Eric Nakanishi – sax Matt Wong – piano Logan Kane – bass Ben Ring – drums All four musicians on today’s date were born within a year or two of each other and raised  in the East Bay or San Francisco, and all four are pursuing B.A.s in music and are about half-way through — Eric at Berklee College of Music, Matt at Manhattan School of Music, Logan and Ben both at USC. Eric Nakanishi, the leader on this date, was raised in Walnut Creek and became serious in his study of jazz saxophone from age 9. By his early teens, he was selected for school, district, county and other honor jazz bands/combos, receiving recognition and multiple awards for his playing ability. Through high school, he was a member of the SFJazz High School All-Stars Orchestra (three years) and Combo (one year) as well as the Berkeley Jazzschool Studio Band for two…

Carlos Suarez reads from his new collection of poems and short prose pieces. Carlos was born in Paraná, Argentina, in the province of Entre Ríos, though he traveled early and widely over a span of many decades and has for some years lived in San Francisco. He has been a photojournalist, a cultural anthropologist, a translator from and to Spanish, Italian, English, and more. He is a philosopher, a social critic, a raconteur, and writes stories, film reviews and essays, and poetry. His writing is perhaps the best we’ve been privileged to read.

The Jazz Philanthropists Union presents… The Graham Bruce Quintet Graham Bruce – trumpet Madaline Duran – tenor sax Grant Levin – piano Fred Randolph – bass Andy Dillard – drums Graham Bruce, with the music genes of his father (a semi-pro pianist), played drums as a child– until he inherited his mom’s father’s trumpet. Through various embouchure difficulties he kept with it through Berklee and several breakthrough experiences: playing with giants like George Coleman, Kurt Lightsey and, on a couple S.F. gigs, Joe Henderson; seven nights a week with Jules Broussard; and fronting his own Bay Area bands, Bobtek, Octagon and Palindrome (with bassist Chris Amberger). Graham picked up the acoustic bass in 1990 and was quickly doubling on that, and as a writer/arranger, he gradually developed his keyboard abilities as well. His book of original compositions and arrangements contains hundreds of tunes. He was recently heard at Bird &…

Don Prell leads the charge… with Al Molina on trumpet and Jerry Logas on reeds, they’re a sure bet! Kris Gustafson’s on the skins and all bodes well. Come and join San Francisco’s longest running weekly neighborhood jazz party — jazz in the bookshop every Friday evening, 5:30-8:00 pm. But BYOB! The State in its wisdom forbids us from offering you anything alcoholic, but they haven’t yet decreed that you can’t take care of your own desires in that realm! We’ll supply the corkscrew and such. Bebop ’til you drop! Or ’til you go out for dinner, anyway… Tip the musicians here first!

A 5-piece group led by Chicago native Ray Skjelbred, this band includes Skjelbred on piano, Kim Cusack on clarinet, Katie Cavera on guitar, Clint Baker on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums. $20 cover charge. All but Hamilton share the vocal duties in this band, and do so with elan! The Cubs are on a mini-Bay Area tour they typically make each July, and this is their only San Francisco public appearance on the trip, though you can catch Ray solo at Pier 23 on Monday the 11th. Skjelbred is down from Seattle, while Cusak is in from Chicago and Cavera is up from L.A. Baker and Hamilton both live in the Bay Area. (Don’t fail to mark your calendar now for September 23rd, when drummer Jeff Hamilton will be back, but this time in the piano chair with Clint Baker moving to trumpet, joined by Robert Young on reeds.)…

Grant Levin, piano Chris Amberger, bass Rodney Ruckus, drums Grant Levin’s three-Sundays-a-month residency at Bird & Beckett is into its second month, and will roll through the end of the year. Don’t miss a chance to hear one of San Francisco’s most remarkably talented jazz pianists in an intimate setting where he is completely at home. Chris Amberger is in many ways one of Grant’s profound mentors, and is a joy to hear, always. And then there’s Rodney Ruckus, just two months since his arrival from Miami. Duos every second Sunday, trios every third, quartets every fourth… …2, 3, 4! $15 cover tonight.