Thursday December 15, 2022
Performance 6-7pm; Block Party from 5-8pm
Dodge Place, San Francisco, CA 94102
Free! Outdoors!
The Tenderloin Museum presents funky Cuban jazz ensemble Obryzon in concert at Dodge Alley as part of its Sounds of the Tenderloin live music series and in collaboration with the Tenderloin Community Benefit District.
Over the course of a year of Sounds of the Tenderloin, one face appeared again and again in the bands booked to pay homage to the TL’s legendary nightlife and music scene by activating the neighborhood with live music. Obrayan Calderon played trombone in the very first Sounds of the TL program–the Sunday Streets Second Line with MJ’s Brass Boppers; later, he was in the horn section for ELeNA, the spectacular Latin-reggae project of longtime Hyde Street Studios engineer David Saenz; and most recently Calderon sat in with the percussion forward salsa group Agua Pura, fresh off a successful recording session at Hyde Street.
Originally from the province of Mayabeque in the Municipality of Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba, Calderon is an accomplished trombonist, pianist, percussionist and singer. He trained for nearly a decade in Cuba’s Art Vocational School and National School of Art, going on to record extensively and tour internationally with several Cuban popular orchestras such as Adalberto Alvarez y du Son, Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco, and Juan Carlos Alfonzo y su Dan Den. Since moving to the Bay Area, Calderon teaches Afro-Cuban music at the Oakland Public Conservatory and plays with a slew of luminary Bay Area musicians across genres, such as Jesus Diaz, John Santos, Edgardo Cambon, Avance, Rebecca Mouleon, Fito Reinoso, Rey Martinez, Fantastic Negrito, Calmao, Mario y su Timbeko, The Futuralics, and The Return of James Brown among others.
For the final Dodge Alley Block Party of the year, Obrayan Calderon will present his own group, Obryzon, that mixes Afro-Cuban sounds with some of the styles and influences he’s picked up as one of the Bay’s hardest working horn players. This performance is one of several Thursday night activations organized by the TLCBD to transform Dodge Place, a neglected alleyway in the Tenderloin, into a healthy and aesthetically positive community experience for nearby families and seniors. These Thursday happenings are pilot activities for more permanent community-led physical improvements including a living green wall, planter boxes, murals, and colorful design and lighting elements.
Join us and the residents of Dodge Place to reclaim this alleyway for the community, socialize with friends & neighbors, and dance to the Afro-Cuban fusion of Obryzon! All are welcome at Dodge Place on Thursday, December 15th from 5-8pm, with the musical performance from 6-7pm. Free to attend; food & drink by Shovels Bar & Grill available for purchase.
Tenderloin Museum’sSounds of the Tenderloin series animates the neighborhood’s undersung cultural history through live performances that explore, deepen, and complicate participants’ understanding of Tenderloin history while supporting local working musicians and creating accessible cultural activities for the neighborhood residents. Support for this event and TLM’s Sounds of the Tenderloin live music series generously provided by Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.