Carved out of San Jose Jazz’s downtown office during the height of the pandemic, the SJZ Break Room has become a proving ground for artists eager to share new music.
With last month’s shuttering of neighboring venue Mama Kin, the intimate 100-seat space helps fill a gaping void in the South Bay jazz scene while expanding Sam Jose Jazz’s programming far beyond the nonprofit’s flagship summer and winter festivals.
No program better exemplifies the organization’s impact than the New Works Fest, which kicks off this weekend with two premieres. On Friday, electric bassist and composer Leela Paymai debuts her new project Zheniia, a body of work that combines jazz with classical and popular Persian tunes. And on Saturday bassist Ryan Trujillo presents his New Beginnings Quartet.
The series grew out of SJZ’s Jazz Aid Fund commissioning project, a response to the decimation of work for musicians that has funded 20 artists to write new music every year since 2021. The New Works Fest selects several of the grant recipients to present commission work in the Break Room.
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“This is one of the most rewarding projects we do, allowing people to explore something new,” said SJZ director of marketing Massimo Chisessi. “It’s been so great to see how artists have made use of the opportunity.”
In the case of Paymai, it’s meant delving into her cultural roots in an entirely new way. A graduate of San José State’s jazz program, Paymai is best known as the leader of the R&B-steeped band Miss Hits (which just released its first EP). She’s never before written music influenced by her Iranian heritage.
Her parents left Tehran around the time of the Islamic revolution and she grew up near San Diego before her family relocated to Brussels when she was 12. Paymai took Farsi classes and heard classical Persian music around the house. She studied classical trombone before moving to the South Bay in 2018 to study music at San José State.
With the Jazz Aid Fund commission she set about researching the music she heard growing up and ended up writing for a quintet featuring rhythm section and violinist Allison Irvine and Chili Corder on guitar and oud. Before she knew it Zheniia turned into something of a family project.
“My brother is a composer in London, and he sent me some resources,” she said. “My mom did, too, and I realized a lot of the stuff I’m thinking about is very internalized already.”
The series doesn’t only feature rising artists. Pianist Jon Dryden, a longtime San José State faculty member who mentored Paymai, presents new music for his quartet at the Break Room March 7. And veteran bassist Kai Eckhardt, who’s toured and recorded with guitar legend John McLaughlin and drummer Billy Cobham, performs March 8.
But in terms of impact, it’s hard to overstate how much SJZ’s support can mean to aspiring artists. Cupertino-raised keyboardist/vocalist Dana Salzman, who plays the Break Room March 1 for the New Works Fest, has certainly paid her dues.
She moved east around the turn of the century to study jazz at the New School and spent about a decade on the New York scene. Based in Oakland since moving back to the Bay Area, Salzman is a hustling musician who rarely gets the chance to present a full band.
The quintet she brings to the Break Room features bassist Chico Lopez, her close collaborator for two decades, drummer Maurice Miles, saxophonist Ashley Jemison, and vocalist Rhonda Sauce. She’d been trying to land a gig at the venue for several years and had almost given up when she got the call.
“I was so surprised, I thought it might be a mistake,” she said. “The most important thing in my whole life, aside from my kids, is creating my original music and arrangements for bands to play. I felt so validated that they feel what I have to say is meaningful.”
Made possible with a grant from the Knight Foundation, the Break Room was originally conceived in the early months of the pandemic as a space for recording and livestreaming with high quality sound and video. It wasn’t until April 2021 that SJZ hosted an audience there, and live programming came on tap slowly.
SJZ’s Chisessi sees the Break Room as an ongoing experiment. “We tried assigned seating but it was hard to make that workable so we’ve gone with a GA concept and used different set ups for different kinds of artists,” he said. But it’s been picking up momentum since last fall, with high-profile artists like harpist Brandee Younger and trumpeter Rachel Therien coming in March.
Contact Andrew Gilbert at jazzscribe@aol.com.
SAN JOSE JAZZ NEW WORKS FEST
When & where: Feb. 21 through March at SJZ Break Room, 310 South First St., San Jose
Tickets: $15 per concert; sanjosejazz.org
