Anthony Wonsey, piano
Billy Edwards, bass
Minchan Kim, drums

$20 cover charge (cash at the door, please); byob.
Students, $10.
Reservations, call 415-586-3733.

Anthony Wonsey took his trio with bassist Billy Edwards and drummer Minchan Kim to Luanda, Angola in April to back saxophonist Steve Carrington for Unesco & ResiliArt’s International Jazz Day, 4/22/25. Now, the trio has arrived for a weekend run of shows around the Bay Area, starting with this date at Bird & Beckett. They played dates in Minchan’s Seoul, Korea, and soon will play clubs in Germany, another of Minchan’s stops in a budding career. Catch the trio with Carrington at Eve’s Lounge in Brooklyn on Thursdays.

Anthony Wonsey graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1994, and worked with Roy Hargrove, Antonio Hart and their cohort. He later played in the bands of Carl Allen, Vincent Herring, Curtis Lundy, Buster Williams, Clark Terry, Elvin Jones and Nicholas Payton and also led his own groups. In 1995, his recording debut as a leader, “Anthonyology,” featured Christian McBride on bass and Carl Allen on drums; the trio followed up with “Another Perspective,” also on Evidence.

In 1998, with Nicholas Payton and Ron Blake, the album “Open the Gates” was created for the Criss Cross-Label with an expanded line-up. In the early 2000s, Wonsey then switched to the Sharp Nine label. With Eric Alexander and Nat Reeves, he recorded the album “The Thang” (Highnote, 2005). In 2010, with jazz singer Joanna Pascale, he released the album “Play the Great American Songbook” on Stiletto Records in 2010.

Anthony Wonsey is part of Vincent Herring’s Earth Jazz Agents, and has worked with Carmen Lundy, Russell Malone, Wynton Marsalis, Jim Rotondi, Adonis Rose and Scott Wendholt. He also belongs to Dave Schumacher’s formation Chicago 3 +2.

An adventurous artist with a great future ahead, during the past few years, he’s recorded with the groups of Carl Allen and Nicholas Payton and has toured with Christopher Hollyday, Nnenna Freelon, and Kenny Garrett. A uniquely blessed musician with chops to burn, he plays with an authority and confidence considered rare for a player of his age. It all adds up to an impressive “opening of the gates” for his immense talent, and bodes well for all that’s to come.

Minchan Kim, after completing his bachelor’s degree toured Europe with Martin Zenker, and continued touring in North and South America as well as Asia. He has taught in South Korea at Paekche Institute of the Arts , the Hanyang Academy and the Seoul Jazz Academy. He’s performed with Kenny Washington, Jin Pureum, Jesse Davis and the Hyejin Quartet, and he named a “Rising Star” by South Korea’s Jazz People magazine in 2012. In 2023, he received second prize at the Kurt Mass Jazz Award. He recently moved to New York, following on from a sojourn in Germany, and he indicates that he’ll continue to move wherever his career carries him. It’s a promising career, indeed.

Billy Edwards was trained in the Bay Area by The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, who introduced him to Buster Williams, Calvin Keys and others. He’s been in New York for two years, where he’s been working full time, getting gigs with legendary jazz artists including Ralph Moore and Roy McCurdy, working weekly at Eve’s Lounge alongside Anthony and Minchan in saxophonist Steve Carrington’s Infinity Trio.