Bright Cloud Mountain

Bright Cloud Mountain is a genre-blurring quartet that weaves together elements of West African music and jazz-influenced improvisation, creating a sound that is earthy and adventurous all at once.

Featuring Dave Kobrenski on flute and ngoni, Jed Wilson on piano, Mike Sakash on saxophone, and Tim Gilmore on drums, the group’s music is marked by lyricism, rhythmic depth, and an irresistible sense of joy. Their debut album, Remaking the World, will be released in March 2026.

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Upcoming Events

Friday, August 14 @ 6:30 pm

New London Bandstand • New London, NH

Summer Concert Series On the Green

Join Bright Cloud Mountain with special guest Jon Lorentz on saxophone for an evening of music outside on the green in new London. Bright Cloud Mountain is a genre-blurring quartet that weaves together elements of West African music and jazz improvisation.

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Thursday, October 8 @ 7pm

Hermit Woods Winery • Meredith, NH

Bright Cloud Mountain

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Above photos by Bob Manley. Taken on October 2, 2025 at The Loft at Hermit Woods.

Videos

Live at the Loft at Hermit Woods, October 6, 2022

About the Musicians

Jed Wilson has been an active performer since his teenage years in Portland, Oregon. He received a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance from the New England Conservatory, where he formed a long-standing musical partnership with jazz vocalist Dominique Eade. The two have toured widely, and in 2006 released a critically acclaimed CD that appeared on many of the year’s top-ten album lists. More recently, Jed has performed extensively with singer/songwriter Heather Masse. The association with Masse has resulted in a host of appearances across North America, including multiple appearances on NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Dave Kobrenski is a multi-instrumentalist who has been leaving audiences speechless for two decades with his expressive playing of the Fulani flute, a unique three-holed woodwind with an earthy, raw sound that has been described as “the voice of Africa itself taking flight on the wind.” He also plays the kamale ngoni (a 12-string, bluesy harp/lute from Mali), the calabash, and the djembé.

Mike Sakash holds a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies from the Eastman School of Music. He has studied saxophone with Lynn Klock and Raymond Ricker, improvisation with Yusef Lateef, and jazz composition and arranging with Fred Sturm. Before settling in New Hampshire Mike was Associate Professor of Music at Washington & Jefferson College (PA). Currently, he is the arts department chair at Fryeburg Academy, in Fryeburg, ME, where he directs the instrumental ensembles and teaches courses in music theory, guitar, and jazz improvisation. He records and performs widely, and serves as a clinician and guest artist throughout the country.

Tim Gilmore studied composition and performance at Berklee College of Music. He is a member of the Harry Skoler Jazz Quartet and has performed with many ensembles, including the Cape Ann Symphony, Symphony by the Sea, Boston Percussion Ensemble, and the Cambridge Harmonic Orchestra. Tim has shared the stage with Lester Bowie, Marion McPartland, Tower of Power, Tiger Okoshi, and Warren Vache, among others.

About the Musicians

Jed Wilson

Jed has been an active performer since his teenage years in Portland, Oregon. He received a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance from the New England Conservatory, where he formed a long-standing musical partnership with jazz vocalist Dominique Eade. The two have toured widely, and in 2006 released a critically acclaimed CD that appeared on many of the year’s top-ten album lists. More recently, Jed has performed extensively with singer/songwriter Heather Masse. The association with Masse has resulted in a host of appearances across North America, including multiple appearances on NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”

More info: https://www.jedwilson.com/music

John Hughes

John Hughes is an internationally renowned composer, kora player, percussionist and vocalist whose style crosses myriad cultural boundaries and fuses disparate influences. Playing ancient traditional instruments not often heard in the United States, many of which he builds himself, John takes his audience on an intimate musical tour of universal expressions of joy and hope that soothe and up-lift the spirit. Whether playing elegant and stately pieces from the classical repertoire of the Jeli’s (Griot’s) of West Africa or original compositions, John’s kora playing has an uncommon beauty that is, at once, exquisitely detailed and bold. His signature pieces are rhythmically nuanced and laced with syncopations that cascade off the strings into whirlpools of mesmerizing sound.

More info: http://johnhughesarts.com

Dave Kobrenski

Dave has traveled extensively in West Africa to study music with master musicians such as Famoudou Konaté, Sayon Camara, Nansady Keita, and other musicians of the region. During this period of almost yearly sojourns to Guinea, he became proficient on the Fula flute, kamale ngoni (10-string harp from Mali), and djembe drum. His ongoing apprenticeship with a master of the Malinké flute tradition, Lanciné Condé, has already spanned a decade, and he continues that apprenticeship with frequent trips back to villages in the Niger River valley, in the heart of West Africa. Dave weaves his accounts of these voyages into entertaining and enriching cultural experiences for his audiences.

More info: https://davekobrenski.com/music

Bookings and Info

Use the form below to inquire about bookings.

Remaking the World

Coming soon! Remaking the World will be available in March 2026. Join us for a special album release concert at Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, Maine on Friday, March 6.

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Album Release Tickets