Since 1990, Upsurge has been raising consciousness with their potent blend of jazz, poetry, and politics at major festivals, rallies, and venues on the West Coast and around the country. Their unique mix of eclectic, cutting-edge jazz and courageous poetry is as much influenced by Abbey Lincoln, Sonny Rollins, The Funk Brothers, and Stevie Wonder as it is by Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, Gertrude Stein, Bertolt Brecht, and Langston Hughes. Mixing conscious words with assorted grooves and moods, UpSurge reaches deep into the soul, dissolving boundaries that separate genres and people.

Bending metaphors and splitting similes at the front of the swinging ensemble are jazzpoets Raymond Nat Turner and Zigi Lowenberg backed by saxophones, piano, bass, and drums. With their debut CD, All Hands on Deck, Upsurge! garnered an Indie Award nomination from the Association for Independent Music in 2000, and the group won Readers' Pick for Best Poet or Spoken-Word Performer in the 2003 East Bay Express "Best of the East Bay." Upsurge! recently released a second disc, Chromatology.