Eric Nakanishi – sax
Matt Wong – piano
Logan Kane – bass
Ben Ring – drums

All four musicians on today’s date were born within a year or two of each other and raised  in the East Bay or San Francisco, and all four are pursuing B.A.s in music and are about half-way through — Eric at Berklee College of Music, Matt at Manhattan School of Music, Logan and Ben both at USC.

Eric Nakanishi, the leader on this date, was raised in Walnut Creek and became serious in his study of jazz saxophone from age 9. By his early teens, he was selected for school, district, county and other honor jazz bands/combos, receiving recognition and multiple awards for his playing ability. Through high school, he was a member of the SFJazz High School All-Stars Orchestra (three years) and Combo (one year) as well as the Berkeley Jazzschool Studio Band for two years and its Advanced Jazz Workshop Combo for a year. He began his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2015, where he has come under the tutelage of many of Berklee’s finest musicians and educators, including Terence Blanchard, Ralph Peterson Jr., Dave Santoro, Billy Kilson, Bob Gullotti and many others. Since embarking on his education at Berklee, he has continued to receive such national and international awards as Portland’s PDX Jazz Forward Competition, the National YoungArts Foundation, the Eastman Music Company’s “Perform with Mintzer” Competition, and the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition.

His bandmates are equally accomplished. Their quartet is intense and hard driving, and their music is fantastic — jazz masterworks by the likes of Mulgrew Miller, Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton and original compositions.

No cover charge; donations encouraged to help us pay the musicians. Your contributions to the store’s nonprofit sister organization, the Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project help fund our programming schedule. Click here.