Steve Carter, piano.
Dennis Smith, bass.
Billy Johnson, drums.
with guest percussionist Marquinho Brasil.

$20 cover charge; cash please. byob.
For a reservation, call the shop at 415-586-3733.

In the early 80s, Steve Carter became a first call piano player in the thriving Bay Area Funky-Latin-Jazz scene. He was Pete Escovedo’s piano player for several years and also worked with Pete’s brother Coke’s band, Sheila E., Ray Obiedo’s band, Linda Tillery, Bill Summers and Summers Heat, Benny Rietveld, Bo Freeman, Able Zarate, Andy Narell, Billy Cobham, Vicki Randle, Will Kennedy, Malo and many others. He also lived in Tokyo for eight months and played with Japanese fusion artist Miyaura Kiyoshi.

​In the late 80s, Steve was a member of The Freaky Executives. The “Freakies” were picked as the best Bay Area band by every bay area publication (SF Chronicle , Oakland Tribune, East Bay Express, SJ Mercury  News, etc.) for three years straight. Joel Selvin (SF Chron) said they were “the hippest most innovative band to come out of the Bay Area in at least 15 years”. The Oakland Tribune said they were” the best band to come out of the East Bay since the days of Sly Stone and Tower of Power.” They were signed by Benny Medina to Warner Bros., who spent 2-1/2 years recording an album that sounded nothing like the band, then never released it. The band broke up . . .

​In the 90s, Steve returned to being a sideman, working with George Benson, Bobby Womack, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Kenneth Nash, Samba Ngo, Nicolas Bearde, Tony Lindsey, Charo, Don Cherry, Andy Narell, Benny Reitveld, Love and Rockets, Taj Mahal, Rebbe Soul as well as old friends Ray Obiedo and Pete Escovedo and many others. In this period of time, he also honed his studio and songwriting skills playing on over 100 CDs, learning to engineer, writing music for TV–Third Watch, Nash Bridges; film–Wayne Wang’s “The Center of The World, Who Needs Sleep?, La Mission featuring Benjamin Bratt; video games–Maxis’ Sim City, Pacha’s Pajamas; as well as writing songs that were recorded by Huey Lewis and The News, Irene Cara, Forrest Buchtel and many others.

In the early 2000s, Steve was a member of Los Mocosos, a Latin/Hip Hop band that toured all over the world playing jazz and world music festivals, winning a California Music Award for Best Alternative Latin Album and putting out three CDs on Six Degrees Records.

Lately, Steve has been performing with his own trio, with Dennis Smith on bass and Billy Johnson on drums. The trio has released two CDs, with the second, Cosmopolis, receiving top 10 CDs of the year honors from “All About Jazz” and reachin #17 on the Roots Music Jazz Chart.

Steve is now a member of a  new band, “FIVE TEN”, with Dennis Smith, Marquinho Brasil, Jeff Narell and Billy Johnson, which has released two  CDs:  “Cinco Um Zero” and “New World.” And the beat goes on. The musicians who pass through here are not to be taken for granted. Mark your calendar now.