Francis Vanek, tenor sax
Randy Vincent, guitar
Chris Amberger, bass
Jeff Minneweather, drums

Francis Vanek leads an all-star quartet,
musicians long embraced by Bird & Beckett audiences.

Francis is a well known North Coast tenor player. He hails from Pittsburgh, PA, having cut his teeth with such masters as Carl Arter, JC Moses and Roger Humphries. He holds a masters degree in music and taught at the University of Nevada, Reno. He performs regularly at the Mendocino Music Festival, at the historic Benbow Inn, and various venues and wineries from Sonoma to Del Norte county. Francis always enjoys bringing some North Coast vibes to Bird and Beckett.

About his colleagues on the date, Francis notes that “Randy Vincent is one of my favorite musicians to play with, so I thought it would be interesting to do a number of compositions penned by great guitar players — Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Pat Martino, Kenny Burrell and Wes Mongomery. Also compositions by some of my favorite sax players John Coltrane, George Coleman and Benny Carter, as well as songs by Billy Strayhorn and Jobim. 

“Chris and I have played together for close to 40 years, we’re like musical brothers. I’ve known Randy nearly as long. I feel we have an intuitive melodic/harmonic connection. I met Jeff more recently and I immediately loved his musicality and feel.”

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