Steven Bernstein, the Berkeley-born trumpeter, composer, and bandleader, joins host Steve Roby for a wide-ranging conversation about five decades of musical exploration, his upcoming SFJAZZ residency, and two new companion albums that reimagine the same music through entirely different sonic lenses.

What We Talk About

Growing up in Berkeley during the '60s and '70s — how the city's unique musical culture, the Keystone Corner jazz scene, and a school improvisation program shaped Bernstein's musical identity
Why funk — not rock — was the lingua franca of Bay Area youth, and how Tower of Power loomed larger than The Beatles in that world
Arriving in New York in 1979 at the dawn of the punk-funk era (Defunkt, James White and the Blacks), and finding his musical home in the downtown scene
The origin story of Sexmob — born not in rehearsals but in late-night residencies at the Knitting Factory and Tonic, playing for live audiences and letting their reactions shape the music
Resonation Trio and Ultra Resonance — two albums built from the same source material, one an acoustic trumpet trio, the other a full dub reimagining by producer Scotty Hard. Bernstein traces the idea back to first hearing Burning Spear's Garvey's Ghost and his lifelong love of surrealism and the magic realism of Borges and Cortázar
Touring with Laurie Anderson and how Sexmob became one of her closest musical ensembles — and what makes "Church of Panic" a perfect example of the band's instinctive, arrangement-free approach
A deep dive into Banacek from The Hard Way — how Julius Hemphill's Dogon A.D. still echoes in Bernstein's playing, and the enduring musical partnership with John Medeski
The SFJAZZ residency: Sexmob Does The Bay — why Bernstein split the run into two nights of Bay Area psychedelic rock (with guitarist Liberty Ellman) and two nights of classic Latin soul (with percussionist John Santos)
The Santana connection, the Afro-Latin heartbeat of Berkeley, and the gumbo culture that made Bay Area music unlike anywhere else
A surprise detour into Jimi Hendrix's brief Berkeley childhood — and a hint that a Hendrix project may be next on Bernstein's list

Music Featured

"Church of Panic" — Laurie Anderson (with Sex Mob)
"Banacek" — Sex Mob & Scotty Hard (The Hard Way)
All music was supplied by the artist and used with their permission.

Show Details

Artist: Steven Bernstein’s Sexmob

Venue: Joe Henderson Lab, SFJAZZ Center

Date: July 16–19, 2026 (2026 SFJAZZ Summer Sessions)

Shows: Thu, July 16 & Fri, July 17 — Bay Area Psychedelic Rock, with Liberty Ellman; Sat, July 18 & Sun, July 19 — Classic Latin Soul, with John Santos. Showtimes: Thu–Sat 7:00 & 8:30 PM, Sun 6:00 & 7:30 PM.

Tickets: sfjazz.org