Freddie Bryant Trio

Guitarist Freddie Bryant brings his Kaleidoscope West Trio to San Francisco for this Sunday evening performance, joined by bassist Doug Miller and drummer Sylvia Cuenca — two virtuosos who know how to swing and how to listen.

Bryant's Kaleidoscope project has evolved over years of performing in New York and beyond, showcasing his inventive compositions and command of the guitar. For this West Coast iteration, he's assembled a formidable rhythm section.

Doug Miller, a mainstay of the Seattle jazz scene for 23 years before relocating to the Bay Area, has performed with legends like James Moody and Ken Peplowski, and toured with the Count Basie and Ellington Orchestras. A founding member of the critically-acclaimed trio New Stories and the avant-garde quartet Big Neighborhood, Miller brings deep experience in modern jazz, bebop, and Brazilian styles, along with a composer's ear for musical architecture. His work spans the spectrum from intimate trio settings to large ensemble arrangements.

Sylvia Cuenca is a hard-swinging post-bop and hard bop drummer who has built her reputation through long-term associations with trumpet legend Clark Terry and tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson. A recipient of NEA jazz performance grants and a semi-finalist in the 1992 Thelonious Monk International Drum Competition, she's performed extensively across the U.S. and Europe with a wide range of jazz luminaries. Her drumming is both skillful and propulsive, anchoring the music while leaving space for spontaneity.

The trio format rewards close listening — three musicians conversing, responding to each moment, building something together that exists only in that room, that night. This is the kind of show where you lean in.