Raffi Garabedian Quartet

Doors 7pm / Pre-Concert Talk 7:30pm
Raffi Garabedian, tenor saxophone
Dahveed Behroozi, piano
David Ewell, bass
Michael Mitchell, drums
“Garabedian has proved his mettle as a multifaceted artist.” — All About Jazz
Berkeley-born, Oakland-based saxophonist and composer Raffi Garabedian uses spontaneous composition as a foundation to explore new rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic ideas in his expansive music. His music is by turns introspective and freespirited, and his warm tenor tone carries any ensemble he plays with. Garabedian brings his virtuosic quartet of improvisers to the Jazzschool for an evening of original jazz compositions that center group interplay, melodic invention, and forward momentum—with a focus on sound and feel.
Garabedian has performed and recorded with luminaries such as Jorge Rossy, Ben Street, Dayna Stephens, and Johnny Talbot. He also plays in several projects in and around the Bay Area, including Insect Life with Ben Goldberg, Danny Lubin-Laden, and Ben Davis, and Sticklerphonics with Lubin-Laden and Scott Amendola. DownBeat called his 2024 release The Crazy Dog, which explored the impact of the Armenian genocide on his family, a “deeply personal and musically inventive” work, full of “complex, contrapuntal ambitions.”