Drummer Elé Salif Howell, a Bay Area native, plays Monterey in Chief Adjuah’s band on the Jimmy Lyons stage Friday the 27th… but you can catch this young lion of jazz close to home at Bird & Beckett on Tuesday the 24th and Wednesday the 25th!

We’ve presented Elé four times in the past — once about ten years ago when he was about 14 and three times in the past year. We were pretty darned impressed the first time and absolutely floored now that he’s fully matured as one of the great drummers working in jazz today — touring for some years now with saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and the past couple of years with the New Orleans based trumpeter Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah.

Tuesday night, Elé brings his Chief Adjuah rhythm section mates Ryoma Takenaga on bass and Cecil Alexander on guitar for two sets of high energy music guaranteed to amaze and please you.

And Wednesday night, Elé and Ryo are back in a trio led by the superb and charming pianist Art Khu. Art tells the story that when Elé was about four years old, Elé’s parents hired Art to teach him music. Art was taken into Elé’s room, where he witnessed this little kid running full tilt from drum kit to keyboard to saxophone and back and forth, playing up a storm on all of them. After Art had been taking in the kid’s dervish-like whirl of music making, Elé suddenly became aware of the adult spectator and recoiled like a startled deer for a brief second then dove right back, in paying Art no more attention.

At the break Wednesday night, you might enjoy chatting with both Elé  and Art about the years Elé spent under Art’s tutelage, a relationship that continued alongside Elé’s years-long participation in the jazz education program offered to talented Bay Area youth at Oakland Jazz Workshops under the direction the late trumpeter Khalil Shaheed, a valuable institution that continues now under bassist Ravi Abcarian, with many fine Bay Area musicians, including Elé’s dad Richard, shaping the emerging generations. (Mark your calendar for October 11th, when Richard is here in a trio with Ian Dogole and Kash Killion!)

Thursday, September 26th, pianist James Mitchell, with his trio that includes Curtis Aikens on bass and Evan Williams on drums, pays tribute to Bud Powell! Bud was born 100 years ago, on September 27, 1924.  If you don’t know Bud Powell & his music, you should! Me, I’m partial to his rendition of Polka Dots and Moonbeams, but that ain’t the half of it! Just a giant of bebop, that’s all!

Friday the 27th, on what would have been Bud Powell’s 100th birthday, Tony Johnson’s quartet takes the stage at 6pm with Smith Dobson playing saxophone. Keith Saunders is on piano and Eric Markowitz is on bass. Count on two sets of hard swinging bop and beyond.

Tony has a residency at Bird & Beckett on the fourth Friday of every month, alternating month to month between his quartet and the combo called the 230 Jones Street Band.

And at 8:30pm on Friday we’ll follow Tony’s quartet with a show featuring a terrific quintet called The Lost Shapes.

The Lost Shapes is led by bassist Safa Shokrai, with Max Miller-Loran on trumpet, Beth Schenck on saxophone, Mark Clifford on vibes and Jason Levis on drums. Pretty much a supergroup of players who have a taste for jazz on the “out” side. Superb music guaranteed. You’re gonna have a good time with this one.

Then we finish out the week of shows Saturday night 9/28 at 7:30pm with the towering master of tenor saxophone (and many other reeds), Noel Jewkes. Noel brings his fine quartet that includes Grant Levin on piano, Chris Amberger on bass and Mark Lee on drums. Exceptional jazz beautifully played. We’re always grateful when any of these four fine musicians crosses the Bird & Beckett stage and most especially when Noel Jewkes, aka Dr. Legato, is leading the charge.

After Noel & Co. finish their date, we’ll close up shop and be gone Sunday to Monterey! No jam session this month, sorry to say! Watch for that to resume the last Sunday of October.