Noel Jewkes, reeds and flute
Grant Levin, piano
Chris Amberger, bass
Josh Setala, drums

$20 cash cover charge, byob
For reservations, call 415-586-3733

Noel Jewkes is a legend among Bay Area jazz fans for his six-plus decades on the scene as a master of the tenor saxophone and any number of allied instruments, a disciple of the great Lester Young, an expert in swing. Come hear him with a rhythm section comprising long-time associates Grant Levin on piano and Chris Amberger on bass together with the young drummer Josh Setala. Jazz the way we like it!

Noel’s first San Francisco quartet — featuring Flip Nunez on piano, Fred Marshall on bass and Jerry Granelli on drums — backed Jon Hendricks for this 1963 recording at the Trident in Sausalito.This same quartet was at the core of Bill Ham’s Light Sound Dimension psychedelic extravaganzas at the Avalon Ballroom, SFMOMA & elsewhere.

 

In Noel’s five decades here on the coast, he’s been called on to work with singers from Rosemary Clooney to Billy Eckstein to Jon Hendricks, in blues-rock bands with Mike Bloomfield and Nick Gravenitis, in the all-female rock band Ace of Cups, in the jump blues outfit led by Lavay Smith and in countless other top-drawer jobs, always in the first rank of hired guns.

Noel plays all the styles there are & is held in awe for his cool legato aura, making ambitious trad, swing & jump bands always anxious to add them to their line-ups.  But it’s in small combo settings of his own making that his thoroughly modern intensity shines through most brilliantly.  Hear him at this link for a taste of his unaccompanied tenor sax playing on the classic tune “Autumn in New York.”  Then listen to him in a small group setting playing Gershwin’s “The Man I Love.”  His own compositions richly varied — at turns, challenging and complex or tender and lushly expressive.  The hard driving tunes particularly underscore his point that good jazz is a wild music, and that’s where Noel has always liked to take it.