This story is part of The California Report Magazine’s series about California composers. Listen to this and more in-depth storytelling by subscribing to The California Report Magazine podcast.

It’s a Wednesday morning in Kev Choice’s studio, tucked away in the back of an industrial warehouse in East Oakland. The small, dark-purple room looks something like a wizard’s lair out of a fantasy novel, with tall, epic columns and dark curtains.

The Kev Choice Ensemble is rehearsing for a conference that’s bringing 2,000 activists, artists and academics from across the nation to Oakland to discuss topics like the Indigenous Land Back movement and Palestinian liberation. Choice sits at his keyboard, rapping about the painful legacy of slavery before affirming the power of everyday people to make change. As his jazz band grooves, they alchemize devastation into hope.

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