JazzPOP celebrates its 19th season with three concerts showcasing a cross-generational kaleidoscope of West Coast creative jazz. Organized by San Francisco Bay Area bassist Lisa Mezzacappa. Drummer, composer, educator, and community builder Malachi Whitson creates boundary-defying jazz rooted in the deep traditions of the Black Music canon–blues, gospel, swing, bebop–while simultaneously incorporating West African polyrhythms and Afro-Caribbean grooves. A passionate drummer since childhood, Whitson approaches the drums as not only an instrument, but a way of listening, connecting, and imagining a more vibrant world. Originally from the Bay Area and now based in Los Angeles, Whitson brings his new quartet to the JazzPOP stage to create music that connects ancestral echoes with contemporary voices in a sound that is unmistakably their own.

Malachi Whitson, drums
Kai Lyons, guitar
David Michael Otis, alto sax
Ben Williams, bass