Cal Performances has invited pianist and composer Myra Melford to co-curate the jazz programming this season, with concerts that will introduce Bay Area jazz aficionados to artists who are household names in New York and abroad, but may be less well known on the West Coast. Melford says of David Virelles, “I was struck by how thoroughly his piano playing embodies the traditions of Cuban music, while at the same time drawing in very modern influences from contemporary classical music and the avant-garde.” Of Nicole Mitchell, Melford says, “Her fascinating new Spider Web is a collaboration with UC Berkeley alumnus and scholar Josh Kun that explores race and politics in Southern California in the context of Afrofuturism, black experimental music, and her own family history.”