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SOLD OUT | REDWOOD GROVE CONCERT: Jenny Gillespie Mason + The Saxophones
June 11, 2026 @ 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
$15 – $30
REDWOOD GROVE SUMMER CONCERT SERIES
Enjoy a magical music experience under towering redwoods in the Berkeley Hills.
TONIGHT’S DOUBLE-BILL SHOW: Jenny Gillespie Mason + The Saxophones
Jenny Gillespie Mason
After more than a decade exploring psychedelic pop, jazz, and electronic textures through her project Sis—most recently as Sis and the Lower Wisdom—Jenny Gillespie Mason returns to the folk music she first began writing and recording as a teenager. Her new album, In the Safety of the Light (out 6/12/26 on Native Cat Recordings), was produced by Noah Georgeson (Joanna Newsom, Devendra Banhart) and recorded in spring and fall 2026 at a private studio in Los Angeles.
Mason and Georgeson had hoped to work together for several years; in 2024 they finally made a plan to do so. Long inspired by Georgeson’s production work with folk visionaries Bert Jansch and Vashti Bunyan, Mason turned back toward the acoustic guitar of her youth. Within a few months she had written a cycle of songs shaped in part by the spirit of these undersung artists. A year later, she convened with Georgeson in Los Angeles to record them.
The album moves through questions of how to live a spiritual life while remaining fully human. The singles “Rungs of Love” and “Medicine of Light” trace the fragile ladder between earthly love and higher devotion. “Wonder of the Circle” unfolds like a dream-prayer; during a long sleepless night in a New York City hotel room, the narrator imagines the Divine Mother answering her plea to heal a traumatized world. “Perseus” explores a past life in the ancient mysteries of Eleusis, while in “Woman from Nottingham,” Mason recalls a college professor who implored her students to remember the beauty of the Earth just hours after the events of 9/11.
Sonically, In the Safety of the Light draws on the pastoral glow of 1970s British folk, with echoes of Catherine Howe and Fairport Convention, while sailing at times into atmospheric sounds inspired by the ambient music of Hiroshi Yoshimura and the more cosmic folk ballads of Beck. Most of the songs were recorded live as an ensemble, allowing the arrangements to breathe and shimmer around performances by Mason on acoustic guitar, Wurlitzer, and vocals, with Josh Miner Adams on percussion, Todd Dahlhoff on bass, Benny Bock on synthesizers, Gabe Noel on cello, and Alex Budman on woodwinds.
The Saxophones
Blending the darkness and melancholy of 1950s balladry with intimate woodwind, synth, and percussion arrangements, The Saxophones—led by Alexi Erenkov and Alison Alderdice—forge a uniquely hypnotic and personal sound. Formed in the California Bay Area in 2017, the husband-and-wife duo’s minimalist after-hours tones will prop you up in the darkest corner of a smoky lounge bar. Their retro-tinged chamber pop combines elements of mid-century exotica, art-noir, folk, and West Coast jazz, creating music that is both hauntingly nostalgic and unmistakably their own.
“A haunting and dreamy, lightly jazz-inflected style of minimalist indie pop that evokes smoky back rooms, seaside reflection, romance, and the analog era”
“Beautiful, quiet jazz-pop-noir”
“Harks back to a Twin Peaks-era with subdued song structures and movements filled with eloquence.”
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CONCERT INFORMATION AND TICKET POLICIES
All concert ticket sales are final and non-refundable. The value is not transferable to another concert or program.
Tickets are by registration; no physical tickets available. Your name and number of tickets will be on the check-in list available at the Ticket Booth Kiosk and Grove Gate.
Ticket includes Botanical Garden admission ($18 adult value) before the collections close at 5:00pm.
Redwood Grove Gate opens at 5pm. Show starts promptly at 5:30pm.
Parking at the Botanical Garden is NOT guaranteed. The adjacent UC parking lot has 73 spaces – rideshare and carpooling is highly encouraged. A UC Berkeley campus shuttle is available from overflow parking at LHS but departs every 30 minutes. Last ride back up is at 7:07pm. Please plan accordingly!
Seating is general admission wood bench amphitheater. (Stadium chairs work great, and are available to rent.) Please contact us in advance if you will need a wheelchair accessible spot or other accommodation.
Picnics welcome. Generally no concessions provided. Smoking/vaping/pets/alcohol prohibited per UC Berkeley policy. Warm clothes recommended.
