San Francisco Jazz Band 4

This San Francisco Jazz Band is devoted to the music of the 1930s and ’40s, performing it, as critic Phil Elwood once wrote, as if the tunes were “on today’s Hit Parade.” Treating Swing-era jazz as a living, breathing art form, the band brings fresh excitement through new arrangements and unexpected instrumentation. Clever, fun, romantic, moody, and witty, this is classic music presented in its full emotional range.

As Jazz Now said, “This band keeps its music alive without turning it into a museum piece.” If this is the jazz band’s mission, it is a successful one, as demonstrated by their amazing longevity and popularity. This San Francisco Jazz Band is in their twenty third year, having operated steadily since 1978 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Francisco Jazz Band credits

This San Francisco Jazz Band has played San Francisco’s Black and White Ball four times, numerous Herb Caen birthday parties, the Inaugural for SF Mayor Willie Brown, and a myriad of other civic events that have woven it into the city’s fabric and its fan’s hearts. They played three years in Kimball’s Jazz Club in SF and currently plays a lively mix of club dates and private events, keeping them a full-time enterprise for its players

This San Francisco Jazz Band has made two recordings. The most recent was recorded with legendary Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Tonight Show trumpeter Clark Terry. Jazz critic Groves Sales complimented it: “Among the new CDs that swamp a working jazz critic, occasionally one slides into the player drawer – and stays there with the “repeat” button on it…Every track on this CD is a ringtailed wonder…Here’s a record for all time.”

This San Francisco Jazz Band jazz festivals list includes the Monterey, Los Angeles, Classic, San Juan Island, Cotati, Sacramento and San Francisco Jazz festivals.

San Francisco Jazz Band tours

In 1990, this San Francisco Jazz Band was honored by the California Arts Council with an appointment to its touring roster. Since then, their touring schedule has increased greatly, playing concert tours throughout California. They pull in jazz stars for these concerts when scheduling allows, such as one Southern California tour in January 1997 which included Tommy Newsom, saxophonist of Tonight Show fame, and ex-Woody Herman drummer Jake Hanna.

This San Francisco Jazz Band instrumentation is a bit unusual for a small-combo swing band, discarding the normal piano for a guitar, and sidestepping the trumpet in favor of a blend of trombone and two saxophones. We feel this music is clever, fun, romantic, classy and witty. We’re crazy for it. Careful, you’ll catch the Fever, too.