photo: Heike Liss

Lisa Mezzacappa is a San Francisco Bay Area-based bassist, composer, and music curator and producer. An active collaborator in the Bay Area music community for more than a dozen years, her music spans avant-garde jazz to ethereal chamber music, scores for experimental film and immersive sound installations. Mezzacappa was voted “Rising Star” bassist in the Downbeat 2013 and 2014 critics polls, and leads her own groups Bait & Switch, Nightshade, the Lisa Mezzacappa Trio, Eartheaters and the Interlopers, and co-leads the ensembles duo B., Cylinder, BODABODA, LMNOP, and Les Gwan Jupons. She has released her music on the Clean Feed, NoBusiness, Leo, NotTwo, Evander and Edgetone record labels, and has recorded as a sideperson for the Tzadik, Kadima and Porto Franco labels. Her own label, Queen Bee Records, was launched in 2013 to disseminate the work of her West Coast creative musician peers.  Lisa organizes concerts for jazz and experimental music in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and collaborates frequently on cross-disciplinary projects in sound installation, experimental film, and visual art.

“One of the most imaginative figures on the Bay Area creative jazz scene.”
– San Jose Mercury News

“Her presence on the bandstand is a reliable sign that something extraordinary is going down.”
– Contra Costa Times

“The work of San Francisco bassist-composer Lisa Mezzacappa demonstrates an admirable balance of grit and whimsy …”
– Time Out New York

“Bassist Lisa Mezzacappa is one of the most prominent improvisers and bandleaders in the Bay Area jazz scene.”
– East Bay Express

“Lisa Mezzacappa is a Bay Area treasure.”
– KQED Arts

“If it can be dreamed up, then Lisa can probably make it happen.”
– KCSM Radio

photo: Heike Liss