Five Things To Know about Will Bernard and Beth Custer

1. GRAMMY-nominated guitarist Will Bernard is a Berkeley native, now living in Brooklyn
2. He’s led a half-dozen albums with his trio, quartet and Motherbug band, and has worked with Stanton Moore, Robert Walter, and Jai Uttal
3. He was a member of Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics Ensemble, who made their recorded debut on trumpet legend Don Cherry’s 1990 album Multikulti
4. He was a part of the short lived but acclaimed Bay Area band T.J. Kirk featuring fellow guitarists Charlie Hunter and John Schott, as well as drummer Scott Amendola. The funk-infused band was dedicated to the music of James Brown, Thelonious Monk, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk 
5. In describing him, JazzTimes writer Dan Ouellette said: “Will Bernard is one of the best-kept jazz-guitar secrets on the planet”

1. Beth Custer is an award-winning clarinetist, composer and bandleader who has released over 35 albums
2. Her ensembles have included My Grandmother, assembled to perform Custer’s score to the banned 1929 Soviet Georgian film of the same name, the improv-heavy Beth Custer Ensemble, Clarinet Thing featuring fellow reedists Sheldon Brown, Ben Goldberg and Harvey Wainapel, world-fusion group Trance Mission, and the large-scale Vinculum Symphony that brings together chamber musicians and instrument builders from around the world
3. She performs with the Club Foot Orchestra, the premier ensemble devoted to silent film scoring and accompaniment
4. She has composed for a number of notable performers, ensembles, and dance and theatre groups including the Kronos Quartet, Turtle Island Quartet, Zeitgeist, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Magic Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Joe Goode Performance Group, and the California Shakespeare Theater, among others
5. This duo performance with Will Bernard will make clear why the San Francisco Chronicle calls her “a virtuoso of collaboration”

Will Bernard and Beth Custer perform in the Joe Henderson Lab on 11/14. Tap here for more information.