Ben Ball, saxophone.
Greg Jacobs, piano.
Charles Thomas, bass.
Michael Spencer, drums.

$20 cover charge, byob.
Students $10; kids free.

Charles Thomas became a fixture at Bird & Beckett fifteen years ago in drummer Jimmy Ryan’s Bebop Band, alongside the fiery bop pianist Don Alberts. His history reveals much more. Charles was born in San Francisco, grew up in the Fillmore and began on cello in junior high, soon switching to bass and picking up guitar, piano and drums. He studied a wide variety of musical styles formally and informally, from Fillmore blues and San Francisco acid rock/funk, to classical and jazz, graduating with degrees in music, first from City College of San Francisco and then San Francisco State University. Over the decades, he’s been a key player in the Bay Area in the pop, reggae, jazz, and classical idioms.

While completing his degrees, Charles toured the Pacific Northwest with the great Sierra Leone guitarist and singer, Souliman Rogie. He then was invited by Esther Phillips to join her band and toured as her bassist for four years. He’s also played with Les McCann, Billy Paul, Julian Priester, Lenny Williams, Karlton Hester, John Handy, Little Anthony, The Fifth Dimension, and many others. He’s a successful composer, arranger, and producer, and is also a composer of film music, having scored a number of independently produced films. Expanding his musical talents, he’s become a charming and accomplished vocalist. His company Sea Tea Music is a production and creative force specializing in working with artists on their recording and sound track projects.

We know him as a wonderful musician taking an outsized joy in his music and his bandstand interaction with some of the best jazz players you’ll hear at Bird & Beckett.

His quartet hits the stage at 7:30 with two sets of jazz until we bring up the lights at 9:30. Come to the neighborhood early and catch the Night Market down around the corner kitty corner from the BART station! From 4pm on, we’ll have a table there with some B&B merch and a scattering of books, and some chatty volunteers hanging around our young employee Lily who will be vending our wares. They can fill you in on Bird & Beckett’s history and future as a Glen Park fixture.

Saturday 7/19 – 4:00-8:30pm
Come to our table at the Night Market on Kern Alley, just steps away from the Glen Park BART station, and buy a totebag or a t-shirt while supplies last! Or a vintage poster from one of our thousands of shows in the years gone by… and talk to some of our neighbors who have volunteered to be on hand to tell folks what Bird & Beckett is all about and to press a schedule on you… Share your own stories of Bird & Beckett with them and jot down a testimonial we can quote in the fundraising drive we’re about to launch! Even if you want to hang at the Night Market ’til the lights go out, you’ll still have time to scoot over to the store to catch the second set of our Saturday night jazz concert!