Tim Lin, tenor saxophone
Charles Chen, piano
Ken Okada, bass
Ben Esposito, drums  

$20 cover charge; byob
Reservations: 415-586-3733

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Tim Lin, leading the date on tenor saxophone, grew up in the Bay Area, where his studies with Dann Zinn had a significant role in his development as a jazz musician. He pursued the art at USC under Bob Sheppard and was in Bob Mintzer’s orchestra there, and counts both of these major tenor sax artist-educators as mentors, along with Larry Schneider, who came to prominence in the 1970s as a sideman with Billy Cobham and Horace Silver and as a member of the Thad Lewis-Mel Jones Big Band, and Jerry Bergonzi, who was with Dave Brubeck as a guest artist in the mid-1970s and then as a member of his quartet from 1979-1982 and who now teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Tim has established his base in New York, where he’s active as a performer, composer and teacher, and travels frequently, spending significant time honing his craft and performing in Boston, Taiwan and the Bay Area.

Tim’s debut record, “Romance in Formosa,” released in 2022, was produced by Bob Sheppard and finds Tim in the awe-inspiring company of veteran players Andy LaVerne on piano, Jay Anderson on bass and Billy Drummond on drums, all with longstanding careers and hundreds of albums under their belts. Tim holds his own and shines in their presence. His sophomore recording, “Empathy,” is forthcoming in 2023.

Joining, Tim on his Bird & Beckett date are bassist Ken Okada, pianist Charles Chen and drummer Ben Esposito.

Ken Okada, born in New York and raised in São Paulo, Brazil and Yokohama, Japan, came of age as a jazz musician in Tokyo and played professionally there until he moved to the Bay Area in 2002. Here, his talents are in high demand and in clubs, concert halls and festivals, performing in small combos and big bands with such local jazz artists as John Worley, Leon Joyce, Yancie Taylor, Destiny Muhammad, Eric Bolvin and Rick Vandivier. A core member of Akira Tana’s Otonowa ensemble, Ken travels frequently to Japan to perform.

Pianist Charles Chen, from Cupertino, has been playing gigs professionally in the Bay Area for the past 15 years, and has performed in venues and festivals such as Yoshi’s, Freight & Salvage, and the San Jose Jazz Festival. He currently studies under Peter Horvath, and has studied with Dann Zinn, Myra Melford, David Kikoski and Michael Weiss.

Drummer Ben Esposito, a Bay Area native, was a college freshman at Chicago’s DePaul University when the pandemic hit, studying music education and performance and playing weekly at a Baptist church on Chicago’s South Side as well as working with the great guitarist Bobby Broom and bassist Dennis Carroll. He came home to the Bay Area to ride out the pandemic and soon got busy playing outdoors at Lake Merritt in Oakland working with great players, both budding talents and seasoned pros to raise money for social justice causes. He’s been back and forth to Chicago, but again finds his base in the Bay Area.

You’re in for a great evening of jazz. Catch it in our live stream if you can’t make it to the shop, but it’s here in person that you’ll get the fullest impact of the music! If you watch it on line, please donate toward the musicians’ guarantee.