Angel City Arts: Jazz Refractions
Mekala Session & Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra + Qur’an Shaheed
- Price
- $30 + $2 Convenience Fee*
- Genre
- Music
- DATE
- OCT 18
- TIME
- SUN, 8 PM
- RUNTIME
- Approx. 120 minutes, with one intermission
- COUNTRY
- USA
* Discounts available for REDCAT members, students & CalArts faculty and staff
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About
Angel City Arts returns to REDCAT for its annual Jazz Refractions Festival with a dynamic double bill featuring two outstanding artists from Los Angeles in dialogue with the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra.
Qur’an Shaheed presents a free jazz performance accompanying the screening of her original film Pulse. This new dance film, inspired by the expressive visual language of Bollywood cinema, centers on the emotional and physical language that develops between two people. Transcending genre, Shaheed’s mix of vocals, keys, and electronics are rooted in empowerment and a commitment to an expansion of music into a liberated poetics of sound. Joined by Mekala Session on drums and Devin Daniels on saxophone, Shaheed crafts a work that locates beauty in the improvisation of life.
Drummer Mekala Session will premiere a new composition commissioned by the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s Jeff Clayton Memorial New Note Award program. Session will perform in collaboration with the Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, a Black music ensemble founded in Los Angeles by pianist Horace Tapscott in 1961. Dedicated to community, social consciousness, and Afrikan culture, the Arkestra has been led by Sessions since his early 20s.
The music featured at Jazz Refractions is rooted in the jazz tradition of radical improvisation, freedom, and technical mastery. However, once it passes through the Angel City’s lens, it bends, distorts, and shatters into entirely new forms unrestricted by musical genres. Jazz is the source light, and Angel City is the prism.
about the artists
Qur’an Shaheed is an experimental pianist, poet, singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Trained extensively in jazz, classical, and contemporary music, her sound is innovative and personal, incorporating elements of improvisation as well as neo-classical and neo-soul techniques. Shaheed also composes film scores, focusing on projects that reflect on society, history, and unifying acts. Following her EP Process on Preference Records, Shaheed crafted her debut full length album, Pulse, that “revels in the space between craftsmanship and creativity, bucking structure for improvisational freedom without sacrificing stylistic command” (Resident Advisor). Pulse was released in summer 2025 through Leaving Records and was featured in The New York Times, BBC, UNCUT, and more.
Mekala Session is a multi-hyphenate artist from Los Angeles. At age three, his first drum lessons were with Billy Higgins at the World Stage in Leimert Park. Following the path of his father, saxophonist Michael Session, he joined the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra at age 13 and began leading the band in his early 20s. His career includes recording (Billy Woods, Moor Mother, HUMAN ERROR CLUB, Petter Eldh), touring (Pink Siifu, Benjamin Booker), booking and organizing events (Del Monte Speakeasy, Ace Hotel Palm Springs), and managing independent record labels (Preference Records, The Village). Driven by exploration and community, Mekala has built his musical identity around improvising, genre mixing, and relentless pursuit of fun. In addition to drums, he is currently developing his chops on vibraphone, bamboo flute, composition, and production.
Photo by Sam Lee.
Cast & Creative Team
Qur’an Shaheed:
Qur’an Shaheed – vocals, keyboard, electronics
Mekala Session – drums
Devin Daniels – saxophone
Mekala Session:
Mekala Session – drums, composition
Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra
