Ethno-jazz guitar wizard Tim Sparks makes a rare appearance in the Bay Area, performing his distinctive interpretations of traditional Jewish music and his solo guitar arrangements of John Zorn pieces from the just-released album Masada Guitars (Tzadik). Born in rural North Carolina, Tim studied Spanish classical and jazz guitar before his penchant for cross-cultural encounters lead him to the music of the Balkans and the Middle East. Whether it's a Ladino ballad from Fifteenth Century Jewish Spain or a Judeo-Tat theater song from Soviet era Dagestan, Tim's gorgeous interpretations respect the traditional contours of the music while displaying his idiosyncratic fingerpicking style and formidable technique.

Sharing the evening with Tim is San Francisco guitarist Teja Gerken. Weaving together influences of folk, jazz, classical, and world music into a style that is uniquely his own, many of Teja's compositions employ alternate tunings, two-handed tapping, and percussive effects; others simply rely on his keen sense of melody and movement. Teja's repertoire, while focusing on his fiery originals, is augmented by Irish traditionals, jazz standards, and improvisations on themes by classical composers. Of his 1999 debut album, On My Way, the music review website "Listen.com" admiringly remarked, "This sounds as if Michael Hedges, Paco De Lucia, and Bill Monroe are all fighting over a guitar."