In the words of Beth Custer, "There is nothing like blowing a horn! It oxygenates the body, clears the mind, and inspires moods from meditative to giddy, ecstatic to emphatic."

Founded and led by Beth since 1990, Clarinet Thing features four of the Bay Area's finest clarinet virtuosos performing arrangements of Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, John Carter, Bobby Bradford, Pixinguinha, Weill, Podgorski, and others, as well as original compositions both old and brand-new. Fifteen years of live recordings in Bay Area cafes, bars, churches, and concert halls were gleaned for their first album release, Agony Pipes and Misery Sticks, two slang terms for the clarinet.

San Franciscan Beth, praised by Phil Elwood as "Synonymous with the best and most adventurous of the Bay Area's cutting-edge musical sounds," is well known across a wide spectrum of local scenes for her work with Club Foot Orchestra, 4th world ambient ensemble Trance Mission, trip-hop duo Eighty Mile Beach, and the Latin-jazz-rock influenced Dona Luz 30 Besos, not to mention her numerous dance and theater compositions and TV and indie film soundtrack work.

Tonight's quartet also features clarinetists extraordinaire, Sheldon Brown (Omar Sosa, Hemispheres, Sheldon Brown Group), Harvey Wainapel (McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Ray Charles, Airto Moreira) and Ben Goldberg (New Klezmer Trio, Tin Hat, John Schott). Come be blown away!

Visit Beth's website