6 pm | MYRA MELFORD SOLO
Melford is an explosive player, a virtuoso who shocks and soothes, and who can make the piano stand up and do things it doesn't seem to have been designed for. — David Rubien, San Francisco Chronicle
Pianist, composer, bandleader and educator Myra Melford—whom the New Yorker called “a stalwart of the new-jazz movement”—has spent the last three decades making brilliant original music that is equally challenging and engaging. Culling inspiration from a wide range of sources including Cecil Taylor, the blues and boogie-woogie of her native Chicago, the poetry of Rumi, the AACM and yoga, she’s explored an array of formats, among them ruminative solo-piano recitals, deeply interactive combos and ambitious multidisciplinary programs.
Since debuting on record as a bandleader in 1990, she’s built a discography of more than 20 albums as a leader or co-leader, and has collaborated with such luminaries as Dave Douglas, Marty Ehrlich, Liberty Ellman, Erik Friedlander, Ben Goldberg, Joseph Jarman, Leroy Jenkins, Ron Miles, Nicole Mitchell, Tyshawn Sorey, Chris Speed, Stomu Takeishi, Cuong Vu and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Melford’s teachers and mentors include Butch Morris, Henry Threadgill, Jaki Byard, Don Pullen and other icons of jazz postmodernism, and she has received some of the most prestigious honors available to an improvising musician: numerous DownBeat poll placings, a 2000 Fulbright scholarship, a 2012 Alpert Award in the Arts for Music and, in 2013, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and the Doris Duke Residency to Build Demand for the Arts.
After having been an influential presence in New York since the mid-’80s, Melford relocated to the Bay Area in 2004, to join the music department at the University of California, Berkeley, as a Professor of Composition and Improvisational Practices. She continues to bring cutting-edge jazz and new music to the campus community via her teaching and as a guest curator for the Cal Performances organization.
Photo © Petra Cvelbar
7 pm | JOE FONDA & BASS OF OPERATION
Joe Fonda bass, composition
Michael Rabinowitz bassoon
Jeff Lederer flutes, clarinets
Harvey Sorgen drums
...a powerful group of musicians who have collectively been active within the New York jazz community for over 40 years. The combination of bassoon and clarinet is a unique and compelling sound not utilized often in jazz. Joe Fonda's composing and arranging for this quartet is powerful, elegant, and complete... a band for today, tomorrow and years to come.
“How we found this sound?
I had hired this group of musicians to do a weeklong tour in the USA in 2022. I had written and organized the music months prior to the tour and sent it to everyone so they could check it out and look it over before the first rehearsal. So, when we got together for the first rehearsal everyone had had a chance to work on the music. I had thought that it would be tenor saxophone and bassoon as the front line, but at the first rehearsal Jeff Lederer who I had hired to play saxophone said, ‘Joe do you really want saxophone?’ and he went on to explain how when he was practicing the music he was not hearing it played on saxophone but on clarinet and flute and on one piece on piccolo. I was not so sure, but Jeff was persistent. He said that to him the written material sounded like Stravinsky or something more classical. So, we tried it and we all really liked the sound of the bassoon with Jeff’s clarinets and flutes. The sound became less jazz and more like a chamber ensemble. Jeff was right, it sounded great. While we were on tour playing 7 nights in a row the sound of the quartet developed into something quite unique. So sit back and enjoy the sound of something you most likely have never heard before”.
– Joe Fonda 2/24/2024
"There is more to creative mastership than the surface of satisfaction and political certainty. The music of Joe Fonda is part of a living tradition of belief and dedication. Future historians will be surprised at the breadth of Mr. Fonda's offerings. This is a real virtuoso and composer of the highest order." – Anthony Braxton, 1996
Thursday Early Show Ticket:
$25 advance / $30 door (1 event, 2 sets)
Thursday Evening Pass:
$38 advance / $45 door (6:00 + 8:30 pm shows, 2 events/4 sets)
Festival Pass:
$100 (7 ticketed events, 16 sets, up to $235 value)
Discounted Advance Tickets & Passes:
E-transfer (no fee) tix@zulapresents.org or EVENTBRITE (+fee)
Students, Seniors, Underwaged at the Door (cash/e-transfer):
$20/event, $30 day passes, $80 festival pass, in person w/ID
No one will be refused admission for lack of funds
2025 Something Else! Festival at-a-glance
Thursday, June 19, 2025 Events
In our 12th year of operation, as Zula Presents Something Else!, we are most grateful to Canada Council for the Arts, Department of Canadian Heritage, and The City of Hamilton for their financial support to make these festival events possible. We would also like to acknowledge and thank our partners Hamilton Public Library and Open Streets for their kind support and enthusiasm.