Friday, November 21st – 6pm to 8pm – its the Scott Foster/Ron Vincent Guitar Duo! A twenty dollar bill works wonders to support the Jazz Happy Hour that’s been continuous since the fall of 2002, 23 years and counting… byob… bring the kids… kids and student musicians get in free this evening. If your biological clock is set a bit later, come out at 8:30pm for the Joel Behrman Quartet with Dahveed Behroozi, Marcus Shelby and Sylvia Cuenca. A twenty works for that one as well! Students pay $10 for the late show. The kids should be in bed by then! 

On Saturday, the 22nd, our 7:30pm show features the quintet of  multi-reed genius Hal Richards, with Henry Hung on trumpet, Rumi Abe on piano, Ron Belcher on bass and Dan Foltz on drums. The Sunday 5pm show features country noir guitarslinger/songwriter Maurice Tani and his band! Click through to read the full post and get more details on weekend’s music. If you’re already reading deep into the full post, well, then, read on!

The third Friday of the month is the province of guitarist Scott Foster, who’s been on the gig since the its birth in late 2002 and carries on still, bringing in a newly devised combo each time out. This month, it’s a two-guitar duo, a favorite format, with Randy Vincent invited to share the stage. Randy is a singularly talented musician with a voice on the guitar that’s all his own, a long-time presence on the Northern California jazz scene, and a performance and recording history that includes work with Joe Henderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Hutcherson, Akira Tana, Sylvia Cuenca, Smith Dobson, Chris Amberger, George Marsh, Benny Barth, Mel Martin, Bill Watrous, George Cables, Jim Rothermel, Mel Graves, Bennett Friedman, Larry Baskett, Peter Welker, Tony Dumas, Billy Childs, Harold Jones, Ernie Watts, Warren Gale, Herb Pomeroy, Jared Gold, Dan Wilensky, the Bay Area Jazz Composers’ Orchestra, the New Oakland Jazz Orchestra, Dave Eshelman Jazz Garden Big Band and The Turtle Island String Quartet.

Friday, November 21st – 8:30-10pm – The Joel Behrman Quartet with Dahveed Behroozi, piano; Marcus Shelby, bass; & Sylvia Cuenca, drums. More info to follow soon, but suffice to say this is an all-star line-up of mature, experienced and acclaimed musicians! Get into the weeds of our trumpet star leader with this seven-year old, ruminative and wide-ranging interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVZc-JBZ2ag

Saturday, November 22nd – 7:30-9:30pm – The Hal Richards Quintet with Henry Hung, Rumi Abe, Ron Belcher & Dan Foltz. Hal used to pride himself on bringing seven instruments or more to the gig (this was years ago, when the store was located down on Diamond Street where Manzoni is now…), and to carry them all at once. Now days, he’s willing to make two trips to the car, and might limit himself to five or six of those horns, but still! As for his quintet… Henry is a fabulous and favorite trumpet player with a long history on the Bird & Beckett stage; pianist Rumi has been in the City from Tokyo for about a year and led her own quarter last week — her young age belies her experience in jazz in Japan and the impact she’s been making in San Francisco since her arrival; she’s just back from playing 18 dates in two weeks time in Tokyo. Ron has been among the first call bassists in jazz on the West Coast for decades. Dan Foltz has held down the drum chair for countless leaders with imagination, flexibility, aplomb and charm. What’s not to like about this group? Hal composes terrific tunes and can tackle any standard with complete originality.

Sunday, November 23rd – 7-9pm it’s Maurice Tani’s band with Henry Salvia, an industry legend, on piano, Greg Kehret on bass and Kenny “KO” Owen on drums. Maurice is a “wry to rye” country noir songwriter and guitarslinger beyond compare. He’s held down our stage many, many times over the years and has a deservedly devoted fan base. You’re gonna like this band. 

It’s all good. What are you doing the rest of  your life?