Steven Lugerner

San Francisco multi-instrumentalist and composer Steven Lugerner brings his acclaimed SLUGish Ensemble to Mr. Tipple's for an evening of original compositions that blend jazz with chamber music and experimental sounds. Known for what The Village Voice calls his "textured, nearly seamless blend of composition and improvisation," Lugerner creates music that marries the minimalist sonorities of composers like John Adams to the rich, urban jazz textures of artists like Maria Schneider.

A graduate of The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Lugerner is a versatile performer across saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, English horn, and flute. His compositions draw from his pandemic experiences walking the streets of San Francisco's Miraloma neighborhood, creating what critics describe as "lovely, dancing grooves" with "provocative" bass clarinet solos and "bracing contrasts." The music has been praised for its Art Ensemble-like interplay and "volatile, cathartic flare-ups."

The SLUGish Ensemble, an "amoeba-like" group featuring rising West Coast talent, has been a staple of the San Francisco jazz scene with regular appearances at venues throughout the Bay Area. Lugerner, who also serves as Director of Educational and Festival Programming at Stanford Jazz Workshop, collaborates with heavyweight jazz masters including Fred Hersch, Myra Melford, and Matt Wilson. His compositions have been described as "post-Weill, post-Carla-Bley" with hints of cabaret and march music, yet thoroughly modern with rhythmic and harmonic twists.

The ensemble's performances feature highly arranged quartet music with blocks of structure that vary and repeat in non-minimalist patterns, allowing for freedom-in-structure improvisation. Expect an evening of adventurous, novel musical exploration that showcases both compositional sophistication and spontaneous creativity.