As a first-generation Filipina American whose mother lived through the Japanese occupation in WWII, I’ve seen how history shapes the need for voice and expression. I’ve worked on the front lines of civil rights—first as a plaintiff’s trial attorney and later as an Assistant Attorney General with the Department of Justice in the Trial Division. Through both paths, I’ve learned how vital it is to listen to different histories—and this music is one place where those histories meet.

It’s through performances like this that we bring those histories into conversation, connecting my own story, the civil rights journey, and the tradition of jazz.

This performance is enriched by the lineage of the artists on stage. Christopher Brown, he who leads his own renowned quartet and brings his Black American heritage, joins my band for this performance. He embodies the resilience of jazz adding another layer to the story we share. Ed Bennett, an acoustic bassist whose career includes collaborations with legends like Carmen McRae and Nancy King, brings his rich musical legacy into the shared narrative of jazz as a space of expression and survival. Greg Goebel’s original arrangements take these classic tunes and reimagine them for today—his background, from working with Gino Vannelli to his own projects, transforms tradition into something vital and immediate.

This performance doesn’t equate these histories but places them in conversation. Through the Great American Songbook, Autumn Nocturne explores how we shape meaning, community, and survival through lived experience.

Autumn Nocturne isn't about what's lost; it's about what we make room for. Just as autumn leads to renewal, this music explores the space we create for growth, expression, and survival through the Great American Songbook. Autumn Nocturne shows that resilience isn't just enduring the past; it's opening a new chapter making space for what is yet to come.

This is not background music.
This is a room for listening.