Sharada Shashidhar

SMARTBOMB returns to the SFJAZZ Center with a special double bill in the Joe Henderson Lab, featuring Los Angeles rising artist Sharada Shashishar playing with a quartet, and opening sets by Bay Area stalwart quartet, Secret Sidewalk. Join us for an evening of live shows deeply exploring the future sounds of the modern west coast jazz diaspora. This event is also in celebration of SMARTBOMB’s 13th year of existence, with a vendor pop up by Nosei Sun Room, featuring a new SMARTBOMB anniversary tee and other goods.  

Sharada Shashidhar is a Los Angeles based vocalist, composer & producer. Her soulful voice takes inspiration from jazz and Indian classical music, which influences her songwriting and productions. Shashidhar’s elaborate harmonies and vocal creativity come together in a new beat-orientated spiritual jazz. Sharada has performed across the US and EU in spaces such as Le Guess Who? Festival, Badehaus Berlin, Public Records, Solar Myth, Zebulon and more. She has shared bills or collaborated with the likes of Nightmares on Wax, Carlos Niño, Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra, and Zeroh among others. Sharada graduated from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC and released her debut EP, Rahu (Leaving Records) in March 2020. Her last release, Soft Echoes (Leaving Records) was named in the Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2024 by Gilles Peterson and Worldwide.FM. Sharada is currently working on new material slated to be released later this year. She also performs with frequent collaborator, Caleb Buchanan, under the moniker, Two Point.  

Founded in 2010, Secret Sidewalk is comprised of Bay Area natives from a variety of musical backgrounds, yielding a distinctive sound that echoes Bay Area hip-hop, jazz, and psychedelic undertones. The group features unorthodox instrumentation: saxophone, turntables, synthesizers, and drums; all modulated live with effects to create a sound that is both lush and gritty. Secret Sidewalk has performed at the inaugural MUTEK Festival in San Francisco, Hiero Day (Oakland), Low End Theory (Los Angeles and San Francisco), South by Southwest, and regular appearances at SMARTBOMB, a groundbreaking monthly event in Oakland, co-founded by the band to showcase off-center beat music.