Jazz Club! when lights are low… 10-25-14 at Bird & Beckett: Leader Terrance Tony (alto sax) with Eugene Pliner, piano; Aaron Cohn, bass; and Vinnie Rodriguez, drums. Photo by Angela Bennett.

Ben Flood, tenor sax
Eugene Pliner, piano
Adam Thompson, bass
Vinnie Rodriguez, drums

Vinnie Rodriguez has done yeoman’s duty every fourth Saturday on our jazz club series since its inception in the summer of 2014. Vinnie was on drums behind leader/pianist Michael Parsons on the very first round of jazz club dates, and when Michael moved away to Paris to marry and become an expat jazz player there, Vinnie supported alto sax player Terrance Tony who took on the fourth Saturday leadership role. Upon Terrance’s untimely demise in April 2015, Vinnie stepped up to lead the charge.

This week will only enhance Vinnie’s solid record on the Bird & Beckett bandstand, as he’s recruited tenor play Ben Flood, pianist Eugene Pliner and bassist Adam Thompson to the cause of nonstop swingin’!

Back when we started our Saturday night series, two full years ago, we asked several young local players — pianists Michael Parsons and Grant Levin, multi-instrumentalist Smith Dobson (sax, vibes, drums) and bassist Heshima Mark Williams (well, ok, Hesh at age 65 or so is the outlier there, but nobody’s more youthful than he!) — to play in a monthly rotation, and — most important — to bring to our stage the best jazz talent the Bay Area has to offer. We knew there were treasures untold all around the Bay Area in terms of great players whose names should be on the tips of every jazz fan’s tongue. These four leaders, interim leader Terrance Tony, and Vinnie himself have given us just what we asked for. No jazz club in the City That Knows How can challenge our achievement, we’re certain! Glen Park audiences have been truly blessed in that regard!

In his sixteen month tenure as leader, Vinnie has provided show after show of deeply engaged jazz for the Bird & Beckett audience. Anyone who has made it to his dates will attest to great evenings of jazz — Cole Porter’s tunes featuring tenor player Lyle Link and pianist Ben Stolorow; Ornette Coleman’s compositions interpreted with the able work of saxophonist Patrick Wolff and bassist Doug Stuart; Horace Silver’s music interpreted by pianist Keith Saunders and bassist Adam Gay; the list goes on… Vinnie has recruited so many stellar players for his dates, including trumpeters Erik Jekabson and Jay Sanders, bassists John Wiitala, Charles Thomas, Noah Schenker, Aaron Cohn and Robert Overbury; pianists Adam Shulman and Larry Chinn; saxophonists Tim Lin, Danny Brown and Scott Barnhill; trombonist Scott Larson — the list goes on!

Now it’s time to crack the jazz club shell open a bit wider! Vinnie, Smith, Grant and Heshima will continue to bring in groups many times each year, but we’ll also interrupt that steady rotation to spotlight groups led by many other fine local players — often the very players that these leaders have introduced to us as their featured sidemen along the way. Don’t hesitate to come out any Saturday night– we guarantee you’ll get a great show that demonstrates how rich the local scene is, boasting countless great players of all generations, age 17 to 91 at least!

Alongside New York and Paris, San Francisco is undoubtedly one of the greatest jazz capitals of the world. Only New Orleans, the birthplace of this wonderful music, can claim supremacy. We don’t hesitate to claim San Francisco’s position on the very next tier!

Bird & Beckett proudly presents jazz music as it is played in San Francisco in 2016 and beyond!