The great jazz writer Gene Lees writes, “Stan Getz was once asked his idea of the perfect tenor saxophone soloist. His answer was, ‘My technique, Al Cohn’s ideas, and Zoot’s time.’ The fulfillment of that ideal may well be embodied in thirty-year-old Harry Allen.”

Harry is a fifty-two-year-old now, but that only means he’s had another couple of decades of seasoning. Sharing the stage with him is fellow New York tenor giant Grant Stewart, age forty eight… We had the pleasure of booking Grant with local tenor hero Patrick Wolff a couple years ago, and the Bird & Beckett audience will remember that he’s as solid as they come.

Both Harry and Grant are held in high regard in the toughest jazz market in the world, New York City, and travel widely in the U.S. and abroad. They’re coming out to the west coast to play a March 10th Palo Alto Jazz Alliance concert, with Patrick as the third tenor sax on the date. Can’t make it to Palo Alto or want a preview of what they’ll be up to? Catch Harry and Grant here Tuesday, March 5th backed by a top San Francisco rhythm section — Adam Shulman, piano; John Wiitala, bass; and James Gallagher, drums — for two sets at Bird & Beckett, San Francisco’s premier jazz listening room.

Harry Allen has over thirty recordings to his name, and three of his CDs have won Gold Disc Awards from Japan’s Swing Journal Magazine. Tenors Anyone? (2004) won both the Gold Disc Award and the New Star Award. He’s performed at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide, frequently touring the United States, Europe and Asia, and has worked with Rosemary Clooney, Ray Brown, Hank Jones, Frank Wess, Flip Phillips, Scott Hamilton, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison, Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, John Pizzarelli, Bucky Pizzarelli, Gus Johnson, Jeff Hamilton, Terry Gibbs and Warren Vache, and has recorded with Tony Bennett, Johnny Mandel, Ray Brown, Tommy Flanagan, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, Kenny Barron, Dave McKenna, Dori Caymmi, Larry Goldings, Georgraz, Jake Hanna, and Al Foster, among others.

Grant Stewart has made sixteen recordings as a leader, most recently Grant Stewart Trio on Cellar Live Records, as well as Live At Smalls (2012), In the Still of the Night (2007), Young at Heart (2008), Grant Stewart Plays the Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (2009) and Around The Corner (2010). He’s also been co-leader on  two sessions with fellow tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander on Criss Cross (2005 and 2011). From 2008 until 2015, he was voted a “rising star on the tenor” in the Downbeat Critic’s Poll.  On the international front, he was named one of the top three tenor saxophonists and as #7 jazz artist of the year by Swing Journal in its 2009 poll. He arrived in New York at age 19 to study with Donald Byrd and Barry Harris, and has performed with such masters as Jimmy Cobb, Harold Mabern, Louis Hayes, Curtis Fuller, Renee Fleming, Clark Terry, Bob Mover, Etta Jones, Bill Charlap, Lewis Nash, Peter Washington, Brad Mehldau, Russell Malone, Larry Goldings, Peter Bernstein, Harry Connick, Mickey Roker, Jimmy Lovelace, Cecil Payne, Dick Hymen, Herb Geller and Al Grey.