Todd Cochran Trio

A child prodigy who studied at London’s Trinity College of Music as a teen, Cochran began his professional career with jazz legend John Handy and made his recording debut as performer, composer, and arranger on Bobby Hutcherson’s 1971 large ensemble Blue Note session Head On.

Taking the name “Bayeté,” Cochran released his landmark Prestige debut Worlds Around the Sun in 1972. The album features “Free Angela,” Cochran’s tribute to activist and SFJAZZ Board member Angela Davis, re-recorded by Carlos Santana for his Lotus album, and is one of the most sampled and collectible jazz records of the early 1970s.

From that iconic start, Cochran ventured far and wide musically, forming the art rock band Automatic Man with former Santana drummer Michael Shrieve and working with a global cast of collaborators including John Hiatt, Aretha Franklin, Stanley Clarke, and dozens more.

Cochran returned to recording under his own name in the early 1990s, and his latest under the project name TC3, 2021’s Then and Again, Here and Now, features bassist John Leftwich and drumming icon Michael Carvin.