Welcome

No matter how you look at it, in whatever genre he chooses, SF-based Jazz Saxophonist Michael Zilber is, as Downbeat and Grammy winning and nominated legend David Liebman says,"simply one of the best composers and players around anywhere. Period!"

News

Big News Coming Very Soon!

 Watch this space for some big news.  Stay tuned!

Projects

Billy Collins Project

A true labor of love for Zilber, the project features eleven poems by Billy Collins, America’s most beloved and widely known poet, set to music for voice, sax, piano, bass and drums. Andy...

Happy Hour

A true collective, Happy Hour is made up of 5 of the top jazz musicians in the Bay Area, all leaders in their own right. Erik Jekabson on trumpet, John Gove on Trombone, Peter Barshay on bass and...

Stowell-Zilber

Guitar great John Stowell has joined forces with Michael to record originals and renditions of songs by Kenny Wheeler and John Scofield, as well as off the beaten track standards. Joined by the...

The Brecker-Shorter Project

Formed as a group doing a tribute concert to Michael Brecker and Wayne Shorter, the 2 pre-eminent jazz saxophonists of the past 40 years, the group is one of which Michael Zilber says “there...

The Jazzschool Institute for Developing Artists and Audiences at Yoshi's

I am honored that Jazzschool Director Susan Muscarella has asked me to teach composition, saxophone and jazz ensembles as part of the new ...

Listen

A selection of some of Michael's recent work. Check out the projects and recordings to hear and see more.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialise correctly.

Night Club, Billy Collins Project

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialise correctly.

Wabash 3, Stowell-Zilber

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialise correctly.

Come Around Go, Happy Hour

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialise correctly.

Changing Tranes, Crossroads

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialise correctly.

Manteca, Reimagined

Watch

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialise correctly.

Two videos: first the Brecker-Shorter Project, then the Billy Collins Project, both recorded live at Yoshi's. Look for more on the projects page.

Writings

From time to time Michael writes articles and other pieces — mostly about music and musicianship, occasionally on other topics.

Letter To A Talented Young Bassist

This is an adaptation of an email exchange I had with a very gifted young bassist who played in one of my groups. I thought it would be of interest to any aspiring bassist. His name has been changed to ensure his anonymity. The following is his question (which took a lot of courage to ask) and my response, both of them edited to be more coherent than an email exchange and to protect the innocent.

10 Questions For Every Aspiring Jazz Musician

Here are some comments meant for any serious student of jazz, based on my years as a player and a teacher as well as drawing liberally from my talks with Dave Liebman.

Michael Zilber interviewed by Jerry Karp

This interview by freelance journalist Jerry Karp is the best and most comprehensive Michael has done. It is posted on Jerry’s website and was the basis for an excellent profile Jerry wrote about Michael for JazzWest.