The jazz starts Friday the 26th at 6pm, with Aussie Tony Johnson, shipwrecked on the Barbary Coast in 1959, leading his quartet with Nautical Bob Kenmotsu on saxophone, Cap’n Keith Saunders on piano and Eric the Pirate Markowitz on bass playing the revolutionary oceanic bebop of 52nd Street and its many sub-rebellions and tributaries.

At 8:30pm, Friday, Rent Romus stages his own resistance against the corrupt and cynical power of commercial jazz, with a crack crew of battle hardened Vikings — Brett Carson, piano; Jacob Pek, guitar; Quinn Girard, bass; and Eli Knowles, drums.

Saturday at 7:30pm, Arts for More! A kick-ass crew introduces a new organization out to change the landscape for musicians and other culture workers, the brainchild of Peter Barshay and Sarah Hughes, with a pre-launch gathering & concert by the Arts for More Pit Orchestra.

 

Sunday, January 28th at 3pm, Dick Holdstock, a renowned singer of traditional British and Sea songs, presents his book, Again With One Voice, British Songs of Political Reform, 1768 to 1868.

1768 saw the birth of a century of struggle for democracy by the working people of Great Britain; it was also the golden age of the broadside ballad – inexpensive songsheets sold on the street, often spotlighting popular figures and spreading the word of reform efforts. This collection traces the history of this tumultuous period with 120 songs from historical sources, all with appropriate tunes, extensive commentary, and rich illustrations from contemporary publications.

Here are songs about Wilkes and Liberty, the United Irish, the anti-slavery movement, Luddites, Captain Swing, the Naval Mutiny, antiwar movements, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, and the Chartist movement; songs that bring to life important figures like John Wilkes, Major Cartwright, Thomas Paine, Thomas Muir, Wolfe Tone, Henry Hunt, William Cobbett, Feargus O’Connor, and William Gladstone.

then, at 5pm Sunday… Our monthly last-Sunday-of-the-month JAM SESSION! Jazz musicians welcome. No charge to play. Parents, bring your kids to deepen their understanding of what playing jazz is all about.

Donations at the jam always help, so throw what you can in the bucket, but our jam sessions rely on our donor base and funders keeping our “general fund” healthy so that, without regard to audience size or generosity on any given occasion, we pay the musicians in the hosting trio at the “guaranteed fair wage” standard set by Jazz in the Neighborhood some years ago of $150/musician for a two-hour engagement — a rate that needs updating, of course. Ask your district supervisor (Rafael Mandelman in District 8, for instance) to sponsor legislation to use tax revenues to support the income of culture workers in this expensive city.

Special thanks go out this month to Jazz in the Neighborhood, a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to raising the wages and working conditions of the region’s professional gigging musicians, for their subsidy of a guaranteed fair wage to twenty of the musicians crossing our stage this month!

DONATE TO JitN AND TELL ‘EM WHY!

JitN’s support allows us to go out on a limb to pay that same guaranteed fair wage standard to the other thirty musicians who we’ll be presenting in January, knowing that we can rely on those in the audience paying their cover charges, those watching in the stream who donate online, and the incredible donor base of good-hearted individuals dedicated to the store’s survival to keep us out of hot water!

Thanks for your support!!!