Mike Stern books Yoshi's for Dec. 15, and $29 gets you in

The fusion guitarist, still playing through an injury that nearly ended his career, returns to Oakland's jazz room for a late Tuesday set.

In 2016, Mike Stern fell while hailing a cab in New York and broke both shoulders. The nerve damage hit his picking hand, the kind of injury that ends guitar careers. Ten years later he's still on the road, and he just put Oakland back on his calendar.

Mike Stern plays Yoshi's on Tuesday, Dec. 15. Doors are at 9:15 p.m. and the set starts at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $29 through eTix. The show was announced Nov. 3, and Yoshi's holds about 310, so this is a room where you can watch his hands from your table.

Stern has made Yoshi's a regular stop. The club's own pages list past bookings of his bands with drummer Dennis Chambers, saxophonist Bob Franceschini and Leni Stern, and another pairing with Jeff Lorber, Jimmy Haslip and Gary Novak. The Dec. 15 listing doesn't name a band yet, so check the ticket page closer to the date for who's joining him.

The injury story is worth knowing, because it shapes everything he's done since. Jazzwise and JazzTimes both covered how he worked back from it, and Guitar Player ran his own description of himself as "Frankenstern," kind of rewired and half bionic, getting through it one gig at a time. His first album after the fall, Trip, came out in 2017, and WBGO framed it as a record about overcoming adversity.

Kind of rewired and half bionic, one gig at a time.

His most recent studio album is Echoes and Other Songs, released in September 2024 on Mack Avenue. Stern wrote every song, the late Jim Beard produced, and the lineup includes Christian McBride, Chris Potter and Antonio Sanchez, per New Releases Now. The live show is still in shape too: DownBeat reviewed a run at Washington's Blues Alley this spring under the headline "Stern Flexes Fusion Muscle."

So why this room? A 310-seat jazz club is where Stern's style makes the most sense: loud enough to feel the fusion side, close enough to catch the bebop lines. A $29 ticket for a player at this level is also about as good a deal as Yoshi's offers.

When to buy: now. Small rooms with a single date and a low price tend to go early, especially in the run-up to the holidays. Buy through the eTix link above.

A 9:30 start on a Tuesday is a late one, so plan on dinner first and a short night of sleep after. For anyone who has followed Stern since before the fall, watching him still tear through a set is the point. Mid-December in Oakland, a few feet from the stage, is a good place to see it.

Sources: Mike Stern w/ Dennis Chambers, Bob Franceschini, Leni Stern — Yoshi's (yoshis.com); Mike Stern, Jeff Lorber, Jimmy Haslip, Gary Novak — Yoshi's (yoshis.com); Mike Stern – Beyond Breaking Point — Jazzwise (jazzwise.com); Mike Stern: Playing Through the Pain — JazzTimes (jazztimes.com); 'I'm feeling like Frankenstern' — Guitar Player (guitarplayer.com); Guitarist Mike Stern overcomes adversity on his new album Trip — WBGO (wbgo.org); Mike Stern – Echoes and Other Songs — New Releases Now (newreleasesnow.com); Stern Flexes Fusion Muscle at DC's Blues Alley — DownBeat (downbeat.com)