David Hardiman, Jr., trumpet
Charles Hamilton, trombone
Hal Richards, tenor sax
Cory Wright, baritone sax
Karl Evangelista, guitar
David Parker, bass
Valentino Peeps, drums

Come out for the late set at the Bird & the Beckett to get a taste of a deep and moody and slammin’ septet led by bassist David Parker and featuring six more top flight local players.

$20-30 sliding scale (cash please), byob.

David loves the classic jazz composers and loves rhythm and the blues, the bass, the bari and the ‘bone. His arrangements delve deep into that low register for a rhythm-forward swing through classic compositions by jazz giants Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Horace Silver, Eric Dolphy and J. S. Bach.

Way back at the turn of the century, when Bird & Beckett was just getting into swing on Diamond Street (where Manzoni now cooks up delicious Northern Italian cuisine), David used to jam a fiery five-piece combo into a corner of Glen Park’s posh little corner bar known as the Red Rock. They would start up when we were finishing our Friday evening jazz, and delight with Charles Hamilton on trombone, Bob Marshall or Greg German on drums and the late great musicians Jerry Logas on bari and Mike Petre on trumpet. Years later, Le P’tit Laurent took on the space and began featuring the combo every Bastille Day.

David soon expanded his band to six and seven pieces and more to play at spots like the Fillmore Farmers Market, the Sheba Piano Lounge and the BareBottle Brewery, where you can still catch them. And once upon a time, you would hear them wail and moan at the fondly remembered Farmer Brown in the Tenderloin at Turk and Market Street. Here’s a video of the band on a summery night in 2018 at Farmer Brown featuring the much missed Jerry Logas on bari.