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Visiting San Francisco in very late September / early Oct


romualdo

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The last time I was in the Bay Area, I found that most of the jazz was in Oakland. Piedmont Piano Company, the Sound Room, Birdland Jazzista Social Club, Cafe Van Kleef , California Jazz Conservatory (Berkeley), Geoffrey's Inner Circle, Duende.  Not much jazz at Yoshi's any more.  Most of this is pretty straight-ahead swing to hard bop.  I didn't find much like The Stone.

One place in San Francisco that i like - in part because I like book stores - is Bird and Beckett.  It's outside of the central city (financial district, "downtown", North Beach, Haight, Sunset, etc.), but they have intimate shows of mostly local talent and only ask for a donation.  

Good resource here: https://kcsm.org/datebookmanager/

 

 

Edited by BeBop
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  • 3 weeks later...

Bay Area local and active performer. Bebop's recommendations are legit, and if you're looking for a more comprehensive listing that hews closer to pure improv/free jazz, check out this listing: http://www.bayimproviser.com/

I'll shamelessly plug my own stuff and say that I'm playing the Starry Plough in Berkeley this Friday (9/29) with my primary project Grex and two very interesting groups (torch song project Qualia and the the unbelievable Sacramento-based avant prog band Gentleman Surfer). Monday 10/2 I play the Make-Out Room in San Francisco with Scott Amendola (TJ Kirk, Nels Cline Singers) and bassist Jason Hoopes (the bassist in Fred Frith's current trio), Thursday 10/5 I play Berkeley Art Museum with Scott's ridiculous big band (featuring Ben Goldberg, Fred Frith, members of ROVA, and more). Not sure when you're leaving, but I play the aforementioned Bird and Beckett on Sunday, 10/15 with Lewis Jordan and Music at Large (Lewis was in the band United Front with Anthony Brown, Mark Izu, and George Sams).

Other general places to check out--and where the "meat" of the scene is, as far as genre intersection and the really innovative stuff is concerned--include the Luggage Store Gallery in SF, Studio Grand in Oakland, and Octopus Salon in Oakland. A lot of the medium-sized rock clubs are also pretty good hubs for interesting music--e.g., the Elbo Room, Hemlock Tavern, the Night Light. Bebop's list of jazz clubs covers a lot of the big ones, but I'll also add Woods Bar and Brewery. FWIW, Duende no longer exists, and Cafe Van Kleef is pretty unreliable these days. 

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Yoshi's is still in business, but their jazz bookings have been reduced significantly. Worth looking at the calendar, though.

Red Poppy Art House has some interesting bookings coming up.

-->If you can handle crowds, the amazing (and FREE) Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival is taking place in GG Park, Oct 6-8. They don't typically have jazz, but the styles of music presented is VERY wide ranging. Look at the schedule - artists range from Randy Newman to Hot Tuna to Bela Fleck to Steve Earle to Lucinda Williams ... and on and on. Surprisingly, THIS year there IS a significant jazz performance on Sunday: Ornette's Prime Time Band Reunion featuring Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Al MacDowell, Charlie Ellerbe, Badal Roy, Denardo Coleman with Special Guests David Murray, Wallace Roney & Marc Ribot!

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