Inside Michael League’s SFJAZZ Residency
At an SFJAZZ Listening Party, Michael League framed his four-night residency as a sequence of musical worlds defined by roots, relationships, and risk.
Michael League and Ross Eustis. Photo: Steve Roby
When Michael League joined SFJAZZ’s Digital Director, Ross Eustis, onstage for his SFJAZZ Listening Party conversation, the evening served as a prologue to the week ahead. The five-time GRAMMY-winning bandleader of Snarky Puppy and SFJAZZ’s current Resident Artistic Director used the hour to articulate the spirit of his residency: a sequence of musical worlds shaped by long relationships, deep listening, and music as a communal act.
“This place is a little bit weird,” League said, smiling toward the room. “It’s one of the only places in the United States that really cultivated a fan base that trusts the venue. If it’s at SFJAZZ, people believe it must be good.” He spoke admiringly of the organization’s commitment to adventurous programming and broad community engagement. “I want to play for people,” he added. “I want to play for the city.”
That perspective guided the four-night residency unfolding that week in Miner Auditorium. Rather than extending one ensemble across multiple evenings, League curated a progression of collaborations, each grounded in a distinct musical lineage and social history. Together, they formed a portrait of contemporary jazz as an evolving network—rooted, outward-looking, and built through human connection.
A Curator’s Instinct
League described his own role with directness. “My biggest strength,” he said, “is just hiring the right people. I look at certain musicians and think, that person with that person, in that context—that’s going to be special.” The residency line-up became an expression of that instinct, placing artists together in configurations where shared histories and contrasting vocabularies could surface in real time.
Across the week, the concerts will trace an arc from ritual rhythm to chamber intimacy, from cross-cultural songcraft to groove-centered reunion. Each night stands independently. Together, they outline League’s understanding of jazz as a living conversation rather than a fixed category.
Night One: Elipsis and Futuristic Folklore
The residency opens with Elipsis, a project that placed Afro-Cuban and West African spiritual traditions inside a contemporary rhythmic and textural frame. The ensemble brings together drummer Antonio Sánchez, percussionist and vocalist Pedrito Martínez, and singer–keyboardist Glenda del E, with League moving between bass and guitar.
League described the music as “futuristic folklore,” built from ceremonial sources yet oriented toward present-day expression. Martínez’s immersion in Yoruba-rooted musical and spiritual practices anchors the project’s language, while Sánchez’s kinetic precision propels it.
“The whole thing,” League explained, “is about keeping the essence of that folkloric tradition up front, but dressing it in really progressive clothing.” For listeners, Elipsis promises a night of physical immediacy and layered rhythm, where sacred grooves meet modern harmony and extended improvisation.
Night Two: Duo Intimacy with Bill Laurance
From there, the residency turns inward. The second night pairs League with pianist Bill Laurance in an intimate duo setting drawn from their ACT Music recordings, Where You Wish You Were and Keeping Company. With Laurance on acoustic piano and League alternating among fretless bass, oud, and ngoni, the music inhabits a chamber-like world shaped by tone, breath, and melodic contour.
“It’s kind of a middle ground,” League said. “There’s some Mediterranean feeling, some Middle Eastern feeling, some classical influence. But at the core, both of us come out of Black American music.”
The concert invites a focused mode of listening, rewarding attention to resonance, silence, and the architecture of the compositions. Texture stands at the center, allowing sound itself to shape emotional and musical meaning.
Night Three: Becca Stevens and the Secret Trio
The residency’s third chapter widens the lens again with vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Becca Stevens joining the Secret Trio—Ara Dinkjian on oud, Ismail Lumanovski on clarinet, and Tamer Pınarbaşı on kanun. Their collaboration, captured on the GroundUP release Becca Stevens & The Secret Trio, began through a late-night encounter at League’s Miami festival.
“Becca came to see them at 2:30 in the morning,” League recalled. “She was hypnotized. After the set, she said, ‘Can you introduce me?’ and within two months the record was done.” What continued to resonate for him was the immediacy of their bond. “The first day of recording was the first time they ever played together,” he said. “I was in the other room listening and thinking, this is so beautiful.”
For the SFJAZZ performance, League will join the ensemble on bass and guitar, situating himself inside the group’s sound rather than at its front.
The evening promises an atmosphere in which song, chamber textures, and open form interplay on equal footing.
Night Four: Groove and Reunion
The residency concludes with a gathering rooted in groove: League alongside keyboardist Cory Henry and drummer Nathaniel Townsley. Their shared history reaches back to Brooklyn sessions and informal hangouts, long before international touring schedules and headline stages. “The three of us haven’t played together in about ten years,” League said, pointing to the sense of reunion embedded in the final night.
Here, rhythmic authority will take center stage. Henry’s church-shaped harmonic language, Townsley’s elastic pocket, and League’s grounded presence converge in music shaped by jazz, funk, and contemporary Black American lineages. The night promises propulsion, conversation, and collective fire.
League traced the deeper connection across all four evenings to the artists’ foundations. “They’re all rooted very deeply in something,” he said. “And they’ve had the curiosity and the work ethic to go outside and add all these other things to their toolbox.”
SFJAZZ as a Listening Space
That image—roots pressing downward as branches extending outward—captured the week's architecture: jazz as a living practice sustained through collaboration and listening.
The Listening Party itself embodied that process. Music clips opened into stories of formation, mentorship, and encounter. League often returned to the primacy of sound as an invitation to meaning. “If the sound is pleasurable,” he said, “that invites you into the house. Then you discover what rhythms are being played, what notes are being played.” Tone, for him, operated as both an aesthetic and an ethical choice, drawing people into a space where attention became possible.
In that sense, the residency functions as both offering and invitation. Each night opens a different doorway, shaped by distinct communities and musical histories. What unites them is the pursuit of encounters that remain alive in the moment—music built through presence rather than presentation.
For audiences, this week at SFJAZZ offers more than a survey of Michael League’s projects. It will show how contemporary jazz unfolds as a conversation—between cultures, between collaborators, and between the stage and the room.
“All of this only works if people show up and listen,” League said, looking out over the crowd.
The residency gave them every reason to do exactly that.
Michael League at SFJAZZ — Residency Shows
Michael League’s SFJAZZ residency continues this week in Miner Auditorium, presenting four distinct collaborations that explore rhythm, song, and cross-cultural dialogue.
Thu, Jan 29 — Elipsis
Michael League (bass/guitar), Antonio Sánchez (drums), Pedrito Martínez (percussion/vocals), Glenda del E (vocals/keyboards)
Fri, Jan 30 — Michael League & Bill Laurance
An intimate duo performance featuring music from Where You Wish You Were and Keeping Company
Sat, Jan 31 — Becca Stevens, Michael League & The Secret Trio
Becca Stevens (vocals) with Ara Dinkjian (oud), Ismail Lumanovski (clarinet), Tamer Pınarbaşı (kanun)
Sun, Feb 1 — Michael League, Cory Henry & Nathaniel Townsley
A groove-centered collaboration closing the residency
📍 SFJAZZ Center, Miner Auditorium
201 Franklin Street, San Francisco
🎟 Tickets and full show details:
https://www.sfjazz.org
Listen to our podcast interview with Michael League here.
