photo copyright 2015 Angela Bennett

Richard Sears is a highly regarded and well traveled young pianist and composer.  Raised in Palo Alto and having lived and worked for a significant stretch in Los Angeles, he’s now Brooklyn based, where he has made a solid name for himself.  

His group for this engagement includes fine musicians indeed:

Patrick Wolff, tenor sax
John Wiitala, bass
Michael Davis, drums.

Sears and Davis, who is also based in Brooklyn, grew up together playing music in and around San Jose. Of Michael, Richard says he’s “one of the most original drummers I’ve played with.” As for Patrick and John, both are at the very top echelon of jazz musicians working in the Bay Area today.

The quartet will feature many of Sears’ original compositions as well as redefining a number of jazz standards.

Their date at Bird & Beckett will conclude a three-night swing though three of the region’s best jazz venues — Oakland’s Sound Room, Saratoga’s Cafe Pink House and, of course, San Francisco’s Bird & Beckett.  A date not to be missed!

“In Los Angeles, (Sears) was one of countless promising young jazz musicians, finding their unique voices and finding each other, forming groups and playing for little at bars, restaurants and coffeeshops. It’s a rough slog, but out of that murky pool of developing talent there are always a few that begin to emerge, chrysalides flying free from the cocoon of potential. Sears’ pianistic concept is now fully realized, with an austere, Brahms-ian chordal sense and clarity of purpose in his improvised melodies. His confidence boosted by the implicit affirmation of inclusion in bands by Billy Hart, Mark Turner, Ben Street, Tootie Heath, and Roy McCurdy, Sears has successfully migrated to Brooklyn and recorded his debut, Skyline, on the well-respected label Fresh Sound Records.”
– Gary Fukushima | LA Weekly

“Richard Sears is a fierce young pianist – exploding with technique, energy, and art”
– Brick Wahl | LA Weekly

“A man of mood, color, and originality…pianist Richard Sears stands out as a composer”
– Greg Burk | MetalJazz.com, LA Weekly, LA Times

From San Francisco, Sears heads for Tangiers to perform solo piano at the Tanjaz festival there before embarking on a run of engagements in Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga and Zaragosa, Spain.  Then, its back to the west coast to teach at the Stanford Jazz Workshop and a performance at the San Jose Jazz Festival with the Tootie Heath Trio.