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Livermore’s Bankhead Theater is debuting a new series this week designed for anyone with an itch to experience a raw, intimate jazz performance on a professional stage.
The eight-part Club Bankhead Jazz Series, hosted by Livermore Valley Arts, will feature nationally and locally recognized artists in a unique venue — members of the audience will be seated on stage alongside the performers in order to recreate a more authentic, small jazz club experience.
“Livermore Valley Arts is excited to satisfy both jazz lovers and music lovers who just adore perfect vibes, in an unforgettable Tri-Valley setting this summer,” LVA stated in a July 10 press release. “To foster that jazz club vibe, tickets will be very limited —interested patrons are encouraged to purchase early so they do not miss the chance to experience great jazz up close, the way it’s meant to be.”
Kicking off this new series at the Bankhead will be Marty Isenberg, a Brooklyn-based bass player who — along with his band — will be performing his “The Way I Feel Inside” set this Friday (Aug. 7).
The performance will explore themes of “wonder, loneliness, and nostalgia of life in the modern world” all while incorporating music from the cinematic world of Wes Anderson.
“I think that this is a really unique experience,” Isenberg told the Pleasanton Weekly. “There’s not a whole lot of other people that are using theatrical performances with such a high level musical jazz band.”
Isenberg originally grew up in Portland, Oregon before moving to the East Coast.
According to Isenberg, he first got into playing instruments because of his father, who was constantly playing instruments around the house. He said after his dad died he took up bass, which ended up being a healing experience.
“Once I started doing it, it didn’t take long for me to realize it was the thing that I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Isenberg said.
Isenberg got into playing jazz in high school. He said he appreciated how the improvisational aspect of jazz allowed him to really express himself without being too direct.
After moving to New York for school and spending some time in the jazz and theater world, Isenberg said he started thinking about putting out his own album during the pandemic.
But as a non-lyricist, he said he wanted to create something that would not only resonate with a wider audience, but would also be easily recognizable.
As he thought about songs he wanted to cover, he realized a lot of the songs he was considering came from Anderson’s movies that he saw back in high school.
“What is it about these songs that fit so well in Wes Anderson films and what is it about them that connected to me and connected to, potentially, Wes Anderson’s audience,” he recalled thinking.
That’s when he began rearranging some of those songs in his own voice, while also mixing in some of that whimsical aesthetic of Wes Anderson, to create “The Way I Feel Inside”.
According to Isenberg, the album touches on themes of alienation and struggling to fit in and the performance itself reiterates those themes as he tells stories about his life as if it were a Wes Anderson movie.
He said apart from the show being funny, charming and musically charged, it also tells his life story and focuses a lot on emotional or transformative moments, such as when he came out as bisexual. He said many people have reached out in the past to let him know how much his story resonated with them and he hopes to continue doing that for others.
“To have someone’s personal perspective on their traumatic experiences is always interesting, I feel, and I think we do it in an interesting way,” Isenberg said.
Isenberg and his five-piece band will be set to perform at 8 p.m. on Friday.
Following this show will be another Club Bankhead performance featuring Oakland-based vocalist Jefferson Bergey. His show, “Sinatra Saloon: A Tale & A Tune”, will highlight “songs you know and stories you don’t, in a musical and storytelling tribute to the music of Frank Sinatra with a little bit of Dean Martin”, according to LVA.
Bergey will be set to perform Sept. 4.
The next performances include Laura Anglade, on Oct. 30; Gabrielle Cavassa on Nov. 20; Mads Tolling & John R. Burr Ramblin’, and Matt Finders & Friends on Jan. 2; LP And The Vinyl on Feb. 6; Skylar Tang on April 2; and Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra on May 14.
For tickets or more information, visit www.livermorearts.org.
