The heart and soul of jazz at Bird & Beckett are this band and singer Dorothy Lefkovits.  Tenor player Chuck Peterson started the whole Bird & Beckett jazz program back in late 2002, and Dorothy converged with the scene right back at the beginning.  Nowadays, Chuck leads a group that comprises five wonderful musicians who all got their start in jazz five or six decades ago, and who have played together in many, many different circumstances all along the way.  Regular bass player Dean Reilly has other commitments this month, so we’ll have cornerstone bassist Al Obidinsky taking his place for the evening alongside drummer Tony Johnson, guitarist Glen Deardorff, reed player Howard Dudune and, of course, Chuck on sax and flute. Dorothy joins the group on vocals for several songs on each set. Music ends at eight, so don’t be late!

This Friday, we’ll dedicate the jazz party to the memory of Lurilla Harris, age 86, who was tragically killed in traffic just a few days ago. If you ever noted the larger-than-life woman with the hats and colorful glasses calling for Caravan or A-Train, or heckling the band for rehearsing on the bandstand, or yelling “buy a book” at the break, that was Lurilla.  She was indomitable, and her loss is an awful one that will be long felt by those of us who knew her.  May she rest in peace.

Read the two-page article on Lurilla in the April 1987 Bernal Journal found at this link, on the occasion of her becoming the paper’s editor. It’s truly an eye-opening introduction to a woman many of us only thought we knew!