Rob Mosher‘s 10 piece jazz/classical band Storytime and Petr Cancura‘s ensemble Down Home will be featured at a benefit for New York City based charity Rational Animal on Friday, March 12th at 8pm in the Great Room at South Oxford Space, 138 South Oxford Street (Between Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. Each ticketholder will receive a Rational Animal T-shirt and other small gifts. Food, drink, and raffle tickets benefitting Rational Animal will be available in exchange for a small additional donation. Questions? Inquire here.

Storytime features original compositions by leader/horn player Rob Mosher. A lushly scored musical odyssey that contains echoes of Wayne Shorter, Gil Evans, Kurt Weill, Darius Milhaud, Debussy and Bach, Storytime reflects Mosher’s embrace of a wide range of influences which have coalesced to create his singularly independent compositional voice.  It’s all held together by Mosher’s multi-faceted orchestration and ingenious use of instrumentation (saxophones, oboe, English horn, clarinets, flute, trumpet, French horn, trombone, electric and acoustic guitar, plus bass and drums). A Canadian currently residing in New York City, award winning composer and performer Rob Mosher straddles both the jazz and classical worlds. Specializing on oboe, English horn and soprano sax, Rob is also the leader of Supervillains jazz quartet.

Down Home is a 5-6 piece ensemble led by Czech born, Candian raised, Brooklyn based muti-instrumentalist Petr Cancura. Down Home combines the rhythms of Africa and Brazil, the phrasing of old blues singers from Mississippi, the deep sound of the saxophone, the unmistakable sound of strings (banjo, mandolin, violin, guitar, bass), and a song or two with words. The songs of Down Home are inspired by black and white photographs – from the sounds of Americana and jazz to a hint of country and bluegrass – the photographs and music enhance each other, telling stories. Already a veteran in jazz, Cancura has recorded with Danilo Perez, Bob Moses and Joe Morris, and is known for crossing borders with the Rwandan Mighty Popo, Canadian Kathleen Edwards and Brooklyn-Brazilian Nation Beat. With Down Home, Petr has thrown himself in the journey of fusing his past musical experience with the stories and traditions of folk music of the deep south.

With offices in Chelsea, Manhattan, Rational Animal uses media and special events to increase public awareness about NYC’s at-risk animals. They are a 501(c)(3) non-profit working to improve the lives of homeless animals, working animals, and wildlife by using media to communicate the actions people can take to help animals and prevent harm to them.