May Bay Area Jazz & Groove Calendar

Fri 8 playing at Mr. Tipples jazz club at 6pm with Nic Jackson (great soulful vocalist from LA) will be our third or fourth gig playing together. Always a joy to accompany his energy. Gonna be a great band with Ian McArdle, Michael Tiny Lindsay and Darian Gray in the rhythm section.

Then at 9pm playing with Kazemde George at the same spot (Tipples) for his album release show. Malachi Whitson and Ernesto Mazar in the rhythm section. Gonna be a great night of music.

Sun 10. Leading a trio at Noon-4pm at City Center Bishop Ranch in San Ramon. So far it’s looking like Elé Howell (of Ravi Coltrane) on drums with Adam Klipple (of Blood Sweat and Tears) on organ. This one is free and open to the public – I’m 90% sure.

Thu 14. Playing at Keys Jazz Bistro with a great bassist from NOLA, Amina Scott. Shawn Meyers on drums and James Mahone on sax. Should start around 7pm. Amina writes really interesting original music that i would describe as grounded, ambient, melodic and is a joy to play.

Fri 15. Leading the Cuban trio “Ritmo y Voz” at Keys, featuring *Special Guest* Jose Andres “El Sinsonte” (he’ll be arriving the day prior for a month of changui in SF.) this one starts at 9pm. All ages with tickets at 30/40 doll hairs. This is gonna be *exciting* due to the fact that Ernesto, Tito and I have been building a traditional changui repertoire for years and it will be our first time doing a gig as a quartet with one of the living masters of changui music.
check out a music video we made a few months ago, and original song about SF: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdANPzDA30E

Sat 16. Tipples with Adam Klipple 9pm

Sun 17 8pm – 10:30ish. “tallboy bar” with Martin Diller. This is a cool Oakland bar close to MacArthur station. Free popcorn and fancy hot dogs available for purchase. They also make a mean mocktail. We’ll be jamming on R&B covers and the blues.

Sat 23. 9pm Tipples with Malachi Whitson Quartet ft. Giulio Xavier, Ian McCardle keys. Looking forward to this one, first time doing a jazz show with Malachi as a leader. (Usually I’m the one calling him to do *my* gigs). I have no idea what we will be playing, but Malachi writes great tunes so hopefully we’ll be doing some of his originals.

Sun 24. Two gigs: the first one is with Loco Bloco in the SF Carnaval Grand Parade (we always get 2nd place, let’s see what happens this year with the seasoning of Chris Aschman on arrangements and Will Martins leading the bateria). I have an 8am call time where all the floats will be along bryant between 24th and 18th streets. We usually get rolling around 10:30am. 24th street is a great place to watch, or buy the Grand Stand tickets along mission (prolly between 22nd and 19th streets) for around 30 bucks. Get there early to watch the Mission lowriders.

The second gig on Sunday 24 is of particular importance, partly due to how amazing Eric and Bird and Beckett is: He gave El Sinsonte and I an 8pm slot at the bookstore to present changui in a duo format. I’m looking to make this “In Conversation With” with the intention to provide a space to get a little more lecture style with the changui. Regardless, we will perform a lot of songs. This will be special, insightful.

Wed 27. 6-8:30 El Cerrito Annex with Javier Navarrette, Cy Thompson and “El Sinsonte” throwing down extremely traditional changui repertoire and his original compositions, many of which appeared on the Latin Grammy nominated album from a few years back called “Esto es nuestro changui”. Free and all ages. This always pops off. Don’t miss this, East Bay folks.

Fri 29 11:55pm-1:30am late night Dawn Club with Max Erhardst young lion of the jazz trumpet.

Sat 30. Double bill at Tipples (again): 6pm with Dan White, saxophonist of the Huntertones (he recently relocated from Brooklyn, really burning and funky tenor player). And then, 9pm with Sami Stevens, also recently relocated from Brooklyn, she is one of two back-up vocalists for *the* Norah Jones. Sami writes great music that is most quickly described as a cross between Joni Mitchell and Donny Hathaway.

Sun 31. Playing at the Community Music Center on Capp Street in the Mission for the reception of their Performathon fundraiser. We’ll be playing once the all the 10-minute performances have concluded, sometime between 5 and 6 pm for thirty minutes. This is a great cause to support, if you’re into music access for all backgrounds. I’m grateful as an alumni that they have given me the opportunity to do this with “El Sinsonte” and a full changui Quintet with Einar Tito Leliebre on bongo, Cy Thompson on Marimbula, and Toby G on Voz Segundo and maracas.

Kai