Celebrating Asian American Jazz: Ryan Ancheta Quartet + Chris Trinidad's Chroma Tonic
This double bill celebrates Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month by spotlighting two generations of Filipino Bay Area bandleaders crafting expansive, boundary-crossing music. Twenty-year-old trumpet player and composer Ryan Ancheta represents jazz's next generation, blending classic and modern jazz with R&B, funk, soul, hip-hop, and fusion. A UC Berkeley student and alumnus of elite Bay Area programs including SFJazz High School All-Stars, Marcus Shelby's Teen Jazz Orchestra, and Stanford Jazz Workshop, Ancheta has developed a distinctive Bay Area sound that explores uncharted musical territory with every composition.
Ancheta's quartet features pianist Kevin Person, bassist Tonko, and drummer Jaeden Baclay. His recent performances at Bird & Beckett showcase his ability to deliver "blazing sets of bop, hard bop, post-bop and beyond," demonstrating both technical prowess and the adventurous spirit that defines his approach to composition and performance.
Electric bassist Chris Trinidad leads the evening's second set with his latest project Chroma Tonic, featuring vocalist/keyboardist Naima Shahoub, flutist Scott Oshiro on quantum electronics, guitarist Alex Heigl with effects, and drummer/percussionist Cy Thompson. This genre-defying ensemble draws inspiration from ambient pioneers Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, the early avant-garde space psychedelia of Pink Floyd, and the adventurous electric hybrid experiments of early 1970s Miles Davis.
Trinidad, a Filipino-Canadian multi-instrumentalist and composer, explores the intersections of identity and musical tradition through his boundary-crossing work. His compositions blend jazz, Latin music, Filipino traditions, and world music influences, creating what the venue describes as "intriguing groove music" that brings together musicians from wildly divergent backgrounds.
The evening includes an album release celebration for Chroma Tonic, adding special significance to this already unique convergence of generational and stylistic perspectives. Part of The Jazzschool's broader AAPI Heritage Month programming curated by pianist/composer Erika Oba, this concert features a pre-show talk at 7:30pm providing additional context for the artists' cultural contributions to Bay Area jazz.
