$20 cover charge; sliding scale available / BYOB

Julian Archer, a lively and highly skilled young drummer from Denver who came to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Roots, Jazz & American Music (RJAM) program in the fall of 2017 as a member of its inaugural class, is joined tonight on the Bird & Beckett bandstand by fellow students Jayden Clark and Skyler Nolan on tenor saxophones, Michael Potter on piano and Knox Barber on bass.

In 2017 and 2018, Julian was deemed a YoungArts winner, and was flown out to the 2017 YoungArts Regional in Miami, Florida. Later in 2017, he was selected to take part in The Berklee Global Jazz Institute Workshop at the Newport Jazz Festival. He was given an honorable mention from the Grammy Foundation in 2018, has received 4 Downbeat Awards for being part of the Best Arts High School Big Band from 2013-2017, and earned second place in the Essentially Ellington Jazz Competition in 2017. Julian has performed professionally with many notable musicians such as Greg Gisbert, Brad Goode, Eric Gunnison, Mike Olmos, Javier Santiago and many others. In just a few short years, he has already performed at The Monterey Jazz Festival, The Newport Jazz Festival, SF JAZZ, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Savannah Music Festival, Dazzle Jazz Club, Snug Harbor, Black Cat, Catalina Jazz Club, Bird & Beckett and many other venues. Julian graduated from the Denver School of the Arts prior to joining the inaugural RJAM class at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) in the fall of 2017.

Knox Barber, a bassist hailing from the Washington, D.C. area, another member of the RJAM’s inaugural class, believes in serving the music and the groove to the fullest. He has studied jazz with excellent teachers including Matt Penman, Paul Carr, Rodney Jordan and Michael Bowie. Knox has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club, as well as at Washington’s famous Blues Alley and many of its other jazz clubs and restaurants. He has also played at the Monterey, Chicago and Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festivals. He has shared stages with world-class musicians such as Sean Jones, Matt Wilson, Mike Olmos and Tedd Baker. Knox’s composition and arrangement library is ever-expanding, with recording projects in the works. He also has private teaching experience with bass students of varying ages and skill levels. Knox moved to San Francisco in the fall of 2017 to enroll in the RJAM program, where he studies jazz bass with Matt Brewer and Scott Pingel at the SFCM.

Jayden Clark, rounds out the RJAM elder statesmen in the quintet, having come to the program from Australia to study his craft and develop his jazz voice on the tenor saxophone. He’s been praised by the San Francisco Classical Voice for his well-crafted soloing and for possessing a thick, burnished tone on his horn. Jayden started playing the clarinet at the age of 7 and a year later performed his first classical solo at a regional school instrumental festival. He began playing saxophone at age 12 and since then has added flute to his instrumental abilities. Year 9 was a significant year for Jayden as he was taken in by Eric Dunan from the Wollongong Conservatorium of Music’s Jazz Program. He finished a semester at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music just before moving to San Francisco and joining the RJAM program alongside Julian and Know, and a dozen other impressive young players drawn from throughout the United States and from across the globe.

Skyler Nolan, a 20 year old saxophonist from Jacksonville, Florida, has played over 20 festival dates, five as a headliner, as well as performing regularly around Jacksonville and surrounding areas as a sideman and leader. Skyler has shared the stage with the likes of Jamison Ross, , Theo Crocker, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, Julian Lage and Edward Simon. A second year student in the RJAM program, he is focusing on composition while taking his already formidable tenor saxophone skills to ever higher levels.

Michael Potter is also a second year student in the RJAM program; a pianist who strives to play improvised music that both honors the jazz tradition and propels the art form forwards. Raised in Boulder, Colorado, he started playing jazz at age 11, first studying drum set and percussion, and then moving to the piano at age 16. He’s influenced and inspired by greats such as Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau and Ahmad Jamal, and has shared the stage with artists such as Carmen Bradford, Julian Lage and Chad Lefkowitz-Brown. Michael studies under Edward Simon at the SFCM.

Five astonishingly talented young musicians, making a case for the great depth and fabulous promise of tomorrow’s jazz!