Maybeck Recital Hall, also known as Maybeck Studio for Performing Arts, is located inside the Kennedy-Nixon House located at 1537 Euclid Avenue in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, United States. It was built in 1914 by
Bernard Maybeck
Bernard Ralph Maybeck (February 7, 1862 – October 3, 1957) was an American architect in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 20th century. He was an instructor at University of California, Berkeley. Most of his major buildings were in ...
. The hall seats up to 50 people and was designed upon commission for the Nixon family, local arts patrons who wanted a live-in studio for their daughter Milda's piano teacher, Mrs. Alma Kennedy. The room is paneled in unfinished clear-heart redwood, which contributes to an unusually rich and warm, yet bright and clear acoustic quality. There are two grand pianos in the space: a Yamaha S-400, and a Yamaha C7. Maybeck originally designed the space to accommodate an 1898 7-foot Bechstein.
History
In 1923, the hall was destroyed in a hillside fire. It was rebuilt quickly by Maybeck.
Milda Nixon lived at the residence until her death in 1981 at the age of 92. Her adopted son, Charles R. Fulweiler, then held the house for several years. In 1987, the house was purchased by jazz pianist Dick Whittington, who opened the hall for public recitals.
Between 1989 and 1995,
Concord Records
Concord Records is an American record label owned by Concord and based in Los Angeles, California. Concord Records was launched in 1995 as an imprint designed to reach beyond the company's foundational Concord Jazz label. The label's artists hav ...
produced 42 solo piano recitals in Maybeck Recital Hall. Each recital featured a different
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...
pianist; the series eventually consisted of 42
CD. Concord also recorded 10 jazz duets at Maybeck during the same time period, which the label also released as a series of CDs.
In 1996, the house was purchased by Gregory Moore. The recital hall was no longer open for public concerts, although it was used for private concerts which were attended by invitation only. Since 2013, the newly named Maybeck Studio for the Performing Arts has continued the tradition of public concerts on Sundays at 3pm during their September–June season. The intimate hall seats 40 audience members.
Albums
Live at Maybeck series
Concord Duo series
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Roger Kellaway
Roger Kellaway (born November 1, 1939) is an American composer, arranger and jazz pianist.
Life and career
Kellaway was born in Waban, Massachusetts, United States. He is an alumnus of the New England Conservatory. Kellaway has composed commissi ...
&
Red Mitchell
Keith Moore "Red" Mitchell (September 20, 1927 – November 8, 1992) was an American jazz double-bassist, composer, lyricist, and poet.
Biography
Mitchell was born in New York City. His younger brother, Whitey Mitchell, also became a jazz ...
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Dave McKenna
Dave McKenna (May 30, 1930 – October 18, 2008) was an American jazz pianist known primarily as a solo pianist and for his " three-handed" swing style. He was a significant figure in the evolution of jazz piano.
Career
He was born in Woonsock ...
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Gray Sargent
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Ken Peplowski
Ken Peplowski (born May 23, 1959) is an American jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and known primarily for playing swing music. For over a decade, Peplowski recorded for Concord Records.
In 2 ...
&
Howard Alden
Howard Vincent Alden (born October 17, 1958) is an American jazz guitarist born in Newport Beach, California. Alden has recorded many albums for Concord Records, including four with seven-string guitar innovator George Van Eps.
Early life
H ...
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Alan Broadbent
Alan Leonard Broadbent (born 23 April 1947) is a New Zealand jazz pianist, arranger, and composer known for his work with artists such as Sue Raney, Charlie Haden, Woody Herman, Chet Baker, Irene Kral, Sheila Jordan, Natalie Cole, Warne Marsh ...
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Gary Foster
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Adam Makowicz &
George Mraz
George Mraz (born Jiří Mráz; 9 September 1944 – 16 September 2021) was a Czech-born American jazz bassist and alto saxophonist. He was a member of Oscar Peterson's group, and worked with Pepper Adams, Stan Getz, Michel Petrucciani, Ste ...
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Ralph Sutton
Ralph Earl Sutton (November 4, 1922 – December 30, 2001) was an American jazz pianist born in Hamburg, Missouri. He was a stride pianist in the tradition of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller.
Biography
Sutton was born in Hamburg, Missouri, ...
&
Dick Hyman
Richard Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Art ...
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Bill Mays
William Allen Mays (born February 5, 1944), known professionally as Bill Mays, is an American jazz pianist from Sacramento, California.
Biography
Mays came from a musical family and at the age of 15 became interested in jazz at an Earl Hines co ...
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Ed Bickert
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Denny Zeitlin
Denny Zeitlin (born April 10, 1938) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and clinical professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco. Since 1963, he has recorded more than 100 compositions and was a first-place winner in the ...
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David Friesen
David Friesen (born May 6, 1942 in Tacoma, Washington) is an American jazz bassist. He plays double bass and electric upright bass.
Career
Friesen began playing bass while serving in the United States Army in Germany. He played with John Hand ...
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Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism.
Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ...
&
Bill Charlap
William Morrison Charlap (born October 15, 1966, pronounced "Shar-Lap") is an American jazz pianist. In 2016, '' The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern'', an album produced by Charlap and Tony Bennett, won the award for Best Traditional Pop ...
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Chris Potter &
Kenny Werner
Kenny Werner (born November 19, 1951) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and author.
Early life
Born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 19, 1951 and then growing up in Oceanside, Long Island, Werner began playing and performing at a young ...
: ''
Concord Duo Series Volume Ten''
External links
Homepage The Maybeck Recital Hall Piano Series: An Oral History
{{Coord, 37, 52, 50, N, 122, 15, 40, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title
Concert halls in California
Buildings and structures in Berkeley, California
Music venues in the San Francisco Bay Area
Culture of Berkeley, California
Bernard Maybeck buildings
Event venues established in 1914
1914 establishments in California