Dorothy Lefkovits (in beret) confabs with tenor player Chuck Peterson & drummer Jimmy Ryan at the old Bird & Beckett location on Diamond Street, in the “early” days of the scene.

Tonight, in a fit of nostalgia, Scott Foster brings in a combo that refers back to the magical shows when he was first getting his feet wet at Bird & Beckett, more than two dozen years ago! In 2002, tenor player Chuck Peterson started a Friday tradition, and made Scott — a talented young whippersnapper at the time — a central part of his combo.

Ten or twelve years ago, Scott took on his own third-Fridays spot in our calendar. Chuck retired a decade ago and passed several years back.

Scott has carried on all these years — leading a combo of his devising every third Friday from 6-8pm — the “Friday Happy Hour.” 

Tonight is the last outing in that 6pm series (though Scott will continue monthly with a 7:30pm start time).

In about 2015, Scott took on his own Friday slot. Scott’s combo, freshly constituted each month and ranging over a broad swath of jazz styles, has continued in residence on the third Friday of the month at Bird & Beckett ever since, in recent years running alongside the fourth Friday residency of the 230 Jones Street Band under drummer Tony Johnson’s leadership and the second Friday residency of pianist Eric Shifrin’s In Crowd trio. Along the way, we’ve also added ongoing Sunday residencies for the legendary drummer Vince Lateano and (on the country music side) pedal steel master Joe Goldmark. Vince and Eric only appeared very occasionally at Bird & Beckett in the early years, but it was Vince on drums in the very first jazz date we presented, in 1999 or 2000–a trio led by bassist John Clark with Lee Bloom on piano, and Eric Shifrin came in soon after with a trio date of his own.

Scott’s combo tonight harkens back to 2011, when Chuck Peterson’s quintet, which he had taken to calling the 230 Jones Street, Local 6 Literary Jazz Band, split into four bands, three led by the veteran players–Chuck, Don and Jimmy, and one co-led by Chuck and Don, all sharing Scott’s talents. Jimmy’s band was called the Bird & Beckett Bebop Band and provides the guts of Scott’s combo tonight.

Jimmy’s Bird & Beckett Bebop Band most often featured pianist Don Alberts or Scott on guitar, Bishu Chatterjee, Charles Thomas or Aaron Cohn on bass, trumpeter Henry Hung, Stu Pilorz or Rick Elmore on trombone and others. Jimmy’s son, trumpeter Joel Ryan, dropped in on the band on occasion as well, as did Dorothy Lefkovits, Joe Cohen, Mike Olmos, Downtown Danny Brown, Danny Grewen, Michael Parsons and the legendary Bishop Norman Williams, shades of the Gathering Caffe where Jimmy first reentered the jazz world in about 2000 after a long layoff.

We lost Jimmy a number of years ago; but, happily, Charles and Henry are available to join Scott for tonight’s quartet outing, and along for the ride is drummer Mark Lee, a fixture on the Bird & Beckett bandstand for fifteen years or more.

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After this month, starting with the second Friday in May, we’re shifting our Friday schedule to presenting a single show, starting at 7:30pm. Scott’s residency will continue every third Friday with a 7:30pm start time beginning in May, and he’ll continue his practice of fielding a different band each time out. And second Fridays at 7:30pm six times a year (in the “odd numbered” months — May, July, September, November, January, March), you’ll find Eric & the In Crowd holding it down! The rest of the residencies and our jam sessions will be found in the NEW Sunday happy hour! Make it a habit to prime yourself for the work week with a little relaxation at the bookshop Sundays from 5 to 7pm!
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