Drummer Tony Johnson brings in a quartet on the fourth Friday of each month. Tonight it’s the 230 Jones Street Band, with Charlie McCarthy, saxophone & flute; Glen Deardorff, guitar and Al Obidinski, bass.

Four veteran jazz players, and long-time friends, swingin’.

$20 cash cover charge; byob & a mask.

Find the live stream on Bird & Beckett’s
YouTube channel or Facebook page,
and donate if you possibly can to support
the musicians, the music and the venue!

Tony hit San Francisco in 1959, fresh off the boat from his native Australia, ready and raring to go. He got busy in the North Beach clubs right away, recorded in 1960 with vocalist Bev Kelly in a combo with legendary saxophonist Pony Poindexter, pianist Flip Nunez and bassist Johnny Allen at the Coffee Gallery on Grant Street, played behind Bobby Short at the Hungry I. Tony played on the Ed Sullivan Show with the Vagabonds (the house band of the Tropicana Hotel in Vegas), toured the country with George Shearing, backed Peggy Lee, recorded with the Claude Williamson Trio, and to this day drives the rhythm of the Smith Dobson Quartet and Swing Fever. He gigs constantly at venues throughout the Bay Area and Northern California, including Bird & Beckett, where he’s been featured on our bandstand for years.