Berkeley bassist and composer Lisa Mezzacappa brings the latest incarnation of her working band to Angel City in the Los Angeles premiere of a raucous and rollicking new suite of music. Her 5(ish) ensemble plays selections from its 2026 release “othrwrldly,” which explores the concept of worldbuilding—inspired by Mezzacappa’s fascination with the speculative fiction of Ursula Le Guin, Haruki Murakami, Samuel R. Delany and David Mitchell— as a way to envision new kinds of musical interaction, storytelling, structure and play. othrwrldly showcases her band’s spectacular chemistry and keen improvisational prowess, woven into expansive compositions that foreground energy, sound, interaction and surprise. The band includes longtime collaborators tenor saxophonist Aaron Bennett (Adam Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra), vibraphonist Mark Clifford (Meerna, Rent Romus), and drummer Jordan Glenn (Fred Frith Trio, Zeena Parkins), plus recent addition pianist Brett Carson (Art Ensemble of Chicago, Roscoe Mitchell).

For more than two decades, Mezzacappa has been a driving force in West Coast improvised music, leading projects that span ethereal chamber works, electro-acoustic compositions, avant-garde jazz, and interdisciplinary collaborations with film, dance, and visual art. Her music is deeply informed by a spirit of curiosity, often drawing inspiration from literature, science, and history—such as her acclaimed projects avantNoir, which was inspired by the crime novels of Paul Auster and Dashiell Hammett, and Cosmicomics, devoted to author Italo Calvino’s late 60s short fiction. artist/ensemble bio here

“Slippery music with its own light-touch humor, sounds curling through time and space.”

— Kevin Whitehead, NPR’s Fresh Air

“As with most of the ensemble efforts that Lisa Mezzacappa’s great Queen Bee label releases, [othrwrldly] is one of the true treasures of this year (2026)!“

— Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

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