Second Sunday Jazz Party at Cafe Royale, San Francisco

06/07/2016

Second Sunday Jazz Party's Still Looking for a New Venue--Meanwhile, Enjoy the Pix & What's Posted About the 4 Great Years We Had at Café Royale--& Contact Us at: [email protected] ...

03/22/2015

His last show at the 57th Gallery sold out. I was there and it was awsome.

02/08/2015

The Lost Trio's 20th anniversary and "Monkwork" CD release concert - and it's Phillip Greenlief's birthday (he's the one on top).

11/01/2012

Five years ago, I went into Cafe Royale for the first time, to hear Howard Wiley play. I noticed the unusual ambiance of the place, & the big southward-facing windows that lit the room naturally, even in early evening. Talking with Les Cowan, I recognized another who'd grown up with the easygoing Bay Area style I had. Les encouraged me to think of the Royale when I mentioned I'd thrown a few open jazz parties here & there in the past, notably with John Tchicai ... The next spring, I did, for my own birthday! Everyone turned out, & I kept hearing how great it was to get together in public, with good music (Tony Passarell playing, as so many times before & since), that people just didn't see each other like they used to ... That planted the seed, which gestated nine months, & popped out four years ago this December as the Second Sunday Jazz Party. Thanks to Les & the others behind the plank at Cafe Royale for making it possible--& a joy to see through its run.

11/01/2012

Jazz Partyers, just a word or two of personal thanks to Gilbert Johnson, who took on many of the responsibilities of the jazz parties & recorded some of them--as well as many thanks to Tony, who founded the series with me, & played so beautifully, so often--& thanks to Phillip Greenlief, Dan Seamans, Tom Hassett, The Lost Trio!--for their artistry & constancy--& everybody else who performed: Charles Hamilton, Bill Noertker, Jerry Pineda, Steve North, Luis Garcia ... Too many names to mention! And everybody who came--it was a great way to get together with all of you! /Ken

11/01/2012

My personal thanks to Gilbert Johnson, who took on many of the responsibilities of the jazz parties & recorded some of them--as well as many thanks to Tony, who founded the series with me, & played so beautifully, so often--& thanks to Phillip Greenlief, Dan Seamans, Tom Hassett, The Lost Trio!--for their artistry & constancy--& everybody else who performed: Charles Hamilton, Bill Noertker, Jerry Pineda, Steve North, Luis Garcia ... Too many names to mention! And everybody who came--it was a great way to get together with all of you! /Ken

11/01/2012

Unfortunately, we've lost our venue ... The Second Sunday Jazz Party, just two months shy of four years, is over as of--Hallowe'en! Thanks to all of you for coming & being part of it; to Tony Passarell, who co-founded it & brought wonderful musicians together, playing beautifully; to the Lost Trio--Phillip, Dan & Tom--for their remarkable 3-set shows every other month; to all the musicians & performers (poet Luis Garcia & actor-storyteller Steve North) who made us all very happy, indeed, over 46 consecutive Sundays. It was a ball!

10/10/2012

Actor-storyteller Steve North will be back this Sunday, doing a comic sketch during Dos Amigos' break ... A great black humorist, Steve's unique, his stories--he swears they're autobiographical!--truly outre' ...

10/08/2012

10/02/2012

Between Jazz Amigos sets on Sunday the 14th, we'll be featuring Steve North again, actor-storyteller, who'll improvise a comic sketch ...

09/29/2012

--Charles Hamilton's Jazz Amigos will be playing for us, Sunday October 14, 2-5 pm, at Cafe Royale. (That's Charles, looking dapper, on trombone in our profile photo above, playing a Jazz Party a couple summers back.) A veteran of the 60s SF scene, with John Handy & Mel Martin, et al, Charles led the Berkeley High Jazz Bands for 25 years. He swings like crazy! Hard Bop, often tinged with Latin sounds, beautiful renditions of standards, ballads & choice originals, some fresh off his charts. Come join us to hear him & just hang out. The Jazz Amigos are always exciting. (No cover, as always--free!--though we ask for contributions, $5 or more if you can. You support the bands! Jazz Party is unsubsidized--but always free & open.)

06/09/2012

Tomorrow--June 10, 2-5 P. M.--ALEX JENKINS SOUND IMMERSION--now a quintet, featuring Tony Passarell & Michael Dale on saxophones; Randy Stark, trombone; Alex Rieff, bass; Alex Jenkins, drums.

--Plus actor-storyteller STEVE NORTH, with an original comic sketch, between the cracks--er, sets!

Come & enjoy the music & the company to the June light streaming through the Royale's picture windows! Free--as always--though we pass the hat for the band ...