of the stage.”

The Stockton-raised saxophonist has been gaining notice recently via work with veteran pianist Tammy Hall, who she’ll join at Mr. Tipple’s in San Francisco on March 14. They connected via San Jose-reared vocalist Jackie Gage for a Christmas-themed show at Keys Jazz Bistro in North Beach in 2021, and Hall has been calling her ever since.

“Every time I’m on stage with Tammy is a master class,” Jemison said. “I’m  always happy to support her.”

Ouida, an El Cerrito-based vocalist and songwriter inspired by old-school soul, jazz and alt R&B, is another young artist stepping into the foreground, making her San Jose debut at the Break Room on March 13. The Filipino-Irish artist was recently featured on Ruby Ibarra’s 2025 Tiny Desk Contest-winning “Bakunawa,” which led to a sold-out 10-city tour.

She is honing a stripped-down concept with guitarist Josh Icban, trumpeter and pianist Bernard Sapitola, and Mikail Alejandro on electric and stand-up bass. Her commission, “Fiends,” reflects the duality of her self-possessed sound and her persona as “a rough kid with a chip on my shoulder,” she said. “I like having that contrast. I think about when I was living in Ireland and the grittiness of the visual scenery, the aching simplicity of love and human experience in such a grey environment.”

Like Frank and Jemison, she’s using the commission “as a stepping stone to my next project,” she said.

Benicia Saxophonist Trevor Strohl is another New Works Fest rising artist (Feb. 27), but the commissions aren’t only for the young. Two veteran South Bay drummers are also in the mix, with Santa Clara’s Phil Hawkins presenting “Pompaté” Feb. 28 and San Jose great Sylvia Cuenca closing the festival on March 14, with “Tempel-Tuttle.”

Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.

NEW WORKS FESTIVAL

Presented by San Jose Jazz

When & where: Feb. 20-March 14; San Jose Jazz’s Break Room, San Jose

Tickets: $15-30; sanjosejazz.org